Cllr June Longmuir Cabinet Member for Education Worcestershire County Council County Hall Spetchley Road Redditch Worcs WR5 2YA Our Ref: 040041 30 March 2004 Dear Councillor Thank you for your recent letter about the future of schools in Redditch. I was sorry to note your partial quote of David Miliband MP, the Minister for School Standards. You used one sentence of his written Parliamentary statement of 27 February 2004 outlining that it might be sensible to propose closures etc to deal with surplus places. However you failed to mention the very next sentence in the relevant paragraph. The full quote is: “In some cases it is sensible to propose closure or amalgamation. In others, surplus places can provide opportunities for extended schools providing a range of other services alongside schooling and for wider community use of school premises.” In other words, closing schools is not the only way to manage surplus places. I would have thought that, given the scale of the Redditch Review and its continuing impact on education in the Town, the County Council should be looking at minimising further disruption. The second sentence of the David Miliband quote clearly shows you the way forward. I was disappointed that you decided not to take the opportunity of your open letter to me to reassure all those interested in Redditch schools. You could have said, quite clearly, that you would not consider any proposals to close any schools in Redditch at this time. You could have agreed with me that education in Redditch would benefit from a significant period of stability. You could have said that given a period of stability and appropriate support schools would be able to continue their work to raise standards. Instead you decided to perpetuate the uncertainty that everyone connected with education in Redditch is feeling at the moment. It is the County Council’s own Education Department - under your political leadership - that is briefing Headteachers, Governors and Councillors about proposals to close schools – including surprising detail about which schools are involved, which sites will be involved etc. If you haven’t yet made a final decision, this seems grossly premature. Governing bodies are being told by your officers that they can only recruit staff on temporary contracts. Schools are writing to parents telling them which schools are proposed for closure and when it will happen. It is no wonder that the matter is front-page news. I am surprised that you don’t think it is the role of a constituency MP to represent the considerable concerns of Redditch parents and teachers to those responsible for decision-making. I understand that the Cabinet meeting of the 19 April is to discuss the Education Scrutiny Committee’s Report into the Redditch Review and its conclusions. If you remain in post, I urge you to take the opportunity of the Cabinet meeting to say that you will not countenance any proposals to shut any schools in Redditch for the foreseeable future. I hope that you will say that Redditch has suffered enough and that our schools need a significant period of stability. I hope that you will instruct your officers to manage surplus places without shutting schools. (An option that is quite clearly available to you) If the 19 April Cabinet meeting does not give clear leadership about the future for Redditch schools, the uncertainty of recent months will continue. Schools will struggle to recruit staff on temporary contracts, parents will be worried about making choices as to where to educate their children and staff will be concerned about their prospects. You have it in your power to do the right thing for Redditch. Don’t delay any longer and don’t try passing the buck again for your decisions. Yours sincerely Jacqui Smith MP | 
