§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he intends to take to ensure that the provisions of the Education Act 1944 whereby local authorities must provide full-time further education for 16 to 19-year-olds who request it are carried out; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneWhether local authorities must provide under the Education Acts full-time further education for 16 to 19-year-olds who request it is a matter for the courts, not for my right hon. and learned Friend. However, both he and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and the local authority associations agreed that a joint review was required of the law as it relates to further education. He stated the outcome of this review in his reply to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Sir W. van Straubenzee) on 17 June.