§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about the selection procedure to be adopted for grant-maintained schools which may be formed after the enactment of the Education Reform Bill, particularly when the number of applications for entry exceeds the standard number.
§ Mr. DunnA school which applies to my right hon. Friend for grant-maintained status will have to provide information on its physical capacity and state the arrangements it proposes to adopt in respect of the admission of pupils if the application is approved. The articles of government of each grant-maintained school, which will be made by my right hon. Friend, will set out the school's admission policy, will provide for appeals against decisions on admissions, and will provide for details of the admissions arrangements to be published each year. Admissions arrangements must include the criteria the governors would use in deciding among applicants if the school was oversubscribed. If the school's admissions arrangements when it was a local authority school did not allow for the selection of pupil by reference to ability or aptitude, the prohibition on such selection criteria will apply at the date of the school's transfer to grant-maintained status. Other criteria for deciding priorities might refer, for example, to the distance of an applicant's home from the school, or to the presence of a brother or sister in the school.