New status for CATs

In the House of Commons on 22nd June the Minister of Education announced that responsibility for the CATs is to be transferred from the LEAs to newly‐constituted and independent governing bodies, which will receive grant direct from the Ministry of Education. While noting the restrained joy with which our contemporaries have received these changes, we ourselves have felt more inclined to reserve judgment. We find certain aspects perplexing. We have known for some months that discussions have been proceeding on the future of the CATs, but these discussions have been behind closed doors, they have not been reported and it has not been possible to gain official information on the course of the proceedings. This would have been less noticeable had there been public discussion on an appreciable scale on the issues which affect the CATs, but there has never been much discussion on the public platform, in the public press — or elsewhere for that matter — on the various alternative forms of organisation which might serve the CATs better and through which they might better serve the community.