The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 3

HOME NEWS THE GUARDIAN Thursday June 11 1987 Right wing plans for schools look set to he Tory policy Sarah Boseley finds evidence that the proposed reforms of education may be more radical than admitted Museum imposes limits on school visits By Martin Wainwrieht ning of market forces which would force LEAs to provide the sort of schools parents want, he claims. The third step, he antici- Eates, could be accomplished the end of the next term of government in four of five years. All parents would be given an education credit, which they would spend at any school they choose instead of opting out," they would be opting in if they wanted an LEA-controlled school for their child. So we have arrived at the voucher system all over again. Asked if he thinks the Tories will continue down the road he has meticulously charted, Mr Sexton says he thinks they will want to assess the results at each stage.

would draw more private money into education. Mr Sexton believes that permitting schools, with parental backing, to become independent of LEAs and funded by direct grant from central government is only a first step towards a form of privatisation of the education service. The further steps, he writes, must be taken slowly and carefully to avoid controversy and present the eventually fully privatised system to the public as the logical progression. Firstly, parents must be accustomed to the idea that a certain sum of money is spent by the state on each child's education this is per capita funding, and the' Conservatives have said this is how the schools which opt out are to be financed. Mr Sexton suggests notional figures of 750 per year for primary age children, 1,200 per year for 11 to 16-year-olds, and 1.600 for sixth formers.

He writes The essence of this stage is to set the unit per capita cum at a sensible figure which the public at large can readily understand and accept as being reasonable." A national figure would be worked out, but in the early years it would be necessary to allow regional variations to accommodate differences But the proposals bear a striking resemblance to the Tory plans, and take them much further than Mrs Thatcher has yet admitted she is inclined to go. The proposals would make sense of the jumble of Conservative pronouncements on fees. Alongside giving heads control of their budgets which the Tories want to do Mr Sexton proposes changing the law to allow state maintained schools to make reasonable charges, not for the education itself offered at the school, but for the For many years, he says, local education authorities (LEAs) charged for music les EVIDENCE that the proposed reforms of state education may go further than the Conservatives have, yet admitted is to be found in a document written by Mr Stuart Sexton, policy adviser to Sir Keith Jospeh, who preceded Mr Kenneth Baker as Education Secretary. Mr Sexton says the proposals in his document caled Our Schools A Radical Policy and published by the Institute of Economic Affairs in March were being drawn up in Sir Keith's time. Their tenor reflects the thinking of rightwing educational organisations, such as the Hillgate group and the No Turning Back Group of Tory backbench MPs he says.

Company at odds with council on planning consent BNFL may seek prison for pipeline protesters sons and Solihull used to charge for swimming lessons, but the courts ruled such payments illegal under the 1944 Education Act, which said that every child must receive a free education. It was also theoretically illegal to charge for geography or history trips, yet Mr Seaton contends that without parental contributions many of these could not now be afforded. He goes on to argue that there are many parents who would top up the amount the state pays for their child to be educated, in order for that child to go to the sort of school they want. Such part-fee paying parents branch was fined 50,000 for contempt and the judge waiucu mai iit; wuuia nut ue so lenient next time. At that time Greenpeace failed in its attempt to block the pipe.

BNFL was criticised yester day by Copeland Council for gumg aneaa wuii a new lauiu- active pipeline for its Sellafield works without planning permission. The company planned to put in a new pipe as an emergency measure so that it could continue discharging into the Irish Sea even if Greenpeace blocked its other pipelines. In the event Greenpeace blocked one pipe and damaged a second but left a third still usable. However, having boueht the material. BNFL de cided to go ahead and install a luurui yipeime iu uase was attacked The council demanded yesterday to know why the company was acting without planning permission.

The company believe it can discharge its waste under royal charter. Mr Bernard Hellier, deputy glanning officer for Copeland ouncil. said engineering works on the foreshore needed planning permission whoever owned the land. make us strong and successful." If. the stoppages continued the future of the proposed 90 million pit at Margam, West Glamorganshire, could be called into question.

Since 1985 South Wales had attracted 120 million in new investment. With the new spirit of cooperation over the Margam project, British Coal has been looking towards South Wales as a new growth area for coal. Mr Malcolm Edwards, British Coal's commercial director, told mining engineers in Mansfield last night that the tide of foreign imports was being turned back. Importers had made a determined effort to capture UK industrial markets during and after the miners' strike. By Paul Brown British Nuclear Fuels is to ask the High Court for sequestration of assets of parts of the Greenpeace organisation and possible imprisonment of personnel for breach of an injunc-' tion restraining them from interfering with the pipeline discharging Sellafield waste into the Irish Sea.

