§ Mr. BowisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a further statement on the recommendations of the committee of inquiry into discipline in schools.
§ Mr. MacGregorWhen the committee's report was published in March last year, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced immediately his acceptance in principle of a number of its recommendations. I am now able to report the following developments
1. The management of pupil behaviour has been designated a national priority area under the local education authority training grants scheme with £1.7 million of expenditure being supported in 1990–91.2. Two new education support grant categories, to improve support services in respect of difficult pupils and to raise attendance levels in designated schools, were introduced on 1 April. In both categories, expenditure of around £2.5 million is being supported in 1990–91.3. My Department has introduced a national exclusions reporting system for a two-year period from the beginning of the summer term this year. Heads, governors and local education authorities, as appropriate, are being asked to provide information on the background to cases of permanent exclusion from LEA-maintained primary, secondary and special schools and from grant-maintained schools. Individual pupils will not be identified. In the light of the information provided we shall be deciding on the future of the existing statutory provisions on exclusion.4. The criteria for the approval of courses of initial teacher training which I published last November give practical effect to the committee's recommendations that such courses include specific training in group management, and that lecturers providing training in teaching skills should regularly update their classroom experience.The Government have also considered, as the committee recommended, whether legislation should be introduced in respect of the legal basis of teachers' authority and of parental liability for their children's civil wrongs committed while in school. We have concluded, after very careful examination of the issues, that legislative action would not be appropriate in either case.
The Government have now completed their consideration of the report. Its publication, and its circulation by my Department to local education authorities and all maintained schools, have a most useful and important impact on discussion and action by the education service in a difficult area. For its part, and apart from the specific measures my predecessor and I have announced, the Government will continue to take careful account of the committee's advice and recommendations as they develop their education policies, particularly in respect of the implementation of the national curriculum.