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1.46 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Alan Howarth): I warmly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms Walley) on securing the debate, and on making the case for her constituents with eloquence, passion and depth of knowledge, and with the commitment that her constituents appreciate and all hon. Members greatly respect.
Education is central to the Government's mission, and I am extremely happy to respond to my hon. Friend. The purposes that she expressed are our purposes, and we want them to be realised in her constituency and across the country. The timing of the debate is appropriate, given the publication on Monday of our White Paper "Excellence in Schools".
I assure my hon. Friend that I shall personally bring her concerns to the attention of the Secretary of State. As she mentioned, my right hon. Friend visited her area, and he
will want to be kept closely informed. He is anxious that his Department and his ministerial colleagues should respond to her as constructively and effectively as possible. Her concerns are on the map, to use her phrase.
On Monday, my hon. Friend asked my right hon. Friend a question after his statement, causing him, as he said, to twinkle. He will continue to beam his friendly concern in her direction. The opportunity that he had to engage in discussion with teachers in her constituency was part of the consultation process that we want to maintain. Without that consultation and without a dialogue with teachers, we shall not develop the required policies, but with their assistance, we shall.
As my hon. Friend knows better than any of us, Stoke-on-Trent has suffered from the decline in traditional manufacturing industries, upon which the area had relied economically for a long time. The schools sector has had to bear an appreciable brunt of the wider economic difficulties. Many schools in her constituency, particularly in the primary sector, date back to the 19th century, and are not as well equipped as schools elsewhere to deliver the curriculum.
As my hon. Friend told the House, GCSE results--although excellent in some local schools--are, across the local education authority area, significantly lower than the overall average in England. In 1996, in five of the seven secondary schools in my hon. Friend's constituency, fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils attained five or more grades A to C, against an England average of 44.5 per cent. Let me say immediately, however--in agreement with my hon. Friend--that those schools should not be labelled failures. Far from it: they have been inspected, and have been found not to be failing.
I am happy to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the schools in her constituency, and to teachers, other staff, governors and all who have contributed--through immensely hard work and dedication--to what has been achieved. Standards, including GCSE results, have been improved, and the achievement is underlined by the fact that it has taken place in such difficult circumstances. My hon. Friend mentioned the high proportion of children receiving free school meals, for instance. We recognise the difficulties faced by schools, and want schools in difficult areas to be able to do better. We want to give them the best support that we can provide.
We are fully sensitive to Stoke-on-Trent's problems, but it must be said that in far too many parts of the country standards in schools are not good enough. That is why our White Paper "Excellence in schools" sets out the Government's agenda for raising standards in schools across the nation. It sets out our intention to ensure that all schools improve, through partnership with all those committed to raising standards. Our overall approach to policy will be underpinned by six principles. Education will be at the heart of government. Policies will be designed to benefit the many, not just the few. My hon. Friend expressed passionate concern that that should be so, and we share that concern. The focus will be on standards, not structures. Intervention will be in inverse proportion to success. There will be zero tolerance of under-performance, and the Government will work in partnership with all those who are committed to raising standards.
What does that mean for my hon. Friend's constituency? The initiatives in the White Paper will lead to improved standards in our primary schools, providing a firm foundation for further learning. That is vital to achievement in secondary schools. We want all children to be able to read and write fluently, handle numbers competently and concentrate on their work by the time they leave primary school. There will be high-quality education for all four-year-olds whose parents want it, and targets for the provision of places for three-year-olds. We will create a network of early excellence centres to spread good practice. There will be effective assessment of all children starting primary school. We will ensure that there are class sizes of 30 or fewer for five, six and seven-year-olds by 2002. We have set national literacy and numeracy targets and strategies for primary schools, and there will be a sharper focus on literacy and numeracy in the primary curriculum.
At secondary level, we will ensure that we develop the diverse talents of all pupils. Schools need to provide the most effective forms of teaching and learning, using new technologies where appropriate, and being encouraged to develop specialisms. We believe that secondary schools should normally set pupils according to ability. We will provide best-practice resources for schools to help them to establish the most effective ways of teaching and learning.
We will develop a national grid for learning, which will provide up-to-date teaching and resource material. There will be better-developed information and communications technology within a clear national strategy, including better initial teacher training and the training of existing teachers. We will create up to 25 education action zones, to be phased in over two or three years throughout the country in areas with under-performing schools and the highest levels of disadvantage. The zones will enable us to target education support and development where it is most needed, with additional flexibilities so that action can be taken to raise standards.
My hon. Friend has made it plain, on Monday and again today, that she wants an education action zone in Stoke-on-Trent. I hear what she says, but, as I know she will understand, I cannot at this point announce or predict the locations of the zones. The White Paper kicks off a wide consultation, which will include consultation on the way in which education action zones should work and the way in which they should be chosen. We shall develop our ideas, and, during the consultation, we shall expect schools and local education authorities to present their own ideas and proposals.
What I can say now is that the improvement that we all want to see in Stoke-on-Trent's schools will come about only through the new partnership that we aim to forge. Schools themselves are the key to raising standards. They will set their own targets, but they need help--not unnecessary interference, but practical help--from their partners in central and local government. The White Paper sets out what we in central Government will do; it also identifies what we want LEAs to see as their role.
Every LEA will draw up an education development plan showing the targets that it has agreed with its schools, and explaining how it proposes to support them so that the targets are achieved. The plans will be approved by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, and each LEA will have one in place by April 1999. LEAs will have an important role in advising and, when
necessary, challenging schools when they are setting their targets. We have provided a clear job description for LEAs, but, in return, they will become fully accountable.
Although some of the schools in my hon. Friend's constituency remain in Staffordshire, most are with Stoke-on-Trent's LEA. I am well aware that that LEA has existed only since April this year. I noted my hon. Friend's praise for both LEAs, and I am happy to endorse what she said. I stress that I have no reason whatever to suspect that the new LEA is failing to do its best for the children of its area. I know that Stoke-on-Trent is desperately keen to use its new unitary status to meet its people's needs, and I assure my hon. Friend that the Government, through my Department, want to work closely with the authority. I shall ensure that at the earliest opportunity--in response to my hon. Friend's specific request--the territorial team from my Department revisits Stoke-on-Trent to discuss in detail the issues that my hon. Friend raised today.
Some of the most important issues involve resources. My hon. Friend particularly mentioned school buildings. We announced in the Budget that £1.3 billion would be available--£83 million in the current year, as my hon. Friend reminded us--for schools to start tackling the backlog of repairs. Guidance on how the money will be distributed will be issued to LEAs in the very near future.
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