2pm update:
The leader of Bromley Council, Stephen Carr, has just issued the following statement in response to the story in the Evening Standard:
“I would like to make it perfectly clear that Bromley Council has no plans to introduce such a scheme, but quite rightly, as a result of a question put at a Full Council meeting at the end of June, officers felt duty bound to consider this, as is good practice. As I have already stated, there is no suggestion that this will be pursued.”
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This is according to the first edition of today's Evening Standard:
A London Tory council is drawing up plans to subsidise the school fees of privately-educated pupils whose parents have lost their jobs… The borough has asked lawyers whether it can use state money to subsidise private schools by up to £4,700 a pupil. Whitehall officials confirmed there was nothing legally to stop such a move…
Councillor Ernest Noad, portfolio holder for children and young people, said concerns had been raised about what would happen to private school children if their parents were no longer able to pay their fees.
“The idea is that we might be able to earmark money to keep a child in a private school. At the end of the day what matters is that each child gets a good education,” said Mr Noad.
Jonathan Isaby