HC Deb 10 April 2001 vol 366 cc576-7W
Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if it is the policy of the Government that independent appeals tribunals under section 94(6) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 should inform appellants that their decisions are binding in law. [157459]

Ms Estelle Morris

[holding answer 9 April 2001]: Paragraph 15 of Schedule 24 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 specifies what information an appeal panel must give to appellants when informing them of the panel's decision on their appeal for a school place. It does not require appeal panels to inform appellants that its decision is binding on the admission authority whose decision is the subject of the appeal.

Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the compatibility of his powers to overrule an independent appeals panel under section 94(6) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 with the United Kingdom's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. [157460]

Ms Estelle Morris

[holding answer 9 April 2001]: Section 96 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 provides local education authorities with a power of last resort to direct the admission of children to a foundation school when those children have been refused admission to, or been excluded from, all schools within a reasonable distance. Upon a referral from the governing body concerned, section 97 of the 1998 Act empowers the Secretary of State to name an alternative school in the direction. The Colne Community School was the subject of the last direction proposed by the Essex local education authority and referred to the Secretary of State. In the event, a vacancy arose and the pupil was admitted without the need for a direction.

The Court of Appeal has held, in R v. Richmond LBC ex parte JC, that the requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights are not engaged in admission appeals, because admission appeals are determinative only of parents' preferences as to the school at which they wish education to be provided for their child, rather than any civil right of the child.

Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the policy of the Government is concerning overcrowded schools, with particular reference to the Colne Community School, Essex. [157461]

Ms Estelle Morris

[holding answer 9 April 2001]: The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requires each maintained school to have a 'standard number', which is the minimum number of pupils it must admit, if there is demand. This continues a principle established in the Education Reform Act 1988. Where an individual school chooses to have a higher 'admission number', that is the minimum number of pupils it must admit, where there is demand. Once an admission number has been set, the admission authority must respect that number, unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The Colne Community School, like all other maintained schools, can refuse applications for places once the standard number, or higher admission number, has been reached. But the 1998 Act makes sensible provision for local education authorities to place children in schools which have reached their standard number, or higher admission number, if all other schools within a reasonable distance have refused the child a place or where the child has been excluded from all other schools within a reasonable distance. The alternative would mean the pupil attending a school beyond a reasonable distance.