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National Year of Reading
5. Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East): What assessment he has made of the impact of the national year of reading. [94253]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): The National Literacy Trust will produce its evaluation report in December, but it has already told us that the success of the national year for reading has resulted in a massive take-up of library services, an increase in reading by parents and grandparents with children and a substantial contribution to the success of the national literacy programme which, as hon. Members will know, resulted in a five percentage point improvement in literacy levels for 11-year-olds this summer. The Conservatives, who announced their policy at their conference in Blackpool, would sweep away that programme, along with the numeracy programme, which is making so much progress.
Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford): One group of people are not benefiting from improved literacy skills, and they are individuals who are excluded from school. I thank the Minister for School Standards for the help that she gave a constituent of mine on this problem during the summer. Can the Department do more to ensure that excluded pupils benefit from improving their reading? Some children are excluded from school for more than a year without receiving any other education, even though they should be receiving it.
Mr. Blunkett: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his generous comments about my right hon. Friend; I, too, offer her congratulations on her becoming a Privy Councillor only a week ago. I am extremely glad that she is in the Chamber today, because she was stuck in a lift in Sanctuary Buildings, which could have excluded her from today's Question Time.
School exclusion is a serious matter; it transcends party differences. Children who are not in school are not learning, and those who are excluded for long periods are likely to drift into crime and other activities which make matters worse. Ensuring that such children are quickly and effectively dealt with, and that support units throughout the country are available rapidly so that we can re-engage
those young people in the most appropriate ways, is an essential task to make the literacy programmes work in practice.
Madam Speaker:
I have not called Dr. Iddon for his supplementary question. I think that I may have been confused because, after half an hour, we have only reached Question 5. However, I now call Dr. Iddon.
Dr. Iddon:
Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Bolton local authority library service on the huge success of its national year of reading? During that year, the service contacted more than 40,000 people across the age spectrum--including 15,000 of the local authority's workers through their wage packets. It also put adverts on local multiplex cinema screens. One effect of that scheme has been a noticeable increase in library membership. Will my right hon. Friend promote numeracy in a similar way?
Mr. Blunkett:
In view of Madam Speaker's strictures, I shall be brief.
Madam Speaker:
I am glad that the Minister has got the message.
Mr. Blunkett:
That has taken up a little time.
I congratulate all the people in Bolton whom I saw when I came to the festival held there during the summer. It was a tremendous success and has enabled Bolton to exceed the national improvement in literacy. I am sure that the maths and numeracy year will give equivalent results during the 12 months ahead.
6. Ms Rosie Winterton (Doncaster, Central):
What steps his Department is taking to enhance the services offered at the gateway stage of the new deal. [94254]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Michael Wills):
We have strengthened the gateway through extra support for young people during its fourth month, and by developing new tools to help identify their needs. We have also established trailblazer projects in 12 locations to test further improvements.
Ms Winterton:
I welcome my hon. Friend to his new position, and thank him for that reply.
The Employment Service in Doncaster greatly welcomes the Government's initiatives--especially the trailblazing initiatives--because of the help they give to promote best practice in dealing with clients who pose particular challenges. The Barnsley and Doncaster training and enterprise council has emphasised the need for a coalition with employers. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what steps are being taken to ensure best practice from trailblazing through the involvement of employers? How can that best be passed on when the scheme rolls out nationwide? Will he come to Doncaster to encourage employers to join the Employment Service in that scheme?
Mr. Wills:
I thank my hon. Friend for her kind words about me and about the trailblazer projects. Their point is
I should be delighted to visit Doncaster, to encourage employers to see the real advantages these projects can offer them--as well as the young people who have already benefited from the scheme.
Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset):
I welcome the unpaid Under-Secretary to his new Department and I am sorry that my campaign to get him a salary has not worked. We shall keep on trying.
Has the hon. Gentleman examined the detailed statistics on new deal and the gateway? How many people complete the gateway but do not gain access to any schemes or employment? How many people who completed the gateway had their benefits stopped because they did not accept a place on any scheme?
Mr. Wills:
I am always grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his solicitude on my behalf, but I must inform him that his campaign has paid off. Perhaps the Prime Minister listened to the hon. Gentleman on that issue, if not about anything else.
