THE Education Secretary has ignored pleas from penny-saving parents to end her ban on family holidays during school terms.

Nicky Morgan came under renewed pressure to scrap the policy yesterday during a Westminster Hall debate triggered by huge public demand.

The debate was called after support for an official petition against the ban soared past 120,000 signatures.

And it came just two weeks after a father fined £120 for taking his daughter to Disneyland during term had the decision overturned in court.

Tory MP Steve Double, who led the debate, branded the policy “unfair” on families and “damaging” for the tourism industry.

“It’s reducing demand in the off season and focusing all of the demand during the school summer holiday,” he told the Star.

“Clearly that’s pushing prices up for those people who unfortunately can’t afford a holiday during the peak season.”

Former education secretary Michael Gove pushed through the term-time ban in 2013 without any debate or vote in Parliament. The government also failed to carry out an impact assessment, claiming that the policy would have no economic or social effect.

Mr Double, in whose St Austell and Newquay constituency the economy hinges on tourism, added: “Clearly, two years later there is an economic and social impact.

“I’m asking the government to listen to the tens of thousands of families who simply want the ability to have a holiday.”

But Ms Morgan appears unwilling to listen to protests against the policy, even from MPs in her own party.

Mr Double said he “got nowhere” when he met Department for Education representatives to discuss the issue.

“The government’s position is that term-time holiday are not allowed,” said a department spokesman. “That remains the case and will continue to.”

Labour shadow education secretary Lucy Powell has supported the ban, saying that “any time out of the classroom puts (children’s) progress at risk.”

But the National Union of Teachers warned that the policy would make summer holidays “the preserve of the middle classes.”

CHRISTINE BLOWER
NUT general secretary

Many teachers are parents and we entirely sympathise with the dilemma caused by price hikes for breaks during the school holidays.

In particular, at this time of pressure on pay, our sympathies are with those on low pay who have little option but to take the cheapest holiday they can find.

Those on shift work or rosters often find their working times set months in advance, their employers taking no account of where school holidays land.