TEACHING COUNCIL (SCOTLAND) BILL (Hansard, 15 December 1970)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. The purpose of the Bill is to enable the Secretary of State to make regulations requiring the employers of certain teachers to deduct from their salaries the fees which have to be paid for registration into the General Teaching Council. These regulations would first of all apply to teachers holding permanent employment in education authority and grant-aided schools—those teachers whose conditions of employment 1306 require them to register with the Teaching Council. As your Lordships will know, the Bill was introduced into another place by the previous Government, but because of certain events before June 18 it did not reach the Statute Book. The present Government revived the Bill, and it passed through the various stages in another place without amendment or vote.

The reason for the Bill is that, while registration is already a requirement for permanent employment in the schools, the procedure to secure renewal of registration is not effective; and this Bill provides a remedy. Legislation on the lines of this Bill was suggested in a Memorandum called Review of The Constitution and Functions of the General Teaching Council which was published last year as a consultative document. Since 1968, registration with the General Teaching Council, at an annual fee of £1, has been the mark of recognition of the qualified teacher. Formerly a teacher held the Secretary of State's certificate proving competence to teach. Now, in order to comply with the Schools (Scotland) Code, education authorities have to be satisfied that teachers are registered.

Under the present system it is the individual teacher's responsibility to renew registration with the Council each year by paying the fee. This has led to a number of difficulties. For various reasons, a number of teachers have been reluctant to register, or remiss about renewal of their registration, and their employers were naturally reluctant to dismiss unregistered teachers immediately after the date when they had to be registered—that is, April 1 of each year, with the saving grace of one month. The result is a situation in which every year the process of registration has lengthened far beyond this date. This has caused considerable inconvenience both to the Council and to the employers. This Bill is designed to overcome these problems.

May I now deal with its main provisions? Under Clause 1(1) the Secretary of State may make regulations requiring the employers of these teachers to deduct from their salary the fee for the renewal of their registration. Your Lordships will note that the powers of the Secretary of State under Clause 1(1) relate solely to fees for renewal of registration. They do not apply to fees payable either on 1307 first registration by a new teacher, or for restoration to the register of a teacher who returns to teaching after an interval. The payment of these fees will remain the responsibility of the individual teacher.

Under Clause 1(2) the regulations will apply to all registered teachers in the employment of education authorities or other managers who are required to be registered with the General Teaching Council. As your Lordships will know, two groups of teachers register with the Council: those employed in education authority and grant-aided schools, and others—for example married women who are not at the moment teaching, and lecturers in colleges of education and in further education, who are not required to register but may do so if they wish. There are in Scotland to-day about 56,000 registered teachers. Some 42,000 of these are in employment where registration is required. The 14,000 teachers in the other categories will, as at present, be left to make their own arrangements about payment of the registration fee, and are not affected by this Bill.

Under Clause 1(3) the regulations will describe the procedure for deduction and remittance of the renewal fee. The registration period extends over one year, from April 1 to March 31, and we expect that in practice renewal fees will be deducted from the April salaries of teachers; also, that their employers will send such fees to the Council as soon as possible, with sufficient details to enable the Council to identify the teachers on their register. The Council will then write to those teachers who are not required to register but do so voluntarily, inviting them to re-register. The details of this procedure will be set out in the Council's registration rules.

Under Clause 1(4) the Secretary of State will have power to vary or revoke these rules. However, as your Lordships will realise, this power will be exercised only where it is necessary to secure consistency between the Council's rules and the regulations made by the Secretary of State. Clause 2(2) and Part I of the Schedule provide for consultation between the Secretary of State and 1308 the Council on the making of both the regulations and the Council's rules. Therefore, it is very unlikely that this power will ever need to be used.

My Lords, this Bill is a useful measure that will improve the registration procedures and reduce the administrative work of both education authorities and the Council. I commend it to your Lordships. I beg to move.