House of Commons
Thursday 20 January 2000
The House met at half-past Eleven o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
The Secretary of State was asked--
Class Sizes
1. Mr. Nick St. Aubyn (Guildford): If he will make a statement on the cost of his plans to reduce class sizes for five, six and seven-year-olds. [103675]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): We are providing a total of £620 million to deliver the infant class size pledge, £200 million of which is for capital, which will provide an extra 2,000 classrooms. We are providing an extra 6,000 teachers, and we will achieve the class size pledge early.
Mr. St. Aubyn: Is it not a fact that the Government originally estimated the cost of fulfilling that pledge at £100 million? Whatever the value of the pledge, is it not grossly incompetent of the Department for Education and Employment to spend six times the original estimate? Does the Secretary of State recognise that, if his Department had worked in partnership with independent schools to offer first-year schools provision, the pledge could have been delivered at a fraction of the cost? Does not that failure to work with the private sector show a lack of imagination on the part of the Minister and his colleagues? Will he welcome the intention of Surrey county council's local education authority to explore the use of independent schools, so that the pledge can be delivered with value for money while building bridges between different education providers in the local community?
Mr. Blunkett: With respect to the hon. Gentleman, he appears to be mixing different Conservative policies, and not addressing the issue of class size. There is no suggestion that class sizes could be reduced by using the private sector. No one has said that the class size pledge, which has reduced the number of children in classes of more than 30 from 500,000 to 180,000, and which will
reduce the number to nil within 18 months, could be achieved by buying places in infant classes in private schools that do not exist.
Mr. Blunkett: The hon. Gentleman may say so, but we are spending money on 6,000 additional teachers to make a reduction in classes possible. We are spending on capital to ensure expansion so that more people may have choice. We are keeping the pledge early, by spending at least £300 million of the money that would have gone into the assisted places scheme by 2002. All that will ensure a decent education for every child in every community, not just children for whom a private school happens to be available.
Mr. Andrew Reed (Loughborough): I welcome the figures that my right hon. Friend has announced. It is rich to hear the Conservative party, which did not want to do anything about class sizes, moaning that we are spending too much money on reducing them. Will my right hon. Friend learn from the fact that money for the pledge has been ring-fenced? Will he ensure that all money passed from the Department for Education and Employment is passed on to schools? Will he ensure that much more funding is ring-fenced in future, so that local authorities such as Leicestershire cannot withhold money that the Government have given them for schools?
Mr. Blunkett: I am always willing to learn from successful policies. I encourage all hon. Members to ensure that resources allocated for education are spent as intended, and that is why I have written to the leaders of every council and education authority. I want all Conservative, Liberal Democrats and Labour councils to fulfil commitments to the electorate to spend that money on education, not highways, repairs or spurious projects. It should be spent on ensuring that every child has a high-quality education. We shall monitor what happens over the next few weeks, learn lessons from that and take the appropriate steps.
Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead): While the Government are spending £620 million on keeping their pledge, secondary class sizes are rising. How much would it have cost to keep secondary classes at the sizes inherited by the Secretary of State? Will he confirm that, in order to maintain spending on education as a proportion of national income at the average achieved by the Conservative Government, the Government would have had to inject through the comprehensive spending review not £19 billion, but £32 billion?
Mr. Blunkett: Average class size in both primary and secondary sectors fell from 24.9 in January 1998 to 24.8 in January 1999. We shall soon have the figures for the past 12 months. At the same time, the pupil-teacher ratio across the whole sector fell from 18.9 to 18.8 to one. By the end of the spending review, we shall have spent £200 extra on every primary school child, compared with a drop of £30 during the final three years of the previous Government.
At the end of the previous Parliament, gross domestic product had fallen as a proportion of national income by 0.3 per cent. By the end of the current Parliament, it will have risen by 0.2 per cent.
Mr. John Healey (Wentworth):
Is my right hon. Friend aware that an extra £500,000 has been put into schools in Rotherham this year to fund 18 additional key stage 1 teachers and help to slash the number of five, six and seven-year-olds in large classes? Does he recognise, however, that some schools prefer not to have mixed age groups, and that that can make it harder to reduce all class sizes to below 30? Will he reassure such schools that their approach will be respected as the Government move to keep the class size pledge in full?
Mr. Blunkett:
Yes, I can give that assurance.
2. Mr. Andrew George (St. Ives):
What assessment he has made of the higher education needs of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. [103676]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Malcolm Wicks):
That kind of assessment is one for the interested bodies in the region to make. We welcome the work being done by the combined universities in Cornwall partnership. In Cornwall, as elsewhere, higher education is critical to economic and social development. We recognise the strong demand for higher education in Cornwall, as shown by the 7 per cent. increase, between 1998 and 1999, of students from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly who are studying at UK higher education institutions.
