Education (Hansard, 3 November 1988)

§ Mr. Wigley
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will seek to amend the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 in order to require local education authorities in Wales to provide governing bodies for Welsh language units located on the campus of English medium primary schools, in order to receive the same protection under that Act as is afforded to Welsh language primary schools with regard to governing bodies.

§ Mr. Wyn Roberts
No. I do not consider it appropriate for there to be separate governing bodies for units within schools.

§ Mr. Wigley
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consents he has given under section 10 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 for the grouping of primary schools which have a significant difference between them in the use of the Welsh language, for the purposes of establishing governing bodies; and why each was deemed appropriate.

§ Mr. Wyn Roberts
No consents have been given for the grouping of Welsh medium schools with English medium schools. I have given consent for five groups of Gwent schools each of which include a school with a Welsh medium unit. In each case the former governing body had no objection. Moreover, Gwent LEA is in the process of reviewing Welsh medium primary education in the county and hopes to move towards a system of Welsh primary schools rather than units, which, if implemented, will result in separate governing bodies being established for each of the Welsh primary schools. The proposals were, therefore, considered by the LEA to be a short-term measure.

§ Mr. Wigley
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what advice he has given to local education authorities concerning the desirability of Welsh units located on the same campus as English language primary schools, being enabled to have their own governing bodies to reflect their differing education interests and their separate catchment areas.

§ Mr. Wyn Roberts
General advice on the implementation of the provisions of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 which relate to governing bodies is given in Welsh Office circular 12/87. In this context a Welsh-medium unit is not considered to be a separate school and no specific advice has been given on the treatment of Welsh units located on the same campus as English language primary schools.