My Lords, I rise to address the most vexed issue of the day so far as schools are concerned. In an interview for the Evening Standard on 3rd October 1996, the then shadow Education Secretary, David Blunkett, stated:

"We will increase delegation to schools and cut down on town hall bureaucracy".

Only now are the Government talking about cutting down bureaucracy after five years of massively increasing it. While we are discussing a Bill that will generate an unprecedented amount of bureaucracy, regulations, circulars, guidance and so forth, we are also still discussing a reduction in the burden of paperwork.

Over the 12 months to March 2002, the Government issued to primary and secondary schools documents totalling 4,440 pages. That represents 17 pages of government documentation for every single working day. That information came from a parliamentary Answer from the Government. A recent report published by the National Union of Teachers found that 57.8 per cent of teachers leaving the profession cited workload as one of the most important reasons for their departure. Despite that, the Secretary of State, Estelle Morris, claimed recently that reducing paperwork would not help teachers. She stated:

"I say to the House and to head teachers that sending teachers less paper will [not] raise standards".—[Official Report, Commons, 10/1/02; col. 661.]

It is my contention that sending schools less paper would give them more time to do what they should be doing; that is, running the schools and teaching the children. I beg to move.