Mr. George:
I am grateful to the Minister for that helpful reply. However, Cornwall lacks the core university facilities that many other parts of the country take for granted. What security can Cornwall achieve in its plans to establish such core facilities? To do so, some assurance as to student numbers is required in the medium term.
Mr. Wicks:
Many parts of the country do not have their own university as such. However, as I pointed out, the work being carried out in Cornwall by Exeter university, Plymouth university and Falmouth college of arts is encouraging. I know that the Higher Education Funding Council wants an increase in higher education opportunities in Cornwall, as do we.
3. Barbara Follett (Stevenage):
How many specialist schools will be established within the next two years. [103677]
The Minister for School Standards (Ms Estelle Morris):
Today, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the names of 36 schools that will be
Barbara Follett:
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does she agree that that expansion shows the Government's commitment to modernising the comprehensive system? Will she do all that she can to encourage more schools, especially in the eastern region, to apply for that status?
Ms Morris:
I agree with my hon. Friend. There has long been a myth about the monolith of sameness in comprehensive schools. The specialist schools programme clearly shows that comprehensive schools do have strengths. They should be allowed to develop and build on those strengths. We should expect them to share their expertise with other schools, as happens under the specialist school programme.
I am sure that my hon. Friend will be pleased that, today, we have announced that there will be two further specialist schools in her county--although they are not in Stevenage. I hope that further applications will be made from other areas, including Stevenage, and that there will be designations at a future date.
Mr. Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath):
Does the Minister agree that one of the advantages of schools being encouraged to develop specialisms is that teachers and governors can be motivated to develop those schools further? Does she realise that there is a particular interest in developing specialisms in languages, in science and technology and in sport? Will she join me in congratulating France Hill school in my constituency? The school was known for its specialism in sport but, under the inspired leadership of Mrs. Jacqui Pearson, the head teacher, it has gone from strength to strength. The school has recently been given a most successful Ofsted report, and will tomorrow receive its basic skills award.
Ms Morris:
I congratulate Mrs. Pearson, her staff and everyone who worked in the school and the community to raise standards. It is interesting that, in specialist sports schools applications, the quality of grades needed to secure designation is possibly higher than in any other specialism. The quality of work developed in such schools--both with students and in the wider community--has the potential to transform what is going on in some quite disadvantaged areas.
I join the hon. Gentleman in applauding the school and in recognising the effects on motivation. The key to being granted specialist school status lies in the preparation that schools and governors have had to undertake to receive the designation. They are required to have a clear head and a clear eye on targets, and to face staff development. They need to ensure that everyone in the school has those targets and objectives as the endgame--they must work together co-operatively to achieve them. We applaud that process, as much as the outcome, in the specialist schools that we have announced today.
Mr. Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford):
May I tell my right hon. Friend about the spectacular bid that she will receive from Holmesdale community school in Snodland in my constituency? It will bring together the process industries in the Medway valley and it will be one
I understand that bids have to be entered in March. When will my hon. Friend make an announcement about the next round? Obviously, the schools that are to have a new status in September will need time to prepare.
Ms Morris:
I compliment my hon. Friend on his tenacity and admire him for it. He has been lobbying on behalf of the school before I have received the application, which has made it a bit difficult for me to pursue the matter, but that is his job and he does it very well. If the school's application is very innovative, I will look forward to receiving it with greater eagerness than might otherwise have been the case. We hope to announce the results of the next successful round in the summer, and we expect and shall ensure that those schools will have sufficient time to prepare their plans.
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough):
The Minister knows that Liberal Democrat Members support the broad thrust of specialist schools. We are, in particular, delighted that very few of those schools have taken the option of selecting by aptitude.
Does the right hon. Lady agree, however, that the success of specialist schools, particularly in maths, science and modern languages, greatly depends on recruiting high quality teachers? Does she share our disappointment that the figures announced last week show yet another drop in the number of applicants for postgraduate certificate of education courses in all those subjects? Despite golden hellos, we have failed to meet our targets. What does the Minister intend to do to make up that deficit and recruit high-quality teachers who want to work in specialist schools?
Ms Morris:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his complimentary remarks about the specialist school programme. I know that his constituency has greatly benefited from the programme, and he has always been kind enough to recognise that.
The hon. Gentleman is wrong about the effect of the golden hellos. Last year, golden hellos in maths and science were responsible for an 18 per cent. increase and a 3 per cent. increase respectively in the numbers of PGCE students beginning courses at the start of this academic year. I am entirely confident that our initiative on golden hellos for modern foreign languages this year will bring about equally good results.
I take seriously the hon. Gentleman's point that it is no good pretending that historically we have found it easy to recruit young and not-so-young teachers to areas of short supply. One of the ways in which specialist schools can contribute is by giving a clear message that the country values teachers in those specialisms. We should put those teachers high on our agenda, and make it clear that their jobs are marvellous, fulfilling and rewarding.
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