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Access Initiative
9. Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the success of the access initiative; and what provisions have been made for its continued funding. [29100]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mrs. Cheryl Gillan): Some 800 mainstream schools will benefit from schools access initiative projects in 1996-97 to improve access to the curriculum for disabled pupils. We shall consider shortly the position for 1997-98.
Mr. Steinberg: I thank the Minister and congratulate the Government on introducing the access initiative with the National Union of Teachers and Scope, which initiated it. Has the Minister analysed the scheme in depth? Does she know in which schools the money was spent? Does she know how the money was spent and whether the projects were successful? If she has not carried out a careful analysis of the scheme, will she undertake to arrange for the Department to do so? Will she give the House a guarantee that the scheme will continue and that money will be put into local education authorities so that more schools can benefit from the access initiative?
Mrs. Gillan: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind congratulations, which I accept on behalf of the Government. We have put almost £10 million into the schools access initiative, which will help to provide better access for disabled pupils. Under the Education Act 1993, schools must report every two years on their access arrangements. In 1995, an audit showed that disabled access varies widely from area to area. That is why we have put money into the initiative. We shall carry out another audit in 1997, which we expect to show increased accessibility.
Nursery Voucher Scheme
10. Mr. Chris Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what provisions have been made to restrict the profits that can be made by Capita for administration of the nursery voucher scheme. [29101]
Mrs. Gillan: Capita Managed Services Ltd. was awarded the contract to administer phase 1 of the nursery education voucher scheme through a competitive tender. That process ensures that the successful contactor offers the best value for money.
Mr. Davies: Does the Minister accept that head teachers in my constituency are concerned that public funds will go to private profits, while nursery provision in their schools faces the threat of disruption as a result of the introduction of vouchers next year? Does she accept that it is important that every three and four-year-old in this country has the opportunity of nursery provision? That will cost a great deal of money. Instead of gimmicks such as the scheme, would it not be better to ensure that proper provision is made through education authorities, funded, if necessary, by general taxation?
Mrs. Gillan: I am ashamed that Opposition Members have still not grasped the fact that the nursery voucher scheme is proving a great success. At every stage, the Opposition have tried to cast doubt on the scheme because they have nothing better to put in its place. Capita has successfully implemented phase 1 of the scheme. In fact, a report produced by the National Childrens Bureau, which was published in March, said:
- "All four authorities felt their relationship with Capita was good. When problems had arisen, they had been solved. When mistakes were made, they had been put right quickly."
Mr. Harry Greenway: Are not all parents and children aware of what is value for money and sound education? All concerned will be watching. Should we not remember that children are as diverse between the ages of three to five as they are at any later age? The diverse provision that the nursery education voucher scheme will inspire will therefore be valuable. If primary schools continue to attract children to their nurseries as they do now, they will lose nothing.
Mrs. Gillan: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The voucher scheme pursues our policy of choice and diversity in all areas of education. The contractor for phase 1 was chosen specifically on the value for money and quality of services offered. The quality of Capita's proposals exceeded those of the other shortlisted candidates.
Mr. Stevenson: Capita continues to cream off its profits, but is the Minister aware that my constituents are concerned about the madcap scheme? If the Minister is serious in her projection that more nursery places will be available as a result of the scheme, will she give my constituents some assessment of how many extra places will be provided in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire? Is not the scheme another bureaucratic, expensive and Government-inspired education red herring?
Mrs. Gillan: The hon. Gentleman must do his homework before he comes into this classroom. There are already 300 extra places in the phase 1 areas. I am really rather tired, as I am sure is the House, of the Opposition continually trying to cast slurs on Capita. The Capita
group is the largest provider of managed services to the public sector. It is used to working with local education authorities and is responsible particularly for the SIMS software package, which is used by more than half the LEAs. The Opposition just cannot stand the scheme proving to be a great success.Education Services (Inspection)
11. Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to set up a system of inspection of local education authorities in respect of their delivery of education services. [29102]
Mr. Robin Squire: On 7 May, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that she would examine whether to extend Ofsted's powers to inspect local education authorities' monitoring and support services for schools. A voluntary LEA-Ofsted exercise is under way.
