Twigg calls for central-local 'partnership'
Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg has pledged to “restore a partnership between local and central government” over schools.
In a speech to the Labour Party conference on Thursday, Mr Twigg said he would allow good local authorities to set up new schools.
He said every school should have “the freedom to innovate,” which included shaping their own curriculum and setting the length of their school day.
He also called for an end to what he called the “chaos and waste” caused by some free schools.
Talking about free schools, he said: “On the one hand, some of them are good… Labour can’t be against schools that drive up standards and narrow the gap in life chances. But there are serious problems.”
Mr Twigg accused education secretary Michael Gove of thinking that “the way to build new schools is to throw darts at a map,” and argued that free schools should “engage with local parents and communities, and you won’t end up with the chaos and waste of schools that don’t open or are half empty.”
He did not outline more details of how the “partnership” between local and central government would work.
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