§ 18. Mr. AdleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on progress with the implementation of the Government's education reforms.
§ Mr. ForthThe Government are continuing to make rapid progress in implementing the important changes introduced in the Education Reform Act 1988 and in subsequent legislation. We have made steady progress in implementing the national curriculum; we have taken measures to ensure that schools admit pupils up to the limit of their capacity; we have introduced schemes of local management for schools and colleges; we have given schools the chance to opt out of local authority control; we have established city technology colleges; we have reformed further and higher education.
Under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, further education and sixth-form colleges will be transferred from local authority control on 1 April 1993 to a new further education sector and will be funded direct by new national further education funding councils. The Act also established a single funding structure for higher education and enabled institutions other than present universities to award degrees and adopt university titles. In 1992 we took steps to ensure greater openness about the performance of individual schools and announced plans to give schools a bigger say in initial teacher training. Measures to support the growing number of grant-maintained schools will be introduced later this year.