HL Deb 14 March 1983 vol 440 cc471-3

2.45 p.m.

Lord Beloff

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local education authorities have given full effect to the provisions of the 1980 Act providing for greater parental choice.

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, the school admission provisions of the Education Act 1980 apply to all local education authorities in respect of admissions in September 1982 and subsequently. While some complaints alleging that the Act was not being operated properly have been received by the Government, none has so far been found to be substantiated.

Lord Beloff

My Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for that encouraging reply, which does not altogether confirm what one hears in other quarters, can we be assured that if there is evidence of local authorities not wishing to implement these provisions the Government will reconsider the matter?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I can only repeat that none of these allegations has in fact been substantiated. Obviously, in the first year of any new plan there are teething troubles, and I hope that these will be sorted out in future years.

Lord Kilmarnock

My Lords, can the noble Earl tell the House how the continuing wave of closures of rural primary schools contributes to parental choice? Will he undertake that the Government in future will pursue a more imaginative policy in this respect?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I think it is fair to say that every single possible closure is treated on its merits. Some schools obviously will have to be closed because of falling numbers and some may well stay open.

Baroness David

My Lords, if they are closed, how much choice are the parents going to have about where the children go? I have in my hand a document from a parent from a primary school in Cambridgeshire saying that if the school is closed the children are automatically going to be bussed four and a half miles, and that parents do not like it. How much parental choice is there there?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I think it is a fairly obvious point that in any rural area there is going to be a lot less choice than in an urban area. Obviously I do not know the details, but most local education authorities probably agree that if there is a place in the school and if the parents are prepared to take their children there, then they will make parental choice available; but they are not very often prepared to transport the children to schools beyond the one that is the nearest.

Lord Wallace of Coslany

My Lords, is the Minister aware that parental choice is being negatived in many cases by local authorities changing the catchment areas, so that where a family has two children in one school and then there is a change of catchment area, the younger child cannot go to the school with his brothers in that particular area?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, if the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, has any details of individual cases I shall be interested to hear them if he will write to me. In fact, the whole idea of the 1980 Act was to provide more parental choice, and the parents have a procedure which they can go through to appeal against any local authorities sending children to a school that the parents do not like.

Baroness Gaitskell

My Lords, would it not be true to say that here we are worrying about parental choice, when there is not pupil choice? Are there not lots of young people who cannot get into the schools or the universities which they wish to get into?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, if there were to be pupil choice I do not know whether you would have toddlers of two or three saying that they did not like to go to their particular playgroup. Presumably when the parents do go they talk to their children and, I should imagine, try to ascertain which school they would rather go to. It would be difficult to bring in legislation where you had the pupil choosing the school rather than the parents.