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Education Action Zones
3. Mr. Geraint Davies (Croydon, Central): If he will make a statement on the progress in establishing education action zones. [68874]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): We have established 25 education action zones. Twelve began in September, and 13 at the start of the January term. The zones have now developed their action plans, and are in the process of implementing new and radical policies.
Mr. Davies: The new education action zone in Croydon is supported not only by many big businesses--Commercial Union, the Midland bank, the National Westminster bank, Direct Line, Landis and Gyr, Allders, Abbey National and many more--but by the community health trust, which is concerned about the health of school children, and by the Whitgift school, one of the most successful independent schools in the country, because it provides musical instruments and advises on best teaching practice and the use of playing fields and sports facilities. Surely this is the real third way of partnership that will drive up standards in Croydon's schools.
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover): Steer carefully on the third way.
Mr. Blunkett: As ever, I am grateful for the help of my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner).
We are pleased with what has been achieved by the education action zone in Croydon, and pleased to affirm that we have seen the development of genuine co-operation--rather than competition--between schools, between the public and the private sector and between statutory and voluntary organisations. They are coming together to deliver an improvement in standards, for which education action zones are designed. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Davies) for his work in bringing in private
companies, achieving co-operation from health and public services and forming links with the school that he described, which are already proving of great value to the children. In education action zones, we are overcoming simple, crude market competition and, instead, achieving the genuine collaboration of those who have the best interests of children at heart.
Mr. David Willetts (Havant):
Can the Secretary of State name anything happening in an education action zone that is not happening, or could not happen, elsewhere?
Mr. Blunkett:
Yes, I can. For example, as part of raising standards in those zones, 140 major companies have now committed themselves to working in them that would not have done so. This year alone, they have put into the zones £5 million that would not otherwise have been available. The major electronic commitments of British Aerospace, for example, in Hull, are making an enormous difference by linking every school with their family and community developments in adult education. When the Prime Minister and I launched the latest round of education action zones in Blackburn, we saw schools that are linking with companies to design--and then be able to manufacture--which brings education and employment prospects together.
I would have hoped that the hon. Gentleman would welcome that, but, having corrected The Daily Telegraph on the abolition of the national curriculum as a Tory party policy, but not yet corrected anyone on his belief that the literacy hour is a mistake, or put the nation right on whether the numeracy hour will be condemned by the Tory party, will he tell us--we would really like to hear it--what the Tories would do, except say sorry for the 18 miserable years that they spent in government?
4. Mr. Andrew Reed (Loughborough):
If he will make a statement on the responses that have been received to the learning age Green Paper. [68875]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. George Mudie):
We had some 3,000 responses to "The Learning Age" Green Paper. Nearly 2,000 were from members of the public and the rest were from employers, educational institutions, local authorities and others. We are greatly encouraged by the broad support in those responses for our overall vision and proposals. We will, in due course, publish a summary of the responses.
Mr. Reed:
I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that one of the worst legacies of the previous Government is the fact that 7 million workers have no formal qualifications in the workplace, which puts us among the bottom countries in the European Union? Does he further agree that individual learning accounts will be a key element in trying to address that problem? When does he intend to move that forward, to have a plan in place and to make the first 1 million individual learning accounts available, perhaps through training and enterprise councils?
Mr. Mudie:
If we are to improve the competitiveness of the British economy and to end social exclusion,
Schools Funding
5. Mr. Alan Simpson (Nottingham, South): What plans he has to introduce a needs-weighted element into the current pupil formula for schools funding. [68876]
The Minister for School Standards (Ms Estelle Morris): Under the "fair funding" arrangements, which take effect in April, the allocation of funding to individual schools is a matter for each local education authority to decide, within the framework of regulations that were recently approved by Parliament. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is satisfied that those regulations allow ample scope for taking account of the different needs of schools and pupils.
Mr. Simpson: Will my hon. Friend consider some of the advantages of a national Government lead on that? She knows as well as I do some of the problems of recently created unitary authorities such as mine, which face a legacy of under-achievement and long-term under-investment in city schools. Will she consider the successful introduction in Canada of a needs-weighted, rather than age-weighted, pupil unit into the formula? Not least of the consequences of that has been the successful reversal of the outward migratory trends of parents and families, who moved away from schools needing a recovery strategy. One of the remarkable achievements of that change in Canada was the rediscovery by parents of the virtues of the local school, and the realisation that there was no point in sending their kids in one direction when the resources for schools were going in the other direction.
