HL Deb 13 December 1984 vol 458 cc398-400

3.23 p.m.

Lord Taylor of Blackburn

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

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to make a statement on the findings of the Green Paper on parental influences at school (Cmnd. 9242), now that the consultative period is ended.

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, the Government hope shortly to conclude their consideration of the way ahead in the light of the responses to the consultations and will make an announcement as soon as possible thereafter.

Lord Taylor of Blackburn

My Lords, in thanking the noble Earl for that reply, may I ask him, in view of the adverse comments that have been made on the Green Paper, whether he will be prepared to recommend to his right honourable friend the Secretary of State the findings of the committee which I had the privilege of chairing some time ago, and their implementation?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I would not hesitate to agree with the noble Lord that a lot of the replies were hostile. But, of course, the Green Paper made proposals on many matters other than a parental majority on governing bodies. It should be noted that very many respondents agree that the present arrangement for school government could and should be improved on Green Paper lines and that there should be scope for parents to involve themselves more in their children's education.

I have paid my congratulations many times to the noble Lord and the committee that he chaired so admirably. His committee has provided a very useful background. It has been of considerable value in opening up discussion in detail on the complex issues that the Green Paper addressed. I know that my right honourable friend has considered what the committee reported. I do not think that the two are in any way incompatible.

Baroness David

My Lords, is the Minister aware that local education authorities were given a very short time at a very inconvenient time to respond to the Green Paper which arrived on chief education officers' desks in the summer after the last governors' meetings of the year had taken place and also after members and officers had had their last committee meetings before the autumn, by which time the responses had to be back at the department? Would the noble Earl not agree that it is irritating, to put it mildly, for people to be hurried into making a response and then have to wait for a considerable time for Ministers to make up their minds as to how they are going to respond? The noble Earl has given no date as to when we can expect the Ministers' response. Exactly the same happened with the youth service review. Surely, local education authorities and voluntary bodies could be treated with a little more consideration by Ministers in the Education Department.

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, the closing date for written comments was over four months after the date of publication. A very considerable number of responses, some of them quite detailed—I understand that some 77 local education authorities responded—were received by or shortly after the date set. In my view this shows that the period allowed was quite adequate for those responding to consider the proposals fully before doing so.

Lord Kilmarnock

My Lords, is it not the case that parents' associations themselves peferred the proposals made in the report of the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, to those made by his right honourable friend the Secretary of State?

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I think that there were a number of different replies. As I have said. I make no secret of the fact that a number of the replies were hostile to the Government's proposals.

Baroness David

My Lords, may I ask whether we can expect legislation in this Session? There was nothing about this matter in the Queen's Speech but it is implicit in the Green Paper that there is to be legislation.

The Earl of Swinton

My Lords, I can go no further than what I said in my original Answer about the Government's response.