That includes, for example, drawing up statements for children with special educational needs. But it is not for LEAs to control what schools do. Each school should decide for itself how to operate. That includes deciding what support services it wants to buy, from the LEA or elsewhere. Hand in hand with that freedom goes an obligation on each school to account for its own performance.
LEAs do, however, have a role in supporting schools in their efforts to raise standards.
That includes working with schools in setting targets for improvement and intervening where Ofsted has found that schools are failing to provide an adequate education. LEAs in their turn must carry out these functions effectively. The record of LEAs has, to say the least, been mixed. So the Government will be looking to develop better mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of LEAs themselves to ensure that what LEAs do, they do well. Fourthly, the White Paper proposes more choice for parents through a range of new measures to extend diversity.