§ Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many persons are named on List 99 circulated by the Department to colleges of education and polytechnics;
(2) whether the teachers named on List 99 are informed that they have been so named;
(3) whether List 99 is regarded as advisory or prescriptive for education authorities;
181W(4) what are the procedures for appeal against inclusion on List 99;
(5) whether names once placed on List 99 are kept there indefinitely;
(6) what are the Department's criteria for "moral" and "political" offences used in the compiling of List 99.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe Department's List 99 contains the names of 1,200 persons whom I and my predecessors have determined to be unsuitable on grounds of misconduct for employment as teachers. All such persons have been informed in writing by the Department of their exclusion from teaching employment after they have been given an opportunity to submit representations in writing and personally at interview at the Department.
Exclusion is prescriptive for local education authorities and other employers of teachers under statutory regulations. The regulations make no provision for appeal against exclusion but it is my practice to consider applications for reinstatement by excluded teachers after a period of time, the length of which depends on the seriousness of the misconduct which led to exclusion. If and when a person is reinstated, his name is immediately removed from List 99.
People whose names appear in the list have all been convicted of criminal offences or been guilty of grave professional misconduct. These are the only criteria I am empowered by the regulations to take into account in exercising my disciplinary responsibilities. There is no truth in the suggestion that List 99 is a means of exercising political censorship on teachers.
I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of Circular 4/68 which describes the Department's procedures in regard to teachers' misconduct.