Mrs. Lait: Will my hon. Friend try hard to pass on the message to my right hon. Friend that her visit to Hastings and Rye last Friday was much appreciated? She opened Filsham Valley school and saw the effectiveness of East Sussex education authority. Will he ensure that East Sussex is invited to participate in Ofsted's voluntary monitoring exercise so that we can see the increase in standards required to ensure that we improve our position in the tables from 80th for A-levels back to the top?
Mr. Squire: I am delighted to hear that I can add Hastings to the parts of the country that have benefited from and welcomed a visit by my right hon. Friend on her travels around the country. On the substance of my hon. Friend's question, she is clearly right to recognise that local education authorities can play a significant role in helping schools to raise standards, not least through the quality of their advice and by, for example, encouraging schools to set challenging performance targets. I will certainly look at my hon. Friend's authority although, as she said, she referred to a voluntary activity. A couple of authorities are already involved and I hope that others will get involved in the near future.
Mr. Madden: Who is responsible for inspecting Ofsted? Will the Minister confirm that it would be prudent for Ofsted to secure the services of inspectors before announcing inspections of schools? Does he remember that that was not done for the mass inspection of nine schools in my constituency? The inspections have been delayed by months, causing considerable anxiety and difficulty for the teaching staff and casting considerable doubt on the inspection reports, whenever they are received.
Mr. Squire: I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman added the last part of his question; I would otherwise have some sympathy with the position that he described. It is, of course, regrettable when planned inspections do not take place. Although that applies to a relatively small proportion of all inspections, I join the hon. Gentleman in regretting it when it happens. I hope that he will join me in welcoming the fact that with well over 7,000 inspections completed since Ofsted was created, the net effect has been to drive up standards in our primary and secondary schools, to get heads and governing bodies to
look more than ever before at the standard of education that is delivered in their schools and, in places, to get them to make a significant improvement.School Standards
12. Mr. Forman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she last met representatives of the Office for Standards in Education to discuss standards in schools. [29104]
Mrs. Gillian Shephard: Ministers and officials regularly meet Her Majesty's chief inspector and Ofsted officials to discuss issues related to education standards in schools.
Mr. Forman: When my right hon. Friend last had a chance to meet Mr. Christopher Woodhead, the chief inspector, was she made aware of the fact that he is a distinguished alumnus of Wallington county grammar school for boys in my constituency? He recently visited that school to open an excellent new science block containing four laboratories, which will be invaluable in raising standards of science and will thus set an example to all the good schools in my constituency.
Mrs. Shephard: I was not aware that the chief inspector is a former pupil of Wallington county grammar school. He is certainly a very distinguished ex-pupil and I am delighted that the school is doing so well.
Ms Estelle Morris: Is not the real problem in educational standards that the gap between the children who achieve and those who do not is growing wider and wider? Will the Secretary of State confirm that last year the number of young people leaving our schools with no qualifications at all rose to one in 12? Will she accept that that is a result of Government policies? The Government are prepared to give opportunities and resources to the few, but ignore the needs of the rest of the students.
Mrs. Shephard: Of course there is always more to do on standards. I advise the hon. Lady to read carefully about Ofsted's work in the various reports that we have had this year. They make it absolutely clear that there is no simple correlation between resources and pupil achievement. I remind her--though not necessarily blame her, because she is a fairly new Member of Parliament--that we would not know anything about the performance of the education system had it been left to Labour Members, who opposed every measure that we put in place to measure it.
Mr. Mans: Does my right hon. Friend agree that one sure way of reducing education standards in schools is by encouraging students to leave at the age of 16? Is not that exactly what would happen if new Labour's teenage tax was introduced--that every family with children would lose at least £560 every year?
Mrs. Shephard: It is indeed extraordinary that the contribution of Labour Members to encouraging young people to stay on at school is to tax their parents.
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