asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consider introducing an experimental scheme by which parents of children attending schools in pockets of deprivation in the inner city would be employed part-time to help teachers in the classroom and generally get involved in the running of the school and the supervision of the playground; and if he will make a statement.

I welcome the involvement of parents in school activities on a voluntary basis, but in present circumstances I cannot comtemplate encouraging an increase in the number of people employed by local education authorities.