House of Commons
Thursday 24 July 1997
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Voluntary Sector and Environmental Task Force
1. Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the voluntary sector and environmental task force options available as part of his proposals to provide employment for young people. [8595]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): My right hon. Friends the Ministers for the Environment and for Employment, Welfare to Work and Disability Rights and the Minister of State, Home Office--my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael)--last week had an excellent launch of the voluntary sector and environmental task force element of the new deal, which will play a crucial part at local level in the consortiums to be developed and the programme to be laid out.
Gillian Merron: I thank my right hon. Friend for his welcome reply. Will the voluntary and environmental sectors be represented on the task force chaired by Sir Peter Davis? I believe that their involvement is crucial to its success.
Mr. Blunkett: The task force will play a crucial role in the development of the programme and its successful promotion locally. Together with the business sector and others, those sectors will be represented to ensure that a wide view is heard. We have also established an advisory group in which environmental and voluntary sector interests are well represented. They will work at regional and local level to help to develop the programme.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: Does the Secretary of State agree that this scheme could do much good environmental work in Gloucestershire, such as maintaining dry-stone walls and specialist Cotswold stone buildings? Does he further agree that, if we were able to deploy young people on such schemes, the skills that they would have to learn to carry out those tasks, which might otherwise be lost, would be retained in rural areas?
Mr. Blunkett: I agree entirely. I welcome the commitment, and therefore the consensus, that the hon. Member brings to this matter.
Literacy and Numeracy
3. Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what guidance he has given to primary schools on teaching literacy and numeracy. [8597]
The Minister for School Standards (Mr. Stephen Byers): Our White Paper "Excellence in schools" sets out in broad terms our strategies for raising standards in literacy and numeracy in primary schools. We will issue more detailed guidance on literacy to local education authorities and schools in the autumn. On numeracy, we will be guided by the work of the numeracy task force, which will offer its interim recommendations in November.
Mr. Goggins: I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he agree that one of the most important things that parents can do to help their children as they grow up is to listen to them reading? What advice is he giving primary schools to encourage them to ensure that parents play their full part in the drive for higher standards?
Mr. Byers: My hon. Friend identifies an important area. A child's first teacher is his parent. Under the previous Government, four family literacy centres were established and were a great success. I am delighted to inform the House that the Government will this year support 265 courses in 64 local education authorities to carry forward that important work.
Jobseekers (Work and Training)
4. Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he will take to ensure that genuine reasons for refusing an opportunity to work or train are recognised; and if he will make a statement. [8599]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Alan Howarth): The Government recognise that there are occasions when a jobseeker has good cause for refusing an opportunity of employment or training. The Jobseekers Allowance Regulations 1996 make provision for that. Employment Service procedures ensure that a jobseeker has the opportunity to set out his or her reasons for refusing an offer before a decision is made.
Mrs. Fyfe: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. May I draw his attention to the fact that in Glasgow high unemployment among young people continues, and it is not because they are workshy? What would happen if places were not readily available? Will my hon. Friend examine carefully the reasons for reducing benefit? The regulations are confusing and there is misunderstanding at local and national level. I hope that that will be sorted out before the new deal is in place to ensure that no injustice is done to any young person.
Mr. Howarth: As my hon. Friend has rightly pointed out, unemployment is all too high, and there is all too much poverty in her constituency of Glasgow, Maryhill. We will do all that we can to ensure that a full range of high-quality options is available for her constituents under
the new deal. As for sanctions, I believe that the rules are entirely clear, but I assure my hon. Friend that there will be no question of a sanction being imposed if an appropriate option is not available to one of her constituents.
Mr. Willetts: Will the Minister elaborate on the remarks that he made the other day to his old soulmates at the Adam Smith Institute? Will he confirm that employers who participate in the scheme will have to give an undertaking that those whom they take on will not displace others who are working for them? Will those employers have to agree that there will be an overall increase in employment in their firms? Are these new-style planning agreements with businesses really the best way of increasing employment?
Mr. Howarth: I relish the ideologically challenging character of the hon. Gentleman's question. He and I always welcome the play of ideas.
