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Mrs. Shephard: I note that many have claimed authorship of these ideas. It is a pity that those people did not take the opportunity to support the Government in divisions and debates during the past 16 years.
On the question of extra resources, I might have expected that request from the hon. Gentleman. I have already explained that there will be some extra resources to ensure that GNVQs become fully rigorous. Otherwise, I see no need for vast extra resources. We need to re-target and make the current framework more coherent and the qualifications more rigorous. I know that the hon. Gentleman will not have had time yet to consider the
proposals for national traineeships, but he will find that his anxieties are fully met in the proposals we have set down.
Mr. James Pawsey (Rugby and Kenilworth):
May I remind my right hon. Friend of the saying that success has many fathers? We have seen some of the fathers in the Chamber this afternoon.
I hope that my right hon. Friend will disregard the entirely predictable and carping criticism that we have heard from Opposition Members. The overwhelming majority of the nation's parents, students and teachers will warmly welcome this review. It will do much good. I especially liked the reference to A-levels and NVQs. The golden thread that runs through the review is the intention to improve quality in standards and to increase rigour. That all augurs well for further education.
Mrs. Shephard:
My hon. Friend is quite correct. The motif running through the entire report is an increased requirement that the system deliver rigorous standards.
Mr. Gerry Steinberg (City of Durham):
I too welcome most of Ron Dearing's proposals, and congratulate him on them. I particularly endorse the suggested new national award. The Select Committee, of which I am a member, suggested that some months ago, and I am glad that Sir Ron has taken it up.
There has always been a considerable divide in status between vocational and academic qualifications. Is the right hon. Lady satisfied with the Dearing suggestion that equal status for the two can be achieved?
Mrs. Shephard:
The pathways and their destinations are equal but different. The best way to achieve parity of esteem has to be an insistence on the rigour of the vocational route, as the report proposes.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield):
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her statement, especially on her emphasis on quality, standards, rigour and discipline. All four are very important. Is it her view that the proposals in Sir Ron Dearing's review will provide, for traditional and high-tech manufacturing industry and the wealth-creating industries of the United Kingdom, the qualified, motivated young people who are so desperately neccessary for future economic progress?
Mrs. Shephard:
My hon. Friend's interest in manufacturing industry is well known. I believe that he will take great comfort from the sections of the report devoted to improvements in standards and rigour in A-levels, and to stretching the most able students. The proposals for mathematics and science may also please him; there are proposed special papers and additional mathematics, and a whole range of measures which I know will be welcomed by my hon. Friend and by the manufacturing industries that he represents so frequently and so ably in this Chamber.
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover):
Is there not a danger of this country becoming besotted with the idea of examinations for all different groups of people? In many
Mrs. Shephard:
I am not sure what qualifications the hon. Gentleman has. I suppose he would like to say that he was well formed in the university of life--although I think that he has some qualifications hidden away. I thank him for his graceful compliment to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister; I shall convey it to him.
Mr. Andrew Rowe (Mid-Kent):
I congratulate my right hon. Friend, and endorse the importance of rigour in exporting British education. May I, however, draw to her attention yet again the minority of young people with special learning difficulties who find it difficult to compete in the present structure? There are already signs that the amount of money paid out by TECs for these contracts in 1996-97 is being reduced, even though the money going to the TECs is being maintained. I know how hard Ministers in the Department have worked on this, but it is still a matter of enormous concern.
Mrs. Shephard:
I know that my hon. Friend has a special interest in these areas. I refer him to the relevant section of the report, which includes excellent and practical proposals on helping those with special educational needs; and on those who have under-achieved and who need leaning on so that they can get on the qualifications ladder. I feel that my hon. Friend, who has a special concern for this subject, will be encouraged by that part of the report.
Mr. Max Madden (Bradford, West):
How many youngsters currently in the 16-to-19 age group do not have the job, education or training that they have been promised by the Government for years, coupled with the youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 who are now dropping out of school?
Does the Secretary of State agree that tens of thousands of young people throughout the country are becoming a growing army of alienated and disaffected youngsters, many of whom are drifting into crime, prostitution and drug dealing, and are wasting their lives? What is being done to give those youngsters some hope, some purpose, some idea why it is worth bothering to pursue the plans that she outlined this afternoon? What are all the agencies that are involved in this sphere doing proactively to try to encourage young people to come forward to benefit from some of the schemes to which she referred?
Mrs. Shephard:
The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the youth training guarantee, which seeks to deal with and offer, through training, help to young people who are not in education or a job. I also announced that we shall consult next month on proposals for 14 to 16-year-olds, and bring the workplace nearer to the classroom. The hon. Gentleman is right--indeed, this matter is covered in the report--that there is a wastage of under-achievers, of young people who are demotivated.
The key must be good teaching and the national curriculum. There is no question about that. The proposals for 14 to 16-year-olds, plus the entry arrangements that are described in the report, which will bring together some of the agencies that the hon. Gentleman mentioned, should do a great deal to reduce that regrettable wastage.
Mr. Peter Griffiths (Portsmouth, North):
Will my right hon. Friend accept--from someone who spent 30 years in teaching--my congratulations on her repeated use of the words "rigour" and "rigorous"? Will she assure us this afternoon that those words, in addition to applying to vocational training and academic skills for examination, will also apply immediately and effectively to the key skills of mathematics and English, on which everything else depends?
Mrs. Shephard:
I can reassure my hon. Friend. I have already described what is proposed in terms of core skills. If my hon. Friend looks at the proposals for mathematics, he will be greatly encouraged, and I hope enthused.
Mrs. Bridget Prentice (Lewisham, East):
I particularly welcome the part of Sir Ron Dearing's report that refers to careers guidance, but was rather puzzled by the Secretary of State's reference to careers guidance and her use of the word "rigour". Can she assure us, despite the dogmatic way in which she has tried to privatise the careers service around the country, tumbling it into turmoil across England and Wales, that there will be consistency in the careers service, and that the rigour and quality that our young people deserve will be assured?
Mrs. Shephard:
There will be greater consistency as a result of the new arrangements than there has ever been before, with free-standing careers services across the country free to develop services in the way in which they wish. There will be higher uniform specifications. I truly believe that the standard of service will improve.
Sir Wyn Roberts (Conwy):
I compliment my right hon. Friend on commissioning, as well as Sir Ron Dearing on producing, this excellent report, in particular the emphasis that is given to core skills as well as standards, because it is only thereby that qualifications will achieve parity of esteem. In particular, I welcome the extension of the national record of achievement. Does she agree that that is one means whereby young people can be encouraged to have pride in their achievement?
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