Mr. Alan Lee Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when the report of the Working Group on the Management of Higher Education in the maintained sector will be published; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsThe report of this working group is being published today. I am grateful to the chairman and to all the members of the working group for the urgency and skill with which they have carried out their task.
The working group was set up just one year ago to consider measures to improve the system of management and control of higher education in the maintained sector in England and Wales and its better co-ordination with higher education in the universities. Its membership included representatives of local education authorities and of bodies representing college managements and staffs. The broad effect of its recommendations which are thorough and wide-ranging, is to provide for the establishment of a national body, composed of members representing local education authorities, college managements and staffs, and the wider public interest, to exercise overall control over higher education in establishments administered by local education authorities; for the determination by the Secretary of State, in negotiation 428W with the local authority associations, of the total amount of resources to be devoted year by year to this purpose; and for the distribution of these resources on the advice of the national body. The working group also carefully considered important matters concerning local administration, regional machinery, and the better co-ordination of the maintained sector with university higher education.
The Government believe that these proposals, taken in their entirety, mark a real advance towards a solution of the problem of forward planning and financial control of higher education in the maintained sector. I agree broadly with the report's conclusions and hope that they will point the way towards possible future action to modify the present arrangements. Before taking any steps in the matter, however, I intend, as I promised when the group was established, to consult all the various interests involved.
I am accordingly arranging for copies of the report to be widely distributed, and I look forward to receiving the views of all concerned as soon as possible.