APPEAL COMMITTEES (Hansard, 21 October 1981)

Lords amendment
No. 24, in page 53, line 29, at end insert— A person who is a member of the education committee of the authority shall not be chairman of an appeal committee.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
This amendment is supported by the Government in recognition of the force of the argument that the chairman of an appeal committee should be seen by the parents as standing outside the authority's policies and decisions on educational matters. As hon. Members will appreciate, parents must feel that their case has received a fair hearing in a reference to an appeal committee and that the chairman is impartial in his decision. While I would argue that the essential protection for parents in this regard is laid in paragraphs 5 and 6 of schedule 1, which exclude from membership of an appeal committee any person involved with the decision on the placing request in question, none the less I accept that doubt may arise in the minds of some parents if a member of an education committee can be a chairman of an appeal committee. The Scottish Consumer Council has also made representations about the matter and it is strong in its views about the extent of public misgivings on this issue. The present amendment therefore puts the matter beyond doubt and excludes a member of the education committee from service as chairman. It would not, however, exclude a member of the regional council who is not a member of the education committee.

§ Mr. O'Neill
We shall not divide the House on this matter but we have certain misgivings about the amendment. We feel that this is another example of the Government seeking to foment distrust in local authorities and to undermine the authority of councillors. However, there is another aspect to the matter on which I should like the Minister's view.
What is the status of parent members of school councils? In some instances, school councils are deemed to be sub-committees of the education committee of the local education authority. What would be the standing of a parent who was elected to a school council and who subsequently became the chairman of an appeal committee? Would he be debarred from continuing in that position?
As the Minister will doubtless remember, in Standing Committee we spoke of the sterling work done by the school councils in Strathclyde, which, after all, constitutes half of Scotland. These school councils have played a very active role, right up to appeal committee level, so it is not impossible under these arrangements for a school council member to be involved. It would be most unfortunate if this amendment extended to that group as well. I am sure that the Scottish Consumer Council did not have those individuals in mind. I am sure that the Scottish Parent-Teacher Council, which normally runs in tandem with the consumer council on these matters, would not wish for the debarment of members of school councils who were there because of their role as parents rather than as elected representatives.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
Our legal advice is that school councils are not sub-committees of education committees, so a parent member is not debarred. 334 Therefore, the specific point that the hon. Gentleman has made would not apply in this case in the legal sense. From what I have said the hon. Gentleman will understand that the purpose of the exercise, in referring to the chairman of the committee, is to reassure the parent who is appearing before an appeal committee.
This point was made strongly to us by the Scottish Consumer Council, and we felt that it should be taken very much into account. If parents go in to make their appeal, which can often be quite a process for people who are not used to appealing or arguing in this way, and then find that the chairman of the appeal committee is a member of the education committee, they are bound, rightly or wrongly—perhaps mainly wrongly—to feel that the dice may be loaded against them before they start. It is that specific point that the amendment seeks to overcome.