THE GOVERNMENT has created a Kafkaesque paperchase by requiring schools and councils to prepare as many as 17 plans each, according to a pamphlet published by the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies. In Plans, Plans, Plans Andrew Povey, chairman of Surrey’s education committee, has calculated that a full set of plans for every local authority would take the equivalent of 250,000 working days. He cites plans for numeracy and literacy, information and communications, class size, special needs and education development plans.