HC Deb 11 December 1996 vol 287 cc239-40W
28. Mr. Jamieson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on her policy in respect of corporal punishment in the independent school sector. [7079]

Mr. Forth

We do not support any change in the present law which prohibits the use of corporal punishment for publicly funded pupils in independent schools. It is, however, still permissable for parents of privately funded pupils in independent schools on grounds of parental freedom to choose a school with disciplinary arrangements of which they approve. But where it is administered, the law requires that such punishment must not be inhuman or degrading.