§ Mr. Leighasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has received about Her Majesty's Government's policy towards parental choice in education; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Chris PattenI received many interesting suggestions from my hon. Friends during the debate on 13 March at columns 1159–1202 and set out the present position when I replied to it.
The Government aim to maximise parental choice and, at the same time, to secure cost-effective provision. The Education Act 1980 embodied new and generally welcome arrangements, which continue in force, towards these ends.
Parental choice is enhanced by improvements in the quality of school provision. The Government's broad-ranging policies to secure this were set out in the White Paper "Better Schools" (Cmnd. 9469) published last March. In particular, parental influence on schools is to be increased by the reconstitution of governing bodies and other measures, as in the Bill currently before Parliament.