§ 40. Mr. Whitakerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will take steps to ensure that appointments to school management committees are in future made not on a basis of political allegiance but on merit and representation of the community.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerI agree with the views of the Plowden Council that the aim should be to appoint school managers who are genuinely concerned with education and prepared to devote time and trouble to it. But this is a matter which under present legislation, lies in the discretion of appointing bodies. The research now being undertaken by the London University Institute of Education with grant aid from my Department into the functions of managing and governing bodies will, when it is complete, give me an opportunity to review the wider aspects of this question.