EDUCATION BILL (Hansard, 17 July 1979)

§ Baroness LLEWELYN-DAVIES of HASTOE

My Lords, we are grateful to the noble Lord for explaining why Standing Order 43 should be dispensed with, and we understand the procedural necessity. But I must tell the noble Lord that on these Benches, and I think 1281 in all parts of the House, there is a real feeling of outrage that so important a Bill as this should be pushed through Parliament with such unseemly haste.

This Bill is not being taken in the usual summer rush with the Session ending in July. Her Majesty's Government look forward—and we hope, mistakenly—to a long period in office with a sizable majority in another place. Your Lordships should have been allowed adequate time for proper consideration of so important a Bill. Education is a matter which affects almost every family in the country, and any Government, one would have thought, would hesitate before bringing politics into education.

I am sorry to have to say this, but I thought that the House would like to know how the arrangements came to be made. When the timetable for the Bill was first put forward we learned that the Government proposeed to take it all in one week, with just one day for Committee and all the remaining stages. On behalf of the House we made very strong representations to the noble Lord the Chief Whip, that it was quite wrong that the revising Chamber consisting, as it does, of many Peers with great expertise, knowledge, and experience of education should not be allowed to consider the Bill with due care.

The only concession we were able to wring from the Government was that we could have one separate Committee day. Since the Bill has only today arrived from another place there will be practically no time to consider appropriate amendments for the Committee stage on Thursday. Of course the House will not want to put all the blame on the noble Lord, Lord Denham. The responsibility lies with his Government. I am sorry to say it, but your Lordships' House, and I am sure the country, will know and disapprove of the cavalier manner in which the whole matter has been treated.

§ Lord DENHAM

My Lords, I would not like to shelter behind my right honourable friends and my noble friends. As Chief Whip in this House, I must of course accept the responsibility. But I am, of course, very sorry indeed that this has been done. There are, I would submit, mitigating circumstances to the extent that we had a general election on 3rd May, 1282 and therefore the House met a week later, and there has been a very short time before the Summer Recess.

This is a one clause Bill. I appreciate the depth of feeling which noble Lords opposite have about the content of this Bill, but it is a one clause Bill, which I think I should like to put down for the record. It also implements an election Manifesto, and this Government intend to act on the policies which won us the election. It is necessary to make the position with regard to comprehensivisation clear before a new school year begins. It is, therefore, in the view of Her Majesty's Government essential that the Bill reaches Royal Assent before the Recess in order that this particular Manifesto commitment should be honoured. I do not of course expect noble Lords opposite to feel the same about this particular commitment as we do, but I should like to assure your Lordships that no discourtesy to the House was intended, and to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this rush to noble Lords in all parts of the House.