Following news that teachers will get wider powers to search pupils as part of a Government crackdown on unruly behaviour in schools that also includes letting teachers use physical force to remove disruptive children from the classroom, Surrey County Council leader Dr Andrew Povey said:

"Surrey has some of the best state schools in the country and the way to build on that is to remove bureaucracy and allow them to flourish with individual innovation and support from local government.

"Returning responsibility for classroom discipline to heads and teachers is long overdue. Too often in the past they have felt undermined by the last government's huge heap of rules and guidance. Now individuality can be put back on the timetable and our children can get a decent education without being disrupted by bad behaviour."