§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will seek to extend the arrangements for parental preferences in section 6(5)(a) of the Education Act 1980 to colleges of further education.
§ Dr. BoysonMy right hon. and learned Friend does not intend to do so. The provisions in the Education Act 1980 to which the hon. Member refers are appropriate to primary and secondary schools, rather than to the system of voluntary application by the students themselves for admission to colleges, which characterises further education, it is for the college, depending, for example, on the suitability both of the course in question and of the applicant, to decide whether to admit a student.