Yesterday the company made an application for legal costs against the Greenpeace organisation Sirius, which owns the shiD whose crew blocked the pipeline last week. Extensions of the injunction against the captain of the ship, Mr Willem Beekman, and the leader of the campaign, Mr Han Guyt, were granted by the court. Neither was represented. ureenpeace metneriana gave an undertaking to the High Court that it would not again damage the pipeline or otherwise interfere with it, and an injunction against the organisation was withdrawn without prejudice to a damages claim. A similar unaertaKing was given oy the Greenpeace Council on Monday.

The in junction is still outstanding against tne sinus. Mr reter usDorne, tor Stoppages THE Kfatnt-al Hieinm Mi muu M0tvrjkJ is to follow its imposition of wl(UBco uuuuug me number of school parties blue whale and other galleries wmcn nave Deen a ionaon treat for children since 1881. From next term only 1,000 be admitted each day and unDooKea scnooi groups arnv- uis aiier tne limit nas Deen reached will be refused entry. a museum where giggling crocooues 01 cnuaren nave al ways Deen a ieature, is ai- charges, from which school parties are exempt, ah internal memo to the museum trustees, when they met to consider the plan, advised Now that the museum is charging admission for most categories of visitors, the inconvenience and irritation caused by this overcrowding (Dy scnooi groups; is a serious matter." A briefing paper to the trustees also referred to the children as difficult to control adn describes "the repulsion of paying visitors, who com- Elain they cannot see the exhibits or find the musem environment unpleasant." The museum, which is facing relentless pressure from government budget cuts, said yesterday that the limit was the result of complaints from schools which found it difficult to provide a studious atmosphere for pupils if the galleries were overcrowded and noisy. The museum is writing to all local education authorities to emphasise the need to guarantee visits by booking which allows staff to prepare picnicking rooms and free information packs.

Schools which apply for fully-booked days will be asked to choose alternative dates. The trustees rejected two other options charging admission to schools and admitting school parties in the morning only. They heard that daily numbers had risen as high as 2,279 (on April 7), with possibly another 400 on the same day in unbooked parties The briefing to the trustees warned that things would get worse, with science now being promoted at a younger age and because many mi- I mary school-teachers feel themselves ill-equipped to teach science and one way out for them is to bring the children to the museum." The trustees were told about thoughtless damage to exhibits, although this conflicts with a statement from the museum yesterday, in connection with a separate plan to boost funds by Turing the galleries as an in place for private parties, that there was no record of serious damage by visitors. The Institution of Professional Civil Servants, which represents scientific and curatorial staff at the museum, described the move as offensive." 1 Han Guyt: leading campaign BNFL, said the company would present evidence to the High Court of breach of the injunction. It would be asking for damages, probably sequestration of the Greenpeace assets, and possible imprisonment of Mr Guyt and Mr Beekman.

In addition, the company was considering a civil action for damages for the costs of repairing the pipeline. In 1983, when BNFL asked for sequestration of Greenpeace assets, the UK put S. Wales pits at risk, warns British Coal between high and low-spending LEAs. That must be phased out as soon as possible, he says. It is worth noting that the opted-out schools are initially to be funded on the basis of the amount spent per head by the LEA.

Once parents are used to the idea of per capita funding, they will be allowed to opt to take that state subsidy as an Education credit at another school rather than one run by the LEA in other words, at an independent school or at an opted-out school. More independent and grant maintained schools would open the begin will run from June 20 to August 31. Tne Lindisfarne Gospels were written and illuminated for "God and for St Cuthbert by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne (698-721) probably to honour the original placing of the saint's relics Picture by Hamilton West Pulling the wool over their ears From Joe Joyce in Dublin THE Irish broadcasting service RTE was left looking a little sheepish yesterday over an apparently horrific real-life adventure which turned out to have been not quite so dramatic Six people equipped with basic implements at the SAS survival manual were sent into the desolate Inagh valley in Connemara to live off their wits for a week and provide daily reports of their progress Every morning, after breakfast, listeners were treated to increasingly graphic accounts of the ordeal endured by the six adventurers The high, or low, point came when one of the group, a radio disc jockey, reported how they had been forced to kill and eat a young iamb. Animal lovers raised ah immediate outcry over this barbaric behaviour. But it has now emerged in the Dail, Ireland's Parliament, that the listeners', rage was unnecessary.

