ABSTRACT
There is one methodological point that needs to be made at the outset. During the past few years there have been strong moves towards centralization initiated by the Conservative government. Opposition to that has often come from Labour-controlled local authorities. A second methodological point that must be made is about size. Obviously central government is larger than a local authority, but some local authorities are extremely large. While the local authorities are the nominal employers, their actions have national economic consequences which the central government is unable to ignore. Thirty-odd years ago the National Health Service was seen as national, and therefore requiring centralization. In the United Kingdom at the present time education at all levels is largely state financed and largely state provided. If the Department of Education and Science is concerned with the curriculum and more generally with the standards that are achieved, it cannot ignore under achievement by particular schools with respect to particular groups of pupils.
