HC Deb 17 November 1997 vol 301 cc29-30W
Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of the responses not submitted on the tear-off slips to the White Paper, "Excellence in schools", came from(a) representative organisations, (b) local education authorities, (c) LEA-maintained schools, (d) grant-maintained schools and (e) individuals. [16375]

Mr. Byers

We received over 8,000 responses to the White Paper of which some 3,500 were written responses to the full version. The remainder were a combination of tear-off slips and other forms of communication.

Of the 3,500, 138 were from Local Education Authorities and about 600, 2,100 and 700 came from representative organisations, schools and individuals respectively. A breakdown between grant-maintained and LEA-maintained schools is not currently available.

Most responses addressed issues from more than one chapter and many ranged beyond the specific questions posed. There was broad support for the contents of the White Paper.

We continue to consider all the responses in detail.

Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many local education authorities, commenting on Chapter 7 of the White Paper "Excellence in schools", expressed(a) support for and (b) opposition to the proposed framework of community, aided and foundation schools; and in each case, how many (i) were and (ii) were not Labour controlled; [16053]

(2) how many responses to the White Paper, "Excellence in schools", expressed (a) support for and (b) opposition to the proposed framework of community, aided and foundation schools; [16374]

Mr. Byers

[holding answer 14 November 1997]The White Paper "Excellence in schools", published in July, has received widespread support from national organisations, LEAs, schools and others. Some 140 local education authorities have commented on Chapter 7 and/or the Technical Consultation Paper on the new framework for schools. Of these, around 30 per cent. either expressed support for the basic framework of community, foundation and aided schools or took it as their starting point, of which around half are Labour-controlled authorities. Some 70 per cent. of LEAs raised concerns about the foundation school category, of which some two thirds are Labour-controlled authorities.

We are currently considering all the responses in detail. The analysis to date indicates that, of some 1,500 responses to the Technical Consultation Paper (in addition to those from LEAs) the great majority did not comment explicitly on the framework. Of the some 300 responses which did comment, some 70 per cent. were content with the proposed foundation category for schools.