§ Mr. Christopher Hawkinsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, further to his announcement in respect of maintained special schools, Official Report, 6 December 1983, c. 97, whether a date has yet been set for the mandatory application of the 1980 Education Act's school government provisions to the remaining maintained schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir Keith JosephSubstantial progress on a voluntary basis has already been made with the reconstitution of school governing bodies in accordance with the Education Act 1980. After consulting the local authority associations, nationally representative voluntary bodies and other interested parties, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I have decided that the school government provisions of the Education Act 1980 should be applied to all the schools from 1 September 1985. An appropriate order will be made in due course. From 1 September 1985 every maintained school will be required to have its own governing body (except to the limited extent that schools may continue to be grouped) which shall include directly elected parent and teacher governors.