§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps she is taking to end the industrial action by members of the National Union of Teachers and National Association of Schoolmasters which is disrupting school curricula, following the disruption caused already this year by the oil-tanker drivers' dispute and the severe weather; and if she will make a statement.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonMy right hon. Friend has clearly expressed her dismay and concern about the sanctions applied by some teachers on the recommendations of those associations, subsequent to an agreement reached in the Burnham Primary and Secondary Committee on 27th February to refer the teachers' claim and the management's responding offer to arbitration.
The House will wish to know that on Friday last, 17th March, the management panel of the committee informed the teachers' panel that it would be prepared to resume negotiatios on the basis of a revised offer within the pay policy guidelines at a joint Burnham Committee meeting which it was expected would be called for 4 p.m. this afternoon provided that there was a firm assurance from the teachers that the resumed negotiations would be intended to lead to an agreement.
Following the issue of that invitation, my right hon. Friend made the following statement to the Press:
I welcome the initiative taken today by the Management Panel of the Burnham Primary and Secondary Committee towards resuming 423W negotiations within the pay policy guidelines on the teachers' pay claim. It is very urgent that the present situation, which is causing great harm to the schools, should be satisfactorily resolved as quickly as possible. I hope that those teachers' associations which are applying sanctions will suspend them to allow discussion within the Burnham Committee to be resumed in a normal atmosphere.In response to the management panel's invitation, a meeting of the teachers' panel was called this morning to review the situation. It has agreed to meet the management panel jointly in the Burnham Committee later today.
Academic year 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 Full-time and sandwich course students in residence at: University of Wales 5,618 6,600 7,115 7,920 8,171 Former colleges of education 2,660 2,670 2,633 2,217 Not available Residential places provided in other further education establishments including the Polytechnic of Wales 1,374 1,438 1,557 1,557 1,557