HC Deb 08 May 1990 vol 172 c13
17. Mrs. Fyfe

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if parents' rights to choose educational establishments on the grounds of ethnic composition will apply to nursery provision; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

Admission to nursery education is a matter for local education authorities. In carrying out that duty, they are required to observe the provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976.

Mrs. Fyfe

I thank the Minister for that somewhat obscure answer. Will she explain why educational apartheid is acceptable at age five but not at ages three and four?

Mrs. Rumbold

The age for starting school as a requirement in Britain is five. Any education provided by local authorities before the age of five is a matter for them to decide.

Mr. Holt

My hon. Friend will probably be aware of the recent case in Middlesbrough, where a lady chose to exercise her right to move her child from one school to another because the first school had high ethnic numbers, whereas the second did not. My hon. Friend might like to know that that lady has now exercised her right to move her child to another school, where the proportions are roughly 50:50.

Mrs. Rumbold

My hon. Friend will be aware that the Government are in favour of parents exercising their choice within the law.

Mr. Simon Hughes

Does the Minister realise that the decision of the Secretary of State to allow people to transfer their children on the basis of the ethnic composition of a school is one of the most worrying developments of the last 10 years of education policy? What is the end of the road when the policy starts by saying, in effect, "If you are a white parent and your child is in a school attended by children of other colours, that in itself is a ground for transfer"? Are we not a multi-ethnic and multicultural community?

Mrs. Rumbold

Of course we are a multi-ethnic and multicultural community. The parent in that case chose, within her rights, to send her child to a school of her own choice. The local authority had no reason not to allow that choice. The choice of parents as to where their children shall be educated is of vital importance. Many parents choose schools for the education offered, not because of the composition of those attending them.