§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make it his policy to(a) require parents wishing to change their child's school to state what the reason is for their request and (b) deny any request based on racial grounds; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthLocal authorities are required by the Education Act 1980 to enable parents to express a preference as to the school their child should attend, and 393W to give reasons for their choice. Such reasons are, quite properly, only of relevance if the school in question is oversubscribed. They will then be tested against the published admission criteria, which cannot be racial ones. In other circumstances, parents' choices should be accepted without further ado.
My right hon. Friend has said, in commending the code of practice recently produced by the Commission for Racial Equality, that racial discrimination has no place in the education service. The Department has also taken a variety of initiatives to improve the response of the education service to ethnic diversity, while the remits to the National Curriculum Council and the School Examinations and Assessment Council require them, in exercising their functions, to take account of the ethnic and cultural diversity of British society, and of the importance of promoting equal opportunities for all pupils, regardless of ethnic origin and gender.