According to the Justice Minister, Mr Gerry Collins, a police inquiry had found that the lamb had been shot and prepared for cooking for the group by the farmer who owned it. about renumeration for the 24-hour duty solicitor arrrangements, which are separate from court cover. These enable a defendant to summon help at a police station Mr Simon Hillyard, of the Law Society's legal aid department, said that in larger, busier courts it was normal for a solicitor to be always in hand in case of need. But in smaller courts like Wimborne, which do not sit daily, a solicitor could be called in as necessary. Parties 'fudged' problems of NHS By Peter Hildrew, Social Services Correspondent Some system of rationing in the National Health Service was inevitable, the president of the Institute of Health Services Management, Miss Barbara Young, said yesterday.

Politicians should acknowledge that not every expectations could be met, but all the party manifestos had fudged the issue, she told the annual conference of health service managers in Harrogate. The collision between ever- rising demand for treatment and resources available would be a problem for whichever party won tne election, ana throwing pound notes at it was not the answer. Miss Young, general manager of Paddington and North Kensington health authority, said that the rationing issue was effectively being dumped on doctors, nurses, receptionists and porters. They had to tell patients why they must wait, why conditions were unsatisfactory, or why some sorts of treatment were not available. It surfaced in public at health authority meetings when rational choices on priority presented by district managers appeared to the public as undeniable unmet demands.

We must stop inflicting this burden on staff at local level she said. While the health service was extending its range of treatment, the increasing numbers of elderly required more health service support: If sensible political choices are ever to be made on future patterns and funding of health care, there must oe an open and public acknowledgement of the resource collision at national and regional levels." The NHS was a technically excellent services delivered at exceptional value for money compared with other countries. But britain still had to examine all possible forms of financing health care Miss young, aged 39, the first woman president in the institute's 94-year history, warned that the NHS faced a crisis of manpower supply for tne next iu years, ne complained that staffing plans for hospital doctors and nurses appeared to be based on acts of faith." Around 50 people are on board the 3,700 ton ferry, the Earl William, which the Home Office has said can house up to 120. The first detainees were moved there last month, and each is awaiting a decision by Mr Hurd on whether they can begin new lives in Britain. The Government has said little about the ferry since the plan for its use was disclosed in the Guardian in March.

Mr Hurd assured MPs in the Commons that it was the most effective and economic way to provide more detention accommodation for immigration purposes quickly." Sealink and the Home Office declined yesterday to discuss their contract. Both cited deprived backgrounds. The survey, published by the National Union of Public Employees, says that 78 per cent of heads and teachers were severely critical of the quality of private caterers meals. Ninety-one per cent said there was no sign of evidence to back claims by the authority that its abolition of the school meals service in 1984 would create extra funds for books and equipment. A Malvern primary head said yesterday that this was a highly unusual situation, though solicitors were always free to decide for themselves whether to take part in the scheme.

We should be extremely concerned if there were any area of the country where a defendant could not get legal advice," a spokesman said. The Wimborne magistrates' clerk, Mr John Slow, who is responsible for the administration of benches in six areas, said he was satisfied that the NEWS IN BRIEF Prisoners refuse food and water TWO brothers serving sentences for Loyalist attacks have been refusing food and water since Monday in Magilligan gaol, County Londonderry, the Northern Ireland Office said yesterday. They are demanding a transfer to the Maze or Crumlin Road prison, nearer their homes in Belfast. Prison authorities are moni toring their condition, on medical advice that a person on a total fast gets into serious aimcuraes alter vz nours. Boxer sentenced to two years AN AMATEUR boxer who left a rival with permanent brain damage after a bare knuckle fight in a country lane was sentenced to two years' im- grisonment at Lincoln Crown ourt yesterday.

Barry Wilson, aged 39, of Ingelow Avenue, Boston, Lincolnshire, admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Paul axter, aged 39. Judge David Wilcox told him: "It seems that this sort of fighting is not uncommon in the Boston area and this sentence is to make it clear to others that such conduct will not be tolerated. Smithfield firm gives up fight allied Meat importers has abandoned its attempt to challenge established union practices at Smithfield Market in London. The firm disputed the practice under which the transport who the company employed as porters. The general manager, Mr Gordon Neville, said yesterday that he did not envisage further talks with the TGWU, but stressed that AMI would not be milling out of Smithfield entirely.

