"Part of the process of being a local councillor is being accountable to the electorate" - Pickles

Mondays Questions and Answer in the Commons:
Guy Opperman [Hexham]
"Not only has Labour-run Northumberland county council not frozen its council tax; it has cancelled its monthly full council meeting on the premise of saving money. We know that it is to avoid protest about the teenage transport tax and the lack of a local plan. Does the Secretary of State agree that democracy, debate and scrutiny are key pillars of a council that should not be scrapped?"
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 30 June 2014, c596)
Eric Pickles (The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; Brentwood and Ongar, Conservative)
"I think those Labour councillors will find that they can run but cannot hide from the electorate. Part of the process of being a local councillor is being accountable to the electorate. They should just stop hiding and face the facts."

Education Statement by David Laws today on accountability, and destination measures

I was in the House today for the announcement by David Laws of the product of the
The full text of the statement is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/reforming-the-accountability-system-for-secondary-schools
Hansard will be live tomorrow as to the question I raised and his answers both to me and others.
The measures were welcomed across the House by Labour as well as the Coalition.
For me the key points were:
- a change to the present system of accountability discourages schools from focusing on the lowest attaining pupils.
- changes to floor standards to measure performance in a fairer way, to take into account a school intake
- more information to be published
- schools that overachieve will not have to do an Ofsted inspection the following year