Portchester School, in Bournemouth, suspended William Gibson, 59, after his conviction for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 1980 was revealed. Parents arriving on Monday morning said they were "disgusted" by the news.

It later emerged that Education Secretary Ruth Kelly had approved Gibson to teach, despite his history.

The same man had previously held a post in South Tyneside before being dismissed, as evidence of his convictions became apparent, yet incredibly Ruth Kelly and her departmental staff later approved his applications for teaching posts.

William Gibson, is the man at the centre of the furore, yet despite his conviction for sexual assault on a 15 year old girl in 1980, he later went on to marry the same girl and fathered three children with her. The marriage lasted nineteen years, so perhaps it is feasible to believe his own assertion that he is not a risk to children. Guilty of falling in love and foolishly failing to stay away until she was of more mature years!

However, after Ruth Kelly claimed in the Commons last week that the "99 list" clearly disbarred people from attaining jobs in the teaching profession, it has emerged that at least two people on this list have been cleared for working in schools. Furthermore, it seems that some are allowed to work "conditionally" with children (i.e. with those of the opposite gender to which they are "interested", or above or below the particular age groups that interest them), all with the requisite approval of Kelly's department.

What interests me more than anything else today is not the accounts revealed over the weekend, but the apparent lack of accountability of Government ministers these days. We have seen that the Deputy Prime Minister "two jags" John Prescott failed to pay Council Tax for years on a lavish property that he shamefully claimed was a second home, and now we see Ruth Kelly failing to tell the whole truth to the House of Commons and demonstrating that she has little grasp of her department or the letters pushed under her nose for signature.

Whatever happened to the "buck stops here" mentality? How bad do matters have to get before a Minister falls on his or her own sword? Where is the acceptance of responsibility? Why does the Prime Minister meekly acquiesce?

Links

BBC

The Times

The Times (Schools in dark)

# posted by Curly : 7:28 pm