Petrol bombers are gaoled A FATHER and son who carried out a revenge petrol attack on a family, seriously injuring a five-month-old baby, were gaoled for a total of 14 years at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday. William Winning, aged 46. was sentenced to nine years, and his son Malcolm, aged 23, to five years. Both men, from Sandyhills, Glasgow, were convicted last month of attempting to murder a family of four. Bing found wandering SIR Rudolf Bing, 85-year-old former head of the Metropoli tan opera, ew YorK, was found wandering the streets of east London early yesterday after being missing for nearly 16 hours.

Police found him in Hackney at 2.30 am, apparently none the worse for wear." Sir Rudolf had not been seen since Tuesday orning, when he left his hotel in London to buy cigarettes. Swedes refuse Gorst visit TORY candidate in Hendon North, Mr John Gorst, has been refused a second visit to Captain Simon Hayward, who is being held in a Swedish gaol for suspected drug smuggling. Mr Gorst was refused because of controversy surrounding his earlier trip to the prison at Uppsala. He said yesterday This controversy was entirely manufactured by the Swedish authorities." Domingo to star in Puccini film OPERA Singer Placido Domingo is to make his debut as a straight actor next year, starring as the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini in a 12 million British film. The picture will be shot in Italy and China.

Helena Bonnam-Carter has agreed to play Doria, Puccini's maidservant. Neil Crundwell MR NEIL Crundwell. a Cam bridge medical student who was injured in an incident in a British Rail siding, was going to the assistance of another student and had not been involved in a prank, as might have been inferred from our report on June 1. Couples will be able to check 'healthy' embryos boost for Sealink from floating immigrant detention centre By Peter Murtagh The Sealink ferry which the Home Secretary, Mr Douglas Hurd, has leased as an immigration detention centre is costing the Government 2,565 a day. The contract, whose details neither side will disclose, was initiated by Sealink through an unnamed intermediary.

The High Court in London is expected to decide next week whether it will entertain an application for judicial review of the decision to turn the disused ferry into a floating detention centre in Harwich harbour. Local protesters maintain that Tendring District Council failed to uphold the planning laws and allowed change of use without proper scrutiny. By Keith Harper Labour Editor British Coal yesterday issued a warning that it would have no hesitation in closing pits in South Wales if the present rash of unofficial stoppages affected the area's viability. The warning came from Mr Ron Price, area director, during a lull in the stoppages, which have never been for longer than 48 hours. During talks with leaders of the South Wales area of the National Unon of Mineworkers yesterday, Mr Price said that the actions were threatening jobs.

Union leaders are worried about the stoppages, which began nine weeks ago. Part of the reason appears to below morale and the fact that the miners have had to wait Professor Robert methods find out whether her baby is defective, and then facing the anguish of whether to have an abortion, a mother will know from the start that, all other things being equal, her fetus is healthy. Professor Winston's next step, he said yesterday, will be to remnove a whole cell from an embryo and check that for genetic disorders provided that he gets approval from the Voluntary Licensing Authority. The technique works in mice and Professor Winston said that in a matter of months it could be done in humans. cash crisis volunteers even pay for their own uniforms." The charity, which celebrates its centenary with a party in Hyde Park on June 20, to be attended by the Queen and 100,000 children, needs the money not only to fund its presence at sporting events ana concerts but also to maintain less well known but equally vital services such as its airborne medical wings." Although members throughout the country have been organising events to try to raise the cash, many of the Sublic have been reluctant to ig into their pockets after the mass fund-raising efforts of Band Aid.

nearly eight months for this year's pay deal, which was eventually imposed by management. The increases have now reached the miners' pay packets. Since the strikes began British Coal has lost 40,000 tonnes of coal, worth 2 million. The latest dispute took place earlier this week when 2,800 men walked out in a protest concerning concessionary coal allowances. Mr Price said that stoppages were unnecessary because negotiations could be held with local NUM officials.

If unofficial action is to continue in the current vogue, then I fear we shall not only miss the chance of becoming profitable but also deny ourselves the further investment which can Methodists reconsider gambling THE methodist Church is considering dropping its half-century-old total opposition to gambling, if this month's methodist conference accepts a draft statement on recreational gambling published todsy Christians can with integrity believe that gaming may be permissible within limits, for instance it is for a socially useful end or for amusement and does not become excessive, the statement says. But gaming is not adequately monitored in Britain, says the Methodists' Division of Social Responsibilities in the first major review of the church's view on gambling since 1936. The statement calls for public funding for research and more supervisory boards like the Gaming Board. The public spends more than 2 billion a year on various forms of gambling, it says. If the conferecne, in Portsmouth from June 26, accepts the statement the subject will come under a two-year scrutiny by the church before a final debate on formal adoption.

