§ Mr. Freesonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will set out in the Official Report a précis of his reasons for rejecting proposals put forward by local education authorities to close and amalgamate secondary schools pursuant to the Education Act 1980.
§ Mr. DunnIn the limited number of cases where my right hon. Friend or his predecessor have rejected proposals made by local education authorities pursuant to the Education Act to close or amalgamate secondary schools it was only after most careful consideration of all the relevant financial, educational and other factors. As I explained to the right hon. Member in reply to his earlier question on 12 November 1984 at column62, among the reasons for rejection were that the proposals were not in their view in accord with their policies set out in circulars 2/80, 2/81 and 4/82, copies of which I am sending to the right hon. Member. Proposals that have been rejected have failed to take account of the general policies of my right hon. Friend and his predecessor on the curriculum and examinations, and sustaining a balance between the county and voluntary sectors, appropriate to each area, or of their particular policies of not normally approving proposals that would lead to closure or significant change of character of schools with sixth forms of proven worth; or of the need to pay particular regard to parental preference on religious or other grounds for maintaining opportunities for single sex education. Most of the proposals listed in my previous answer were rejected for one or more of these reasons and, according to the circumstances of the case, decisions may also have been influenced by factors such as the inadequacy of consultation or the extent to which amalgamated schools would have been housed in split site premises that were judged unacceptable because of particular educational and organisational difficulties that would have arisen.