HC Deb 02 December 1999 vol 340 cc423-5
8. Mr. Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale, West)

How many (a) challenges and (b) queries he has received regarding grammar school petitions. [99348]

The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett)

Since consultation began on the grammar school ballot regulations arising out of the White Paper "Excellence in Schools" in July 1997, we have received 2,300 queries regarding the grammar school petition and ballot process, 16 of which have been complaints about campaigning material in areas where petitions are currently being circulated.

Mr. Brady

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that response. He will recall that, during the passage of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998, Ministers were keen to stress that it would be a breach of the regulations for local authorities, schools or governing bodies to publish information or express views that were intended to influence parents during the ballot process.

Nearly two months ago, I wrote to the Secretary of State highlighting a very clear breach by the head of Trinity school in Hulme. There has still been no concrete action taken to uphold the Government's own regulations. That is now resulting in the process in the borough of Trafford descending into farce. The so-called cabinet member for education in Trafford, Councillor Peter Mitchell, has expressed the view publicly in the local press that the 11-plus is resulting in "social selection" and "economic apartheid" in our schools. When will the Secretary of State enforce his own regulations and ensure that there is a fair contest?

Mr. Blunkett

As the hon. Gentleman knows, because he has asked eight oral questions on this issue, we are taking decisive action. We are investigating the complaint about that school, as we did the complaint relating to the material put out by Urmston grammar school. That complaint was resolved this week by taking action to ensure that that material was withdrawn as it was inadequate and inappropriate and broke the regulations. We will take action, case by case, if complaints are made about the conduct of either secondary modern schools or grammar schools and if they are made by the Conservative party or by anyone else. We shall do that fairly and openly for the sake of the children and their futures.

Mr. Bill Rammell (Harlow)

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that there are very fair procedures in place to ensure that parents decide such issues in local ballots? Does he agree that the Conservative party's obsession with this issue, which affects a small percentage of children in the country, is very revealing and shows that it is still concerned with that minority agenda instead of with raising standards for every child in every school in every part of the country?

Mr. Blunkett

Yes.

Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)

I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) was grossly unsatisfactory and exudes the sort of complacency for which the right hon. Gentleman has fast become renowned. Given the extraordinary behaviour of the head teacher of Trinity Church of England school in Hulme, Manchester, Mr. Michael Evans, in sending out anti-grammar school propaganda to Trafford parents, and the further abuse, which was rightly highlighted by my hon. Friend, of Labour councillor, Peter Mitchell, in indulging in ludicrous hyperbole that accused grammar schools of being responsible for economic apartheid in that area, will the right hon. Gentleman now stop dithering and use the powers available to him under sub-paragraph (e) of paragraph 15 on page 10, lines 8 to 11, of the Education (Grammar Schools Ballots) Regulations 1998 to declare that this year the petition process in Trafford is null and void? Does not the Secretary of State understand that if he will not do so, people will rightly conclude that he is working hand in glove with left-wing educational vandals, who are plotting to destroy some of the finest state schools in the country?

Mr. Blunkett

Knowing the particular line or paragraph of a regulation does not make one intelligent or right. Again, I make it clear to the House that when complaints are made, they will be investigated and, if they are upheld, dealt with. That will be the case for complaints from either side in the discussion about the future of selection.

The hon. Gentleman was recently quoted in the press as saying that some of my honourable colleagues in the Labour party whose children went to selective schools were exercising their right to choose such schools. I point out to him that where selection exists, parents do not have a right to choose because the pupils are chosen by an 11-plus examination that excludes 75 to 80 per cent. of the children and their parents from any right of entry to those excellent schools.

Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West)

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that once a ballot has taken place, he will expect the results to be complied with? Is that not in contrast to the behaviour of Conservative-controlled Buckinghamshire county council, which under the previous Conservative Government three times ignored the result of ballots in Milton Keynes, where the majority of parents expressed their opposition to the creation of a grammar school? Yet right up until the general election, the previous Government and Buckinghamshire county council tried to impose a grammar school on Milton Keynes in opposition to the clearly expressed views of its people.

Mr. Blunkett

That is why the artificial indignation of Conservative Members takes the biscuit, because they will do one thing to protect their own and quite another to protect the rest of the population.