§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is their policy that school governors' ballots on opting out should be secret and, if so, what is the rationale for this.
§ The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Blatch)We intend to amend the Education (School Government) Regulations 1989 to require secret voting by school governors on the question of whether a ballot of parents should be held on the issue of grant-maintained status for their school. The regulations apply to England and Wales only.
This measure is being introduced to help prevent individual governors being put under unreasonable pressure from any quarter when voting on the important issue of whether to hold a parental ballot.