APPENDIX 14
Memorandum by the Department for Education
and Employment
As requested by the Select Committee on Public Administration,
I attach a Schedule (Annex A) setting out statutory obligations
on the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to consult
with the public (or provisions to a similar effect).
I should say that in most cases where the Secretary
of State is statutorily required to consult, the obligation is
to consult local education authorities and the governing bodies
of schools. The provision in question sometimes then goes on to
say that the Secretary of State must also consult such other persons
as he considers appropriate and it is these provisions that I
have set out in the Schedule.
There is never a statutory obligation as such
to consult the public at large but the Secretary of State frequently
undertakes wide ranging consultation exercises even if he is not
statutorily obliged to do so. This will often be the case in relation
to regulations which he is proposing to make. A member of the
public can obtain a copy of the consultation document and comment
on the proposals if he so wishes.
There are also various statutory provisions
which, although they do not place a statutory obligation on the
Secretary of State to consult the public, have the effect of ensuring
that the public, or those sections of it that have a particular
interest, can have a say. For example regulations under section
105(1) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 provide
for parents to be able to petition for a ballot to be held to
decide whether a grammar school should retain selective admission
arrangements.
Michael Bichard
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