In 1936 the conference called on all Methodists to avoid and discourage allforms of gambling practices." After years of social and legal change, says the new statement, arguments ont he permissibility of gambling are not conclusive." But "gambling is a leisure activity for the vast majority of gambles. It can provide excitement, entertainment, relaxation, and a context in which to be with other people. It does not necessarily entail harmful consequences. Many raffles, banned by many Methodist churches, raise money for worthwhile causes, it says. JANET Backhouse, an as sistant keeper of Western Manuscripts at the British Library, with the Lin-disfarne Gospels which is to be taken to Durham Cathedral this month for pride of place in an exhibition to mark the anniversary of the death of St Cuthbert.

Which it commercial confidentiality as the reason, although sources confirmed that the first moves were made by the company. A copy of the contract shows that the deal was arranged by the City brokers Barks Williams Shipping for a fee of 65 a day each day it remains in force. The contract, which lasts three months with an option of renewal tor a turtner tnree months, was made on April 23, and the ferry became available to the Government on May 4. The first detainees arrived on May 22. The deal has provided Sealink" with a welcome financial fillip at a difficult time for it and its parent company.

Sea Containers Limited of Bermuda. said the caterers' meals were poorly presented nd unnygienically delivered and a teacher union representative from a High School in Upton-upon-Severn described chips with everything, masses of carbohydrates, no pure meat, no fresh vegetables, lots of soft drinks and chocolate Another primary head found that as the standard of sandwich provided by the authority for free children was so inadequate, they bring their own. cover to be provided by Poole and Christchurch would solve the problem. The local law firms have been withdrawing from the scheme, one by one, over recent weeks," ne said. It seems they feel that their staffing requirements are such that they cannot be at the beck and call of the court." The withdrawal reflecs more widespread discontent with some aspects of the statutory scheme, introduced in 1984.

But most of the disputes are Privatised school meals found wanting By Andrew Veitch, Medical Correspondent The world's first clinic offering a service for detecting hereditary diseases in an embryo before it is implanted in its mother's womb is due to open at the Hammersmith hospital, London, in October. Couples who know that they risk passing on genetic defects such as muscular dystrophy, haemophilia, and some forms of mental deficiency, will be able to use test-tube baby techniques to choose healthy children. Professor Robert Winston and his team at the hospital's in vitro fertilisation (IVF) unit are pioneering methods of identifying these defects in embryo fertilised and grown in their laboratory. They are using gene probes to identify defective genes, or the chemicals produced by those genes, in embryos which are only a day or two old and measure 140 microns one tenth of this full stop. The technique, so called pre-implantation diagnosis, involves collecting as many eggs as possible from the woman, fertilising them in a dish with her partner's sperm, and then testing them to pick out unaffected embryos which canb be implanted in her womb.

It means that instead of waiting weeks or months to St John facing By Sbyama Perera It costs 10 million a year for the St John Ambulance Brigade to provide nursing cover at public events throughout the country, the Brigade estimates. But despite a national appeal launched last December, only 1.5 million has been raised so far, it said yesterday. "We desperately need this money to keep us going," said the charity's appeals director, Kathleen Duncan, but unfortunately we have become part of the wallpaper for people in Ellgiana ana a iui ui uibjii seem to think we are funded by the Department of Health. They don't realise that oi our By Edward Vulliamy School lunches from private caterers nrovided bv the Here ford and Worcester education authority are lacking in basic nutritional standards, a survey compiled from reports by heads and teachers in the county reported yesterday. It said that those entitled to free school meals were provided with very unaDoetis- ing" food, and often parents would not claim free meals because of quality and identifying their children as from Town's solicitors desert legal aid scheme By Dennis Johnson All the five firms of solid- All IIUUUUlllVi LUl 0i-f have withdrawn from the legal aid scheme because they say it is unprofitable and they do not have the staff to respond to the needs of the courts.

But 16 firms in Poole and Christchurch have agreed to fill the gap and provide a call-in service so that pro- ceedines before Wimborne magistrates will not be held rne tiaw society in umaon.