THE admission by Government minister Kim Howells that he cleared registered sex offender Paul Reeve to work in a school will aid Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's case.

It will not, however, let the Bolton West MP completely off the hook.

Too many people around the country will be, quite naturally, very concerned that a man with an official record involving downloading banned images of children from the net could still be working in a school. They will be even more worried that there could be others in similar positions, and they will want answers.

It is simply not acceptable that such a situation could occur when the tragedy of the Soham murders is still so fresh in our minds, and when the public generally assumed that loopholes which allow sex offenders anywhere near children in school had long been closed.

Ruth Kelly honestly highlighted this anomaly, at the same time promising to close it, and telling both Parliament and the country that she would do it quickly.

As a Minister in charge of a huge department for less than a year, it is unlikely that she will sanction every important decision that needs to be taken. But she is still the person who must ultimately be held responsible.

This has been a very difficult time for her politically- and probably personally because she is a highly moral woman with strong family values - and her supporters locally will be hoping she can survive it.

She has said that she will get new laws before Parliament within weeks, and return to the House with clarification of numbers of sex offenders in schools.

If she does not, unfortunately, her days in office may be numbered.