HC Deb 13 January 1981 vol 996 cc842-3
5. Mr. Neale

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are his present proposals for the implementation of those parts of the Education Act 1980 concerning parental choice and participation in schools.

10. Mr. Beith

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects the provisions of the Education Act 1980 relating to the representation of parents and teachers on school governing bodies to be applied to existing schools which are not contemplating new instruments of government.

Mr. Mark Carlisle

The school admission provisions of the Education Act 1980 were brought into effect last October and will first apply to admissions to schools in the autumn of 1982.

The sections of the Act providing for election of parent and teacher governors will be brought into effect by about Easter. For existing schools compliance with the new provisions will initially be voluntary, but I shall keep under review the possibility of setting a date by when it will be made compulsory in the light of the progress made voluntarily and the availability of resources.

Mr. Neale

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that reply and the indication that it gives. Will he reaffirm his support for parents who wish to participate further in raising voluntary aid and giving voluntary service to State schools? Will he confirm that, if necessary, he will amend the 1944 Act to make it possible for local education authorities to accept such aid voluntarily?

Mr. Carlisle

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his response to the answer that I gave. My answer to his slightly wider question is that I believe that it is right to welcome any voluntary support that parents wish to give towards the provision of eduction in their children's schools. At a time when finance is necessarily restrained, it seems to me that those who discourage such support do a disservice to education.

Mr. Beith

Is not the reality of the Secretary of State's original answer that the much-vaunted rights of parents to be members of school governing bodies will not come into effect for many years in the vast majority of schools? Why, then, did the Secretary of State take up the time of the House with this legislation when he was not prepared to implement it and grant those rights to parents with immediate effect?

Mr. Carlisle

No. I do not accept what the hon. Gentleman says. If he would be good enough to look—I am not inviting him to do so now—he will find that my remarks are consistent with what I said on the Second Reading of the Bill. There are 26,000 primary and secondary schools. It is impossible to get them all to change their instrument of government overnight. I said during the Second Readind debate that I was not proposing to set down a time limit in the first place. I look upon them to carry out that action voluntarily. I have repeated what I stated at the time. If they do not move in that direction, and if I believe that their delay is unnecessary, I shall review the situation and consider whether I should impose a compulsory timetable, as the Act gives me power to do.

Mr. William Shelton

I welcome my right hon. and learned Friend's reply. Does he agree that parental choice must depend upon knowledge, and that such knowledge must depend to some extent upon the publication of examination results?

Mr. Carlisle

There is a later question on this matter. I agree that choice must depend upon informed knowledge. I agree that one part of that informed knowledge should be knowledge of the academic standards of the school.

Mr. Allen McKay

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman accept that to people in my constituency, where eight primary schools are closing due to Government financial stringency, the words "parental choice" come peculiarly from his lips?

Mr. Carlisle

The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that there has been a drop in the number of children of school age, particularly in inner city areas. We shall see 30 or 40 per cent. fewer children of school age within the next decade. This is bound to mean, inevitably, the closure of a certain number of primary schools if one is to leave schools of sufficient size to give an adequate and viable education to the children in them.