I am afraid that, as usual, the hon. Gentleman is looking at the problem in the wrong way. He needs to consider the big picture. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already said, more than 100,000 young people have secured jobs. They have regained hope--which would never have happened under the previous Government. [Interruption.] Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will allow me to finish. He should also consider the benefit that the new deal brings to the economy as a whole. We are removing the inflationary pressures that come from not having enough competition in the job market to fill existing vacancies. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman remembers inflation from the years of Conservative Government.
7. Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston):
What action he has taken to secure high standards of teaching and research in higher education. [94255]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Malcolm Wicks):
We expect high standards in both teaching and research in our universities. We have supported the work of the Quality Assurance Agency and the Institute for Learning and Teaching, and we expect new teachers in higher education to be trained on programmes accredited by the institute.
Mr. Miller:
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his well-deserved appointment to the Front Bench. Has he considered the proposal by the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) to empower universities to set their own fees? Does my hon. Friend think that such a proposal
Mr. Wicks:
I noted the comments by the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) with some sadness, because at the end of the 20th century, when we are looking forward to new higher education challenges in the 21st century, we do not want to return to an elitist 19th century university system. We have introduced measures that will prevent that from happening. Access to any of our universities should be based on academic ability, not socio-economic status.
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough):
I welcome the Minister to his position and thank him for his excellent work as Chairman of the Education Sub-Committee.
The Bett committee recommended a 2.5 per cent. increase in university budgets to allow universities to meet their statutory obligations regarding equal pay. The effect of not granting that increase would be reduced teaching and research standards. Given the Bett committee's clear recommendation and the fact that the Government have said that they will not respond to the committee's findings, what advice will the Minister give to vice-chancellors? Should they go for statutory equal pay or reduce teaching and research standards?
Mr. Wicks:
We support equal pay across all spheres. We are grateful for the work of the Bett committee, but pay rates for university academics are a matter for their employers--the universities--and those who represent the sector. I must point out that we have provided an extra £776 million to universities over two years.
Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North):
I welcome my hon. Friend the Minister's commitment to continuing to widen access to our universities. However, is he aware of the experience of one of my constituents who applied earlier this year to study for an economics degree? This young man, whose academic performance has been outstanding, is in a wheelchair; his application was rejected by one of Britain's leading universities explicitly on the ground that the university could not cope with his access problems. Another university later accepted him.
I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that his rejection was unacceptable and illegal. Will he take up the matter directly with the vice-chancellor of that university to ensure that it does not happen again, either at that university or any other in the United Kingdom?
Mr. Wicks:
I am sorry to hear about that distressing situation. If my hon. Friend will give me details, I will personally write to the vice-chancellor of the university. Such a practice belongs to the past, not the future.
The disability task force is specifically considering these issues. We want to see every able young man and woman in a British university, regardless of any circumstance and certainly regardless of disability.
Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry):
I welcome the Minister to his new position. It is evident from earlier exchanges that, bizarrely, the Prime Minister is able to countenance
In view of what the Minister has said about the quality of the university experience and his commitment to that, will he explain why Health Ministers are, rightly, seeking to end the lottery of prescribing by postcode, but Education Ministers are letting it be known that they would favour the incorporation of an element of postcode discrimination into selection for places in higher education? Does he realise that that would call into doubt the credibility of the individual student and, certainly, the quality of the university itself?
Mr. Wicks:
It is appropriate to find suitable statistical mechanisms for targeting resources so as to achieve our goal of enabling every young person with ability to go to university. However, I repeat that we are totally against top-up fees because, by definition, they would favour only young people from richer families and would discriminate against those from poorer families. We do not want social class to be the gateway to university; we want ability in the class to be that gateway.
Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge):
I add my best wishes to my hon. Friend for his future career on the Front Bench, which is wholly deserved. As an MA Cantab., I understand that this honorary title may in future be refused to others, unless they undertake a course of postgraduate study. Will my hon. Friend take on board the fact that many of us feel that the title is not wholly deserved? May I encourage him to continue to press for a consistently high quality throughout the postgraduate sector?
Mr. Wicks:
It has been remiss of me not to thank those who have offered their congratulations, but I have been so anxious to spot the hand grenade rolling across that I may have been impolite. I now thank everyone for their congratulations.
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