§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the role of local government in delivering better quality secondary education. [25927]
§ Mr. TimmsOur White Paper, "Schools—Achieving Success" made clear that local education authorities are key partners in delivering our aims to transform secondary education and raise standards throughout the schools system.
LEAs have a central role to play in providing local leadership and strategic planning, and in the critically important tasks of supporting school improvement, challenging under-achievement and tackling school failure. In addition, it is important that they secure 222W cost-effective services for schools that allow them to concentrate on delivering improved standards and that they are free to innovate.