§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on proposals(a) to amend the Education Reform Act 1988 and (b) to issue new orders under the Act. [18585]
§ Mrs. GillanThe Education Act 1996, which is a consolidated Act, made amendments to and superseded most of the Education Reform Act 1988. The Education Bill, which was introduced in the House on 30 October 1996, proposes amending section 218 of the ERA, which concerns the employment of teachers and others in positions involving regular contact with young people under the age of 19.
Part III of the ERA confers a number of order-making powers on the Secretary of State. The Government have recently consulted about proposals to exercise those powers in order to relax conditions on certain former Inner London education authority properties which were transferred to the inner-London boroughs.