I think that the hon. Gentleman would agree that there is a risk that employers will abuse the opportunity provided for them through the offer of a £60-a-week subsidy to enable them to take on a young person under the new deal. He may also agree that we cannot simply be inactive. We cannot say to employers, "Go your own way; let market forces operate, and let people take their chance." It is clear that young people who have been unemployed for more than six months are in difficulty in the labour market, and we must therefore do our best to encourage employers to provide them with work opportunities. At the same time, we must do all that we can do to ensure that a number of employers do not abuse the subsidy, and that is what we are doing.
School Standards
5. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations he has received about standards in schools. [8600]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Ms Estelle Morris): This Government's top priority is to raise school standards. Since we took office, my colleagues and I have met a wide range of individuals and organisations, and have taken full advantage of the opportunities to listen to their views.
Mr. Amess: Will the Minister join me in congratulating all the schools in my constituency of Southend, West on their efforts to improve education standards? Will she reassure, in particular, grant-maintained and selective schools that the new Government will do nothing to damage their efforts? Finally, will she undertake to examine the Essex common schools funding formula carefully? At present, the formula works in favour of small schools to the detriment of large schools, particularly Westborough primary school in my constituency, which has 784 pupils.
Ms Morris: I am delighted to congratulate all schools that raise standards in the hon. Gentleman's new constituency, and indeed in all constituencies. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate schools that do well in Basildon as well.
Let me reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Government have no intention of preventing any school, whatever its status, from raising standards. The sooner we shift the debate to standards and away from structure, the better it will be for all children. My hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards is giving careful attention to all matters financial; he will note what the hon. Gentleman has said, together with any representations that are made. We want fair funding, and we realise that, in the transition to it, we must not damage schools that are paramount in the provision of education.
Ms Hodge:
My hon. Friend will have read about the case of the 15-year-old girl who appears to have been expelled from a school in Nottinghamshire. Does she share my concern about the fact that a young girl has apparently been expelled simply for complaining about education standards in the school? Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the agenda for raising education standards must be listening to the voice of consumers--parents and students?
Ms Morris:
My hon. Friend will understand that, until we receive a report on the incident, it is inappropriate for us to comment here. We have asked for such a report. I understand that the school has now broken up for the holidays, but that the child and her parents will appeal to the governors to ensure that the case is brought to a satisfactory end, as I hope it will be. They should have that right of appeal, and I think that the most sensible option is to let the appeal take its course and to hope that the matter can be resolved locally. That is where it should be resolved. I know that the governing body, together with the head teacher, will want to put the educational interests of the child at the forefront of its decisions.
Mr. Don Foster:
Does the Minister agree that, if we are to raise standards in our schools, we need high-quality teachers? Is she aware that, in the past 12 months, 16,000 heads, deputies and teachers left the profession early? Is she further aware that, over the past five years, there has been an 11 per cent. reduction in the number of people entering the profession? Finally, is she aware that, because of the inadequacies in the Chancellor's Budget for education, there will be further cuts in the teacher work force next year? Taken together, those facts are a ticking time bomb. How does the Minister intend to prevent it from exploding?
Ms Morris:
I share the hon. Gentleman's concern about the shortfall in teacher recruitment figures, which I have discussed with him. We need our best graduates in teaching--people who are good leaders and good teachers and who want to take their share of responsibility for educating the next generation.
The Government will put at the forefront of their intentions plans to attract the best into teaching. The consultation which my hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards launched this morning on the general teaching council is one of the many ways in which we are attempting to attract better graduates into teaching. We inherited a difficult situation from our predecessors in terms of teacher supply; they took no action to deal with the problem. We shall take action, and we hope to make announcements in due course.
I am proud of the Chancellor's settlement. It means that extra money will go into schools this year for capital and revenue spending, and I know that schools throughout the country will greatly welcome that.
Mr. Bill O'Brien:
When considering standards in schools and the quality of teachers, will my hon. Friend have regard to the quality of the buildings in which teachers and children have to teach and learn? In particular, will she have regard to the primary school in Wrenthorpe in my constituency, which is an old building? We need new buildings for people to teach and work in.
Ms Morris:
I agree with my hon. Friend that the condition of school buildings plays its part in our mission to help to raise standards. He will welcome the statement by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor which put £1 billion over four years into building capital. We have much to make up, given what we inherited from the Conservative Government. I assure my hon. Friend that we take seriously our obligations to make sure that our children learn in satisfactory circumstances. As he knows, we have made a good start with this year's financial settlement.
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