§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement concerning his policy on rural schools.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsMy right hon. Friend's policy on rural schools is that they should provide the best possible quality of education for children in rural areas. The Welsh Office is supporting, through education support grants, projects to improve the quality and range of the curriculum provided in rural schools. We are also supporting research undertaken by Powys local education authority into the effectiveness of ways of providing support to small rural schools.
I have consulted interested bodies on a draft circular on the organisation of school provision: "Providing for Quality: the Pattern of Organisation to Age 19" and I am considering the comments received.
Where proposals for the closure of rural schools come before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales they are decided on the merits of the individual case, taking account of all the evidence and in particular the effects of the proposals on the quality of education provided.