The
Inimitable
Mrs May
(begun on a Tuesday in May, 1999, at 10.30 am)
Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead): I beg to move,
That the
Committee has considered the Education (School Organisation
Committees) (England) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999, No. 700).
The Chairman: With this it
will be convenient to consider the Education (School
Organisation Plans) (England) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999, No.
701) and the Education (Transition to New Framework) (School
Organisation Proposals) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999, No. 704).
Mrs. May: Before I make
several detailed points about the statutory instruments, I shall
explain why Opposition Members are concerned about the
introduction of the school organisation committees that the
Government put in place under the School Standards and Framework
Act 1998. I must say, however, that it is nice to see some old
faces in Committee.
The Minister for School Standards
(Ms Estelle Morris):
Getting older!
Mrs. May: Yes, getting older
at every stage. We are concerned about the structure of school
organisation committees, which show two of the trends that are
characteristic of the Government, the first being of which is an
increase in bureaucracy and administrative burdens. Why have one
committee considering an issue when there could be two? Why have
10 members of a committee when there could be 50 or 100 members?
Examples of such bureaucracy are yet again being shown in the
way in which school organisation committees are to operate. The
Government are constantly introducing structures that are
cumbersome, unwieldy, over-bureaucratic and impractical, and I
shall explain how that policy relates specifically to the
proposals that we are discussing.
The second, perhaps more sinister
and worrying, aspect of the Government's proposals is their
attempt to deny the legitimacy of decisions taken by
democratically elected representatives. Given what goes on
inside the Labour party, we are well aware that the Government
have tried to manipulate votes so that the centre of the party
here in London gets its own way. Let us consider the vote for
the Labour leadership in Wales. However, the electorate in
Falkirk, West
The Chairman: Order. May I
suggest that the hon. Lady sticks to the statutory instruments
under discussion?
Mrs. May: Thank you, Mr.
Cunningham. I had almost finished my sentence; I was saying how
the Government, through their internal arrangements, try to deny
the legitimacy of democratically taken decisions, which is what
they are doing in the introduction of school organisation
committees . . .
Continued
here