Select Committee witnesses

If you haven’t seen the list of witnesses for the select committee the phrase read it and weep comes to mind.

From Home Education Forums

The Children, Schools and Families Committee will be taking formal oral evidence as follows:

Monday 12 October 2009 at 4.45pm
Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Witnesses:

Graham Badman CBE;
Ms Diana R Johnson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, and
Penny Jones, Independent Schools and School Organisation, DCSF.

The purpose of this session is to examine the evidence base for and recommendations of the DCSF commissioned review of elective home education in England.

Wednesday 14 October 2009 at 9.30am
Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Witnesses: (At 9.30am)
Jane Lowe, Trustee, Home Education Advisory Service;
Fiona Nicholson, Trustee /Chair Government Policy Group, Education Otherwise;
Simon Webb, home educating parent;
David Wright, home educating parent, and
Carole Rutherford, co-founder, Autism in Mind

(At 10.30am)
Colin Green, Chair, Families, Communities and Young People Policy Committee, Association of Directors of Children’s Services;
Ellie Evans, Head of Children Missing Education team, West Sussex County Council;
Sir Paul Ennals, Chief Executive, National Children’s Bureau, and
Phillip Noyes, Director of Public Policy, NSPCC

No Paula Rothermel. No one from AHEd, or AEUK. The two home educating parents are both men, which doesn’t strike me as desperately representative of the demographic of home educators as a whole?

If you feel like dropping a complaint in (and I really feel you should) the email address is csfcom@parliament.uk

The Members of the Committee are:

Mr Barry Sheerman (Chairman), Labour, Huddersfield
Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and Poole North
Mr Douglas Carswell, Conservative, Harwich
Mr David Chaytor, Labour, Bury North
Mrs Sharon Hodgson, Labour, Gateshead East and Washington West
Paul Holmes, Liberal Democrat, Chesterfield
Fiona Mactaggart, Labour, Slough
Mr Andrew Pelling, Independent, Croydon Central
Mr Andy Slaughter, Labour, Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush
Helen Southworth, Labour, Warrington South
Mr Graham Stuart, Conservative, Beverley & Holderness
Mr Edward Timpson, Conservative, Crewe and Nantwich
Derek Twigg, Labour, Halton
Lynda Waltho , Labour, Stourbridge

so if any of them are your MP, suggest that it would be a good idea to stick a flea in their ear too.

Please spread far and wide.

(I stole this post from my friend, but she won't mind - let's get the word out!!!)