Clause 39 - Determination of specified budgets of LEA
Education Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (School Standards), Department for Education and Skills; East Ham, Labour)
I can give the hon. Members for Harrogate and Knaresborough and for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) some assurances on their concerns. We all agree that schools should be consulted on financial matters. The National Association of Head Teachers certainly believes that there is a problem here. It recently carried out a survey of consultation arrangements, which concluded that a significant proportion of heads were dissatisfied with the consultation on financial matters. The sunny picture painted by the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough is not the experience of head teachers.