§ Mr. Parrisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement as to the future of the two central advisory councils as provided for in section 4 of the Education Act 1944; and if he plans to seek any change in the requirements in section 5 that he should make an annual report to Parliament.
§ Sir Keith JosephIn its response to the second report from the Education, Science and Arts Committee, Session 1981–82 (Cmnd. 8648) the Government concluded that there is no need for separate and permanent central advisory councils and that they would take the first legislative opportunity to repeal Section 4 of the Education Act 1944. As explained then, successive Secretaries of State have found it more effective to charge committees of inquiry or independent individuals with specific remits for advice than to refer to permanent councils. The Education Bill introduced in another place therefore includes the proposal that the provision in the Education Act 1944 for two central advisory councils for education be repealed.
The Bill also proposes the repeal of the provision which requires the holder of my office to make an annual report
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England Thousands Year(3) Teaching Staff(1) Non-teaching staff(2) Schools(3) Further Education(4) Miscellaneous/Divided(5) Universities(6) Local Authority Education Services Universities(7) 1960 Full time (9) 259 (10) 21 3 (11) 14 76 .. Part-time: Numbers .. .. .. .. 86 .. FTE(12) .. .. .. .. .. .. 1970 Full-time (13) 351 57 2 33 170 .. Part-time: Numbers .. .. .. .. 352 .. FTE(12) (14) 22 .. .. .. .. .. 1980 Full-time 466 76 4 43 190 43 Part time Numbers (15) 53 .. .. 2 456 20 FTE(12) (15) 23 (16) 22 .. .. 197 9 1984 Full-time 442 78 4 42 170 34 to Parliament. The report generates little interest because most of the facts and statistics contained in it halve already been reported to Parliament, or made public in other ways. It no longer justifies the commitment of time and cost made by the Department in its preparation. The bibliography to the chapter relating to the Department in the annual public expenditure White Paper provides a reference point for the main publications about education and science.