Monday 8 February 2010

How far does 'parliamentary privilege' extend?


The whole saga concerning MPs expenses has taken a particularly interesting turn over the last few days. The Director of Public Prosecutions, a man with the curious name of Keir Starmer (I've only come across one other person with the name 'Keir' - his last name was Hardie and he created the Labour party. Anyway, I digress..), has announced that three Labour MPs and one Tory peer will be charged under the Theft Act for their dodgy expenses claims.

Over the weekend as leading politicians were saying that the issue can now finally be put to bed (presumably because justice is finally being seen to be done), a potential shitstorm began brewing after it was suggested that the Labour MPs may invoke something called 'parliamentary privilege' - this is part of the Bill of Rights which goes back to 1689 and followed in the wake of the Glorious Revolution (Protestant William and Mary replace Catholic James II in a bloodless coup blah blah blah...). It says "that the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament." Fair enough - parliament had fought a war earlier in the century against the power of the monarchy. The Bill guaranteed the supremacy of parliament and was responsible for reforming absolutism a full century before the French tore themselves apart over the issue.

The law stuck. In 1999 a committee was set up in order to clarify several issues (nice to know our government reviews legislation regularly), one of which was the idea of "proceedings in parliament". The conclusion was that the law protected "members of both houses from being subjected to any penalty… in any court for what they have said in the course of the proceedings in Parliament."

Now, as far as I see it, whilst the word 'proceedings' is still a nebulous concept and_could_include expenses claims, the letter of the law still clearly says that MPs are protected 'for what they have said'. I agree - MPs should be able to speak their mind in the House of Commons without fear of being prosecuted for libel. However, the whole crisis of expenses in grounded not in what MPs have said, but rather in what they have_done - namely (allegedly) stolen from the British taxpayer in making fraudulent claims. Claiming expenses is an everyday 'proceeding' in the work of an MP. So, as I see it, the 1689 Act only protects MPs for any comments they make in relation to expenses, not for the act of theft itself...am I right? What is the fuss about? These guys should go down!

Some of my legal friends may wish to comment - there is a particularly useful article here.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Some thoughts on Tory education policy


In the preamble, the Tories make their usual jibes against ‘big government’ and the need to redistribute power. However, when you get into the detail they seem to be contradicting themselves. They talk about ‘more unannounced inspections’, the publication of all DCSF data and an even bigger rolling out of the Academies program, which will admittedly reduce the role of local authorities, but still I don’t think Labour or the Tories have got the right idea on interference with education. On the radio the other day a teacher with thirty years experience made an analogy with the health secretary – you wouldn’t get Andy Burnham going into an NHS hospital and telling consultants how to do their job. However, because nearly all of us have been through the state system there seems to be a constant desire to ‘tinker’ because experience gives them some sort of right. This goes all the way back to the creation of the National Curriculum by the Thatcher government in 1988. Since then the paperwork has come thick and fast; there is a constant need to be showing that you can ‘do the job’ by producing paper evidence. When I did my PGCE I handed in two ring binders worth of material at the end which probably had more of influence on whether I passed or failed than the actual classroom observations of my teaching. If someone sees you teaching properly you should be allowed to get on with it.

Cameron talks about using the Swedish model – in Sweden there is a much greater emphasis on letting the teacher get on with the job. The actual act of transmitting knowledge has been sidelined to such an extent by ‘bureaucracy’ that it’s seriously driving down the morale of teachers. The first thing that either party could do – but neither is committed as yet – is getting rid of Key Stage 2 SATs in Year 6. This would end the ‘teaching to the test’ culture that exists in Year 6 and actually allow the teachers to teach in the final year of primary school.

In Sweden, too, teachers are paid more and are held in much higher esteem. I think its something quite specific to the UK in that teachers are not considered to be as important or worthy as GPs, solicitors etc…which is surprising considering the vital role they play (how many Oxbridge graduates are teachers? Admittedly possibly more during a recession but there’s not the same ‘made it!’ success culture with teaching as there is in medicine and law). I like Cameron’s idea of making teaching ‘brazenly elitist’ but I’m sceptical, as are many teachers, that the brightest graduates make the best teachers. I think I’ve got good subject knowledge but that forms about 5% of the repertoire of a good teacher – something that I’m still learning. He also says that graduates on ITT programs will need at least a 2:2 in his government. I would be surprised if any university in the country accepts a student with a Third. Also, why is he offering to pay off the debts of maths and science graduates? Well, I suppose it’s because they’re core subjects but there’s no mention of the humanities. 70% of pupils quit history at 14 – surely that’s a problem if we’re trying to get kids thinking about ‘Britishness’, Citizenship, prejudice etc…

I support what he says about making it easier for teachers to use reasonable force to restrain pupils. The unions are in agreement that the law is currently on the side of the pupil – there have been countless careers ruined due to the false claims made by pupils of their teachers to the extent that many will refuse to take trips out of school or intervene in fights.

Finally, talking about education within the ‘theme’ of a broken society is extremely offensive to all those people who do brilliant work in schools. Any teacher reading this will be filled with doom and gloom. If the Tories want to extend Labour’s Academies surely they must have something good to say about them. Furthermore, they also claim that ‘safe classrooms, talented and specialist teachers, access to the best curriculum and exams’ are ‘currently only available to the well-off’ – what a load of bollocks! Now I admit that in poorer areas you tend to get poorer schools. That’s probably because the best teachers aren’t tempted by living in rough areas, I don’t know. However, my school is a comprehensive, some of the kids aren’t well off, some are in children’s homes, and they get a fantastic education from what is a ‘good’ school – according to Ofsted.