First because he is a politician, he wanted the responsibility, the power.
Secondly because I am very disappointed by his idea of the perfect curriculum for every child, & his lack of any kind of a focus on an education for engineers & other practical people. And, on a narrower point, I am alarmed by his apparent belief, as reported, that the normal distribution is the only one known to statistics.
I do not suppose that Michael Gove has – nor, necessarily, should he have – any expertise in the complex business of cutting capital programmes. Worse, as has often been pointed out, civil servants have not been engaged in cutting (as opposed to just restraining) public expenditure since the early 1980s; under New Labour civil servants were much more likely to be ordered to spend & deliver.
After years of Labour blaming & denigrating the servants it was refreshing to hear the way that the Secretary of State accepted full responsibility for the mistakes. But there have been briefings to the newspapers that the education department has been badly let down by the arms length organisation Partnership for Schools which was set up by Labour to be in charge of the programme under its chief executive, a former chief executive of Norfolk county council who is paid over £ ¼ million a year.
The programme is certainly very complicated in a way which seems typical of the previous government, and a glance at the website reveals that an awful lot of private sector companies will stand to lose business with the ending of the scheme.
Unfortunately for Mr Gove the Conservatives do not easily forgive or forget the (appearance of) incompetence, especially when they have been facing much criticism in their constituencies from those whose planned new schools have been cancelled or subject to on again/off again uncertainty. Local schools are an important part of every town & so everyone will feel affected, not just those whose children go there.
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