HC Deb 01 July 1996 vol 280 cc290-1W
Ms Hodge

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) when she last met the chief inspector to discuss admission policy for secondary schools;[34771]

(2) what advice she received from Office of Standards in Education on the re-introduction of admission by selection to secondary schools. [34772]

Mrs. Gillan

My right hon. Friend meets the chief inspector regularly, most recently on 5 June, to discuss a range of education matters.

Mr. Butcher

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she or her ministerial colleagues have recently visited Germany to study the selection methods under which pupils are allocated to each type of secondary school in that country; and if she will make a statement. [35085]

Mrs. Gillan

No such visits have recently taken place. The White Paper "Self-government for Schools", Cm 3315, stresses the value of many different kinds of selection and specialisation in extending diversity and so giving parents more choice.