Time for School Takeover

That the Parliament notes that the UK Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Michael Gove, in a speech to the Association for School and College Leaders on 7 March 2010, said that the Conservatives were now in favour of incorporating some private schools into the state system; recalls that Lothian Regional Council in 1979 was on the point of taking over George Heriot’s School and purchasing the Mary Erskine School from the Edinburgh Merchant Company until it was overtaken by the general election, and calls on the Scottish Government to enter into discussions with the governors of private schools in Edinburgh to discuss possible incorporation into a joint arrangement with the local authority.