[Sderby] Re: Fwd: [sf-uk-discuss] Early Day Motion No 179 - Software in Education

[James Tait]

Tim Retout wrote:
> It's great - I didn't think he'd sign it, because he's a parliamentary
> private secretary, and there are some rules or other... so, maybe there

That's good, another signature on the motion. :)

> is a chance of getting Margaret Beckett to sign the EDM as well.

Alas not.  I got a letter from her this morning:

Dear Mr Tait

Thank you for your letter of 01 December regarding free and open source
software.

I note your request that I sign EDM179.  As you may already know, the
main purpose of Early Day Motions is to indicate the strength of
backbench support for a particular issue and member of the Cabinet and
Shadow Cabinet are therefore precluded from signing them.  As I am a
member of the Cabinet, I am afraid that I am unable to sign EDMs.

I have, however, drawn your comments to the attention of the Secretary
of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson, and I shall write to
you again when I receive a reply.

Yours sincerely,

PP Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP

It'll be interesting to see what Mr Johnson has to say on the matter.

> It's got 55 signatures at the moment, not including whoever signed it
> today, and has real cross-party support - so it's going really well.

Do we know how many backbenchers are eligible to sign EDMs?  Then we can
get an idea of the proportion of them who have signed, and lobby those
who haven't.

Cheers,

JT
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James Tait, BSc                        |    xmpp:jayteeuk at wyrddreams.org
Programmer and Free Software advocate  |      Mobile: +44 (0)7779 337596
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