http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070526/tuk-uk-britain-education-fa6b408.html

This seems silly. Surely a government asking the state private sector for help is essentially just passing the buck?

 

The charity status 'issue" is irritating, states schools tend to have the PTA as a registered charity for whenever they need tax concessions so it's not like the Public and Private schools have an unfair advantage.

What do you mean? The government are not asking the state sector for anything, they are asking for places like Eton to justify their charity status by acting charitably.

(damn I noticed a typo in the OP, obviously I meant private sector in the first line)

 

Public schools like Eton already do plenty charitable stuff in terms of scholarships and bursaries, you'll note from the article that what's being suggested is drastically charitable acts, like lending teachers.

Define "plenty" and "drastic". Actually, don't bother, it's just that your definitions won't tally with those of the people putting forward the plan. An alternative would be to simply tax these large, well established, rich businesses as businesses. The loan of a teacher or two might look very cheap by comparison.

it seems suspiciously like an attempt to improve things without spending any money... which, imo, is pretty stereotypical of labour.

 

does anyone make any large profits from private schools, or are all the scholarships spent on teachers and equipment?

Actually, the whole point of a labour government is to spend money to improve things. Unfortunately we haven't had one for decades.