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Centre For Information And Advice On Educational Disadvantage

Volume 995: debated on Tuesday 5 February 1980

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7.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will reconsider his policy on future grant-aid to the Centre for Information and Advice on Educational Disadvantage following the recent submission from its governing body.

I am giving careful consideration to the detailed document received recently from the centre's governors and will be writing to them shortly.

Will the Secretary of State bear in mind that the unit has been in existence for four years and that it is run on a small amount of money—less than £300,000 per annum? Will he further take into account the fact that the unit has carried out many important projects on the welfare, counselling and education of the disadvantaged? The unit has received splendid support from teaching unions and from schools. Does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that it is scandalous that he should suggest closing the unit, when he has not visited it? Will he ensure that someone visits the unit before any decision is made about its closure?

Any decision to close any unit is worrying. However, as the hon. Lady said, the unit costs £300,000. From advice that I received about its achievements, and bearing in mind that its expectations must be based on the relatively limited resources that are likely to be available, I concluded that even that amount of expense was unjustified. I came to the conclusion that there were better ways of achieving those ends. However, since then I have received a letter from the governors, and I am considering their points.

Does my right hon. and learned Friend appreciate that many people have considerable respect for the work produced by the centre, but have genuine reservations and doubts about whether its advice is getting to schools? That is the area of anxiety.

That is true. I felt that the centre was not being widely used by local education authorities, and that it had not been so used in its lifetime. I do not denigrate those who work there. The centre was given an almost impossible task, given the size of its budget.

Has the Minister, or have his hon. Friends, visited the centre to assess the work that it is doing? If not, on what basis was his assessment made? Has he had consultations with the local authorities, including many Conservative-controlled authorities, which are using the centre on an increasing scale? If the Minister believes that the centre's work is not adequately benefiting schools, does he agree that the answer is to increase its funding not to close it?

The hon. Lady in the last part of her question put the dilemma that faces me. On the advice that I have received, I do not believe that the centre, with its present funding, can meet the remit that it has been given. We are faced with the problem of either vastly increasing its expenditure, which I do not believe can be justified, or considering whether it has a continuing valid life.

I have not visited the centre, nor, as far as I know, have my hon. Friends. We obviously have to take account of the advice that we are given. On 5 December the delegation that came to see me included among its governing body representatives of the local education authority.