Clause 32
Education and Inspections Bill
3:45 pm
Sarah Teather (Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Education & Skills; Brent East, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Member for Bury, North seeks to strengthen the role of parent councils. It would not matter if parent councils were merely an advisory body, had not parents’ voice on governing bodies been diminished by earlier clauses of the Bill. I have placed on record my desire not to see a reduction in the number of elected parents on governing bodies. I sympathise greatly with the hon. Gentleman’s desire to strengthen the role of parent councils, given the reduction in the number of parent governors, but avoiding the latter would have been more desirable.