Ms Estelle Morris: I am always happy to look at what is happening overseas to see what we can learn. The decision on age-weighted pupil units is a local one. Nationally, we insist that 80 per cent. of funding should be pupil led. We feel that the remaining 20 per cent. gives local authorities enough flexibility to reflect their local circumstances. I entirely accept my hon. Friend's comment about his area's chronic underfunding under the previous Government. I know that he will welcome the more than £1 million of new deal for schools capital that has gone into the city and the fact that more than £500,000 has already been provided to begin the reduction of infant class sizes.
Mr. David Willetts (Havant): Is the Minister aware that there is a growing crisis in schools funding because local education authorities do not have the information to set schools' indicative budgets? Even at this late stages, the Department cannot tell them how much money they will have to set aside for all the Ministers' pet projects. One LEA phoned the Department and was told by the operator, "I am sorry, I haven't got anything under 'LEA
support'. All I have is 'LEA intervention' and 'Ofsted.'" Is not that the Government's real agenda--intervention, intervention, intervention, rather than setting schools free?
Ms Morris: No, the Government's agenda is standards, standards, standards. Unless we intervene where standards are not sufficiently high, we shall have failure, failure, failure. That is the choice that we face. Local authorities know exactly where they stand for next year. They have had their best settlement for years. Most of the standard spending assessment money has already been announced. Local authorities throughout the country are making decisions about revenue arrangements for next year and passing the information to schools.
Specialist Schools
6. Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West): If he will make a statement on future plans in relation to specialist schools. [68877]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Charles Clarke): We plan to have 500 specialist schools in operation by September 2001. Our priority is to ensure that the range of schools in each specialism spreads across England, so that the benefits of the scheme are maximised.
Dr. Starkey: My hon. Friend will be aware that Milton Keynes is fortunate in having four specialist schools already. I should like to draw his attention to an example of good practice at Lord Grey school, the specialist language school, to inform schools elsewhere. It has made enormous efforts to set up links with its feeder primary and middle schools through the national grid for learning and in partnership with a local business, Yamaha Keyboards, which has supplied computer keyboards to 1,000 pupils in the feeder schools to enable them to link electronically with the modern languages resources at Lord Grey. The school is also sending teachers to teach the top-year middle school pupils French, German and Spanish, as well as Japanese culture, because Milton Keynes has a large number of Japanese businesses. Will my hon. Friend join me in commending the school on its efforts and ensure that its good example is spread throughout the country?
Mr. Clarke: I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. I join her in congratulating and commending Lord Grey school. I should also like to congratulate Milton Keynes as a whole, where four of the nine secondary schools--more than 44 per cent.--are specialist schools. That is the highest proportion in the country. There is a specialist school in each of the disciplines--arts, sport, languages and technology. We are seeking to spread that example throughout the country. My officials stand ready to help all local education authorities and schools seeking to put forward bids as we go for the target of 500 in September 2001. The aim is to spread skills and experience widely. The specialist schools that I have visited have been--like my hon. Friend's in Milton Keynes--inspirational.
Mr. Damian Green (Ashford): I welcome the Minister's decision to extend the specialist schools initiative started by the previous Government. Such schools provide choice, diversity and excellence and we
applaud them. In the hope of some reciprocal generosity, will the Minister applaud the performance of another group of specialist schools that concentrate on academic attainment--namely the grammar schools? On Monday, the Prime Minister said:
- "if a school's doing a good job then we don't want to get rid of that school."
Mr. Charles Clarke: As the hon. Gentleman knows, when we took office there were 222 specialist schools. There are now 330 and I recently announced that a further 35 will open in September. As I said earlier, our target is 500 by September 2001. I have visited many of the schools and I agree that they are inspirational and spreading value. The hon. Gentleman asked about grammar schools--a different subject, as he well knows. As the Prime Minister made clear, we commend all good-quality schools. The issues of admission are dealt with under separate legislation in a way that the hon. Gentleman well understands.
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