Celebrating 25 Years of Scoop
Secrecy over scholarship failure must end
Bill English MP
National Party Education Spokesman
29 April 2005
Secrecy over scholarship failure must end
National Party Education spokesman Bill English says David Benson-Pope must release the State Services Commission's full report into, and recommendations on what went wrong with Scholarship 2004.
The report and recommendations relating to the introduction of Scholarship are due today.
"The Associate Education Minister has defied all Official Information Act requests for policy advice regarding Scholarship," says Mr English.
"This culture of secrecy is designed to hide Labour's incompetence from the public.
"Students, teachers and parents have a right to know what went wrong with Scholarship 2004. This requires a full release of all review material - before it is massaged by Labour’s spin unit.
"We don't want a repeat of the episode when the Scholarship reference group reported back. Reference group members claimed they said one thing while the Minister claimed they said another.
"David Benson-Pope has proven himself to be a slippery operator.
"The public has a right to know what went wrong with Scholarship 2004. In the interests of transparency Mr Benson-Pope must release the full, unaltered State Services Commission report immediately," says Mr English.
Ends
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