HL Deb 06 July 1978 vol 394 cc1290-1

9.6 p.m.

Lord MELCHETT rose to move, That the draft Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, laid before the House on 6th June, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, this is a shorter order, and a miscellaneous order containing a variety of proposals. Its two main provisions are in Articles 10 and 11. Article 10 would enable education and library boards to acquire, compulsorily, land which is needed by maintained schools or by voluntary grammar schools. Boards already have power to vest land which they need for their own purposes and this Article simply applies the same arrangements to land that is needed for voluntary schools. A similar power already exists in England and Wales. Article 11 deals mainly with the recovery of grants which have been paid on school premises which cease to be used for school purposes. It removes certain deficiencies in the existing statutory powers, and in particular allows proper account to be taken of the effect of inflation.

The order also includes a number of minor amendments to the existing law on education. I shall not take up time by going into detail on all of these, but I should like to mention briefly just three. Article 3 provides for education and library boards, if they so wish, to appoint advisory committees which could include outside experts as well as board members. Article 5 revises and clarifies the development scheme procedure, which is the statutory mechanism for giving formal approval to proposals for new schools. That, in substance, largely re-enacts the existing provision, but in a simplified form. Article 6 deals with scholarships, and will give us a little more administrative flexibility, in particular in helping scholarships provision in Northern Ireland to stay in line with developments in England and Wales. The remaining Articles make mainly technical changes. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, laid before the House on 6th June, be approved.—(Lord Melchett.)

Lord HAMPTON

My Lords, perhaps I might intervene briefly. We on these Benches support this order, which we do not look upon as being controversial. May I ask the Minister whether he is prepared, at this late hour, briefly, to say whether he believes that a spread of comprehensive education in the Province is, first, desired by a sizeable majority there and, secondly, whether it will offer any encouragement towards integrated education for the two communities?

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, the noble Lord may be interested to know that although there is certainly a difference of opinion on comprehensive education in Northern Ireland, two out of three of the bodies representing parents in Northern Ireland have come out in support of the abolition of selection. I hope that, as the Government's proposal for locally-planned comprehensive education and the insistence simply on the need to abolish selection at the age of 11 become more widely understood, an even greater number of people will support the moves that we are making. We have, of course, said that we wish to see this implemented in a way which will not raise any new barriers to integrated education and if possible, where, of course, there is a local wish for it, integrated education should be encouraged. I very much hope that that will happen.

On Question, Motion agreed to.