Miss Margaret Jackson: It seems to me, as it seems to my hon. Friend, that such authorities should be devoting resources to the improvement of their own schools rather than saying that they can stay as they are for most children but that a few can have a different kind of education.
Miss Margaret Jackson: I do not think that my right hon. Friend did any such thing. The hon. Gentleman and I have had this argument before. My right hon. Friend pointed out to the council what is a simple statement of fact, that it had a right to carry out expenditure of this kind, and it would not be for him to intervene, but that the policy might be a matter for the district auditor if the district auditor...
Miss Margaret Jackson: It is for the local education authority to decide what priority it is able to give to replacing old primary schools within the lump sum resources for school building allocated to it by my right hon. Friend. Two such schools are currently being replaced in the Bolsover constituency.
Miss Margaret Jackson: The existence of many old primary schools, particularly in Derbyshire, is a matter of considerable concern to us. I was not aware that the authority was running into financial difficulties. I shall inquire into the matter.
Miss Margaret Jackson: This is a matter in which the hon. Gentleman has expressed interest before. When the proposal comes before the Department, his interests and those of other people in the area will be taken into account.
Miss Margaret Jackson: The hon. Member for Brent, North (Dr. Boyson) has made an interesting contribution to the debate. The clause, however, is based on two faulty assumptions. The first, which the hon. Member hardly discussed, is that suitable tests which can be used in the way he suggests are agreed to exist. The second faulty assumption is not just that suitable methods exist for making national assessments but...
Miss Margaret Jackson: I made the point about the number of informal classes without accepting in any way the hon. Member's assumption that children in a class which operates the 11-plus perform better. Regard must be paid to the kind of tests involved. However, these are issues which are being carefully examined in the Department, and we are not leaping to any conclusions.
Miss Margaret Jackson: No. This sort of research is carried out over a considerable period of years and we could not simply wait for the results of a particular research project. I do not wish to discuss the general merits of the 11-plus since the hon. Member for Brent, North assured us that it is not linked with the intentions of the new clause. He says that the clause relates to establishing some kind of...
Miss Margaret Jackson: The hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) cannot have listened to what I said. I accept that there will be problems of adjustment for children who find it difficult to cope with secondary school work. We differ from the Opposition in our approach. Is it better to keep a child in primary school segregated from his friends because he is staying on another year and receiving remedial...
Miss Margaret Jackson: If we are talking about sloppiness, especially in our thought processes, I draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to two factors in his speech. First, he claims that we have said that nothing is wrong with our standards of education. That is singularly inaccurate, as he will realise if he reads Hansard. We have made statements about the unwisdom of the solution proposed by the hon. Member for...
Miss Margaret Jackson: I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The purpose of the Bill has been widely debated in another place and in the Press. It will give effect to the Government's undertaking to establish a public lending right for the authors of books. The new right will entitle authors to payment from public funds for the use made of their books when they are borrowed from public libraries....
Miss Margaret Jackson: As I was saying, there is no doubt that, although many suggestions have been made for a variety of schemes involving public lending right, it is easy to see that the costs of administering so complex a scheme could easily outweigh any potential advantages either to the community or to authors of any payments which could be made. The whole task of the Government in preparing for the Bill has...
Miss Margaret Jackson: I am sorry if this comes as a dreadful shock to the hon. Gentleman, but I actually wrote my speech. I realise that Conservative Members are accustomed to having a vast retinue of people, and need them, to help them com pose their speeches, whereas my hon. Friends and I are accustomed to having to help ourselves.
Miss Margaret Jackson: It might have been better if my hon. Friend had waited until we got a little further on in the debate. I do not think I can give him any clear figures. It is being suggested that quite a high proportion, perhaps 40 per cent., of the sums involved initially will account for administration. As my hon. Friend will realise, the initial cost of establishing such a scheme is likely to be very high....
Miss Margaret Jackson: That is not an easy calculation to make, as my hon. Friend may know. I am aware that my noble Friend quoted some figures in another place. This will depend on when the scheme is introduced and what the administrative costs turn out to be. It is difficult to look too far into the future. If my hon. Friend wants the figures, I will endeavour to get them for him later.
Miss Margaret Jackson: The hon. Gentleman is over-simplifying the case. It is posible to work out the overall sum available to authors on the assumption of the expected administrative costs. My hon. Friend was asking what was likely to be the average return per author. It is not a matter of dividing the number of authors into the amount available. It is possible that, on the present size of the fund, the more...
Miss Margaret Jackson: I did not say that it was a very large sum. I said that it was difficult to calculate. The amount will vary enormously depending on the popularity of the author. I gave a figure of about £10 for authors in the medium range, not authors whose books are borrowed over and over again. Obviously, the hon. Gentleman is considering figures of the same order. I cannot say that I am tremendously...
Miss Margaret Jackson: Since the debate in the other place was a couple of days or perhaps a week ago, I imagine that the hon. Gentleman is not expecting a Green Paper the day after tomorrow. My recollection of what my noble Friend said was that we would seek to have the fullest possible consultation on the detailed form of the scheme. He thought that one way that might be appropriate was to publish a Green Paper,...
Miss Margaret Jackson: Yes, but, as I have not given an indication, and do not propose to do so, of how the scheme will be worked out, because this will depend on when resources will be made available—and no time has been stated for that—the hon. Gentleman cannot expect me to give a date for publication of a discussion document. If Conservative Members will be a little more patient, we might come to this...
Miss Margaret Jackson: I hope that the hon. Gentleman is aware that the argument he is now advancing is to the effect that the Bill should not have been introduced. If he wishes to see the Bill on the statute book, he would do well not to press his suggestion that the measure should not have been introduced at all until the scheme had been worked out. If he has now changed his mind from the impression he gave...