Distance learning exemption (student unions) - election of officers

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Dear Mr Hedges
Thank you for your e-mail of 23 May about Section 22(9) of the 1994
Education Act.

This section states:

(9) Subsection (2)(d) and (l)(ii) (elections and affiliations:
requirements to hold secret ballot of all members) do not apply in the
case of an open or distance learning establishment, that is, an
establishment where the students, or the great majority of them, are
provided with materials for private study and are not required to attend
the establishment to any significant extent or at all.

You have asked why distance learning establishments have been exempted
from the `secret ballot of all members' provisions of the Act and if the
Government has considered repealing this clause.

We do not have records available from the time the Act was being drafted
in the education department of that time. However, we are clear that the
rationale behind this clause was to ensure that due regard was given to
the specific nature of the student body in open and distance learning
establishments. Students at these institutions are normally geographically
spread far and wide and at the time the Act was being drafted trying to
ensure universal suffrage would have been an unduly onerous, and costly,
burden on the institutions concerned. The other aspects of the Act apply
and ensure that the student unions exempted still must operate in a fair
and democratic manner. In drafting such exemptions it is normal practice
to consult with the parties affected.

We have no plans to repeal this clause. The Government has received no
approaches for such action from the institutions or the student unions
concerned.
Yours sincerely

Amerjit

Amerjit Basi
Higher Education Strategy & Implementation Group
[1][email address]
[2]www.bis.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0046397.

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