HL Deb 18 November 1976 vol 377 cc1556-8

21 After Clause 3, insert the following new clause: . The Secretary of State shall, within two years of the passing of this Act and after consulting such persons as he shall deem to be representative of the interests of local education authorities, of parents and of governors, make regulations specifying the information which local education authoriities shall publish about the schools in their area and the means by which and the time within which such information shall be made available to the parents of children to whom places at such schools may be allocated and to such other persons as he may direct.

The Commons disagreed to this Amendment ment for the following Reason:

22 Because the Commons do not consider it appropriate that the publication of information about schools should be the subject of subordinate legislation.

7.50 p.m.

Lord DONALDSON of KINGSBRIDGE

My Lords, I beg to move that the House doth not insist upon their Amendment No. 21, to which the Commons have disagreed for the Reason numbered 22. This Amendment was moved at the Report stage. Its predecessor at the Committee stage was, I think, generally accepted to be inappropriate in that it would have introduced into the Bill itself a long list of specific items about which local education authorities would have been required to provide information to parents in respect of local schools. The Government's view was, and remains, that this modified approach, by way of statutory regulations, is also inappropriate because there are better ways of ensuring that the necessary information is made available; but I must make it clear that the Government accept the principle underlying the Amendment, and my right honourable friend intends to consult all the interests concerned and to provide guidance in a more flexible and appropriate way in a circular. If that were to fail, she could resort to statutory regulations if necessary: she already has power to do so under Section 5(2) of the Local Government Act 1974. The Amendment is therefore unnecessary, and it is undesirable in that it would require statutory regulations to be made even if, as the Government expect, they turned out not to be necessary. I hope noble Lords will note that my right honourable friend has conceded the substance of the Amendment, though not its insertion into the Bill. I beg to move.

Moved, That this House doth not insist on the said Amendment, to which the Commons have disagreed for the Reason numbered 22.—(Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge.)

Lord BELSTEAD

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for making it clear that the Secretary of State accepts the principle of this Amendment, which was an Amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Elton; and I am also grateful to the noble Lord for repeating that the Secretary of State will consider what guidance on this subject can be given by way of circular. I should like to take this opportunity to make one point. The importance of my noble friend's Amendment, to my mind, is that it is in line with the wishes of parents. By that I mean that increasingly parents want to know what a particular school has to offer. I therefore hope that when the noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, said on Report stage of this Bill that the Secretary of State intends to consult with all those concerned—and he repeated those words this evening—somehow his right honourable friend will consult with parents. There is, after all, the Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations, and of course there are the individual PTAs of schools. I believe that it is a priority in this matter to discover, among those consulted, what it is that parents will wish to know.

On Question, Motion agreed to.