§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she expects to be in a position to announce her proposals with regard to the future of the Burnham Committee and the determination of teachers' salaries.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsI have informed the teacher and local authority associations of my intention to review the membership of the teachers' panels of the Burnham committees in the autumn in the light of mergers between the teacher associations and of representations that have been made to me about the distribution of seats.
I agree with the report of the Houghton committee on the adverse effects of the 815W separate machinery for considering the pay and conditions of service of teachers. It is essential that any changes have the support of all the partners in the education service if improvements are to be secured and I therefore look forward to considering with the local authority associations the proposals for joint national councils on conditions of service, designed to work closely with the Burnham committees, which they have told me they are developing and wish to discuss.