Fourth Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation
Tuesday 27 July 1999
[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair]
Education (Head Teachers) Regulations 1999
10.30 am
Mr. James Clappison (Hertsmere): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the Education (Head Teachers Regulation s 1999 (S.I. 1999, No. 1287).
May I say at the outset what a great pleasure it is to serve under you again, Mr. O'Hara, to consider this important piece of secondary legislat ion in respect of which several questions arise. Those questions arise for me as a layperson in the matter. The majority of members of the Committee are laypersons—although at least one may be able to give us some expert views as a former head teacher. The statutory instrument will be of interest to head teachers in schools throughout the country as well as to governing bodies and parents.
This secondary legislation is consequent on provisions in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 covering schools with head teachers for separate departments within a school—schools that are divided into junior and infant departments. Under the 1998 Act, schools will be unable to appoint separate head teachers for junior and infant departments in one school. Only one head may now be appointed.
The statutory instrument concerns transitional arrangements for schools organised in separate departments with head teachers for each department. Under regulation 3, no new heads of department are to be appointed and no schools are to be reorganised into separate departments with separate head teachers. When a post of head teacher of a department becomes vacant, that post will cease to exist and there will be a single head teacher. Under regulation 4, schools organised into departments with two head teachers may continue with separate head teachers for the time being or until one of them retires. Regulation 5 deals with the appointment of a single head teacher when one falls to be appointed.
We have several questions about the statutory instrument. Will the Minister tell us how many schools are covered by the regulations—how many schools are organised in separate departments with separate head teachers? That is an interesting starting point.
We are told that there is protection for schools that have two head teachers, unless one of the posts becomes vacant, and that that protection will run from 1 September this year until immediately before the relevant date. Will the Minister say a little more about the relevant date—the date on which schools can no longer be organised in separate departments and can no longer exist in their present form? What is the Government's thinking on when the relevant date might be and are there any circumstances that will determine when the relevant date will be fixed?
We should like to know more about the procedures for appointing a single head teacher under regulation 5. We have been told that if one head retires or leaves, the governing body or the local education authority may appoint the remaining head as head teacher of the whole school to cover both departments. What will happen when the head of a junior school retires or leaves but the head of the infant school does not want to take responsibility for the whole school? What will be the remaining head's job? Will he or she remain on a preserved salary with preserved pension rights? What authority will that person have in his or her department as a head who has stayed on but who has chosen not to apply for the post of single head? Will it be possible to adopt a straightforward teaching role or will there be other responsibilities? What role will that person have in the school of which he or she was formerly a head teacher?
Where do deputy head teachers fit in? If the post of a single head teacher is established in a school that has deputy head teachers in separate departments, will the deputies retain the role of deputy head? What will happen to a deputy head teacher if a remaining head of a department declines to seek appointment to the post of single head but stays on in his or her school in a new role? Will the deputy head remain in post beneath the remaining head, or will the deputy head have authority over the remaining head? That will interest both deputy heads and head teachers.
In the same vein, what will happen to the head teacher's role as a governor if a head teacher stays on in his or her department without becoming the head of the whole school? That is of particular interest to head teachers who, under the old arrangements, are school governors. When the post of one of the heads becomes vacant and the other decides not to apply for the post of single head, will the remaining head teacher continue to be a member of the governing body even though he or she is no longer a head and has a new role?
Finally, what representations have been received by the Government on the transitional provisions? I appreciate that they are transitional measures to protect the role of head teachers under the new arrangements but, having combed through debates on legislation that established the framework for single heads for two departments, I realise that this issue has not been ventilated at great length in the House, although it is of interest to many people outside. Perhaps the Minister will say more about that.
Mr. Don Foster (Bath): May I just remind the hon. Gentleman that during the Committee stage of the School Standards and Framework Bill, we were given an assurance by the then Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Ms Morris), that there would be consultation? She said:
``We shall report to the House on that consultation.''—[Official Report, Standing Committee A, 10 February 1998; c. 439.]
Is he aware of the House being given information on that consultation?
Mr. Clappison: I can only say to the hon. Gentleman that, having combed through the maze of regulations, including statutory instruments, I know that the subject has not been ventilated at great length. Perhaps the Minister will take this opportunity to say more about that, as well as answering the detailed questions that legitimately arise from the statutory instrument.
The Parliamentary Under-Searetary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Charles Clarke) rose—
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough) rose—
The Chairman: Order. Is this an intervention?
Mr. Clappison: I have finished my speech, Mr. O'Hara.
The Chairman: In that case, I call the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis).
10.40 am
Mr. Willis: I did not realise that the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) had finished, Mr. O'Hara. I welcome you to the Chair, and I hope that after these speedy Committee proceedings you will have an excellent holiday. I wish the Minister well in the reshuffle later today, and I trust that his efforts in the Department will be rewarded.
Mr. Stephen Pound (Ealing, North): Get on with it.
Mr. Willis: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his encouragement, given in the holiday spirit.
The hon. Member for Hertsmere was right in saying that I have not only a personal interest in this matter, but personal experience. In 1992, I was head teacher of a high school on a site that also
contained a middle school undergoing reorganisation under the previous Government's reorganisation plans. I was appointed head of the new school and took on 60 new staff: three deputies and five senior teachers, not one of whom was appointed either by myself, the remains of the management team or the governors. That was completely unacceptable, and we are pleased that the Government have tightened up the regulations regarding reorganisation, especially this thorny issue concerning schools in which two departments are on the same site. That issue needed to be dealt with and we are broadly supportive of the thrust of the Government's aims.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) makes the valid point that we were promised consultation on the matter. I spoke to the head teachers' associations yesterday, none of which has been formally consulted. To be fair to the Minister, that is not the way in which the he normally works. I hope that it was an oversight rather than a change of policy, as there is normally good consultation with the bodies whose members are directly affected.
I will not repeat the questions raised by the hon. Member for Hertsmere, because he has mentioned most of the issues that we wanted to raise. However, one further matter that concerns us is the appointment of a single head teacher covered in paragraphs (2) and (3) of regulation 5. The opening sentence of both paragraphs contains the word ``may''. Regulation 5(2) states:
``The governing body of an aided or a voluntary aided school may, after consulting the local education authority, appoint the sole remaining head teacher''.
Regulation 5(3) goes on:
``The local education authority may on the recommendation of the governing body...appoint the sole remaining head teacher''.
Will the Minister explain the significance of the word ``may''? It seems to suggest that there will be conditions attached to the governing body's ability to appoint. In that case, will there be specific criteria for the appointment of the sole remaining head teacher? If so, who will establish them? Will it be the governing body, the local education authority or the Secretary of State?
Conversely, what will be the criteria for not appointing? There will be occasions on which a deliberate decision will be taken not to appoint, because the governing body feels that the remaining head teacher is not the right person for the post. What will the criteria be in such cases, and who will establish them?
If the head teacher of a section of the school wanted to be the head teacher but was deemed by the governing body and/or the LEA not to be the right person for the position, would he or she be subject to redundancy or dismissal? The hon. Member for Hertsmere asked about the protection that he or she would thereafter receive. The school might be placed in an impossible situation. Committee members who have worked in schools know how difficult it is when a member of staff is overlooked for a promotion , but more pressing difficulties arise when an acting head does not get the job that he or she wanted.
We are generally happy with the thrust of the Government's approach in this regard—it makes sound sense, and we wish them well.
10.45 am
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