Gillian Shephard has bowed to pressure to extend the deadline for consultation on the creation of a fast track for church schools seeking grant-maintained status.
The Education and Employment Secretary announced her decision to extend the consultation from four weeks to five at a National Governors Council last weekend .
However, the proposal to speed up the process by which church schools become grant-maintained by dispensing with parental ballots or reducing the time limits at various stages remains unpopular.
And the Government is still breaking its own recommended guidelines which say that the consultation period on such issues should last a minimum of 10 weeks excluding holidays.
The pace at which the Department for Education and Employment was forcing through the change alarmed pressure groups, local authorities, and Anglican and Catholic church leaders.
A DFEE spokesman said the deadline was at the discretion of the Secretary of State and that documentation needed to be returned in time for legislation in the present parliamentary session.
Simon Goodenough, chairman of the NGC, said the deadline would now run until December 1. “There was very great concern about this issue at the conference. Quite a few voluntary-aided schools expressed the view that they had no wish to go down this road whatsoever.
“Mrs Shephard gave strong reassurances this was only a consultation and therefore there was room for views and looking at various options, but she did not allay people’s fears.”
The proposal has caused outrage in Bradford where the council is seeking the views of its 36 church schools and diocesan authorities.
John Ryan, chair of the education committee, said: “I am saddened - though not at all surprised - that the Government, having made such a lot of noise about choice and diversity for parents, should now propose to take it away without even bothering to ask parents themselves.”
