House of Commons
Thursday 17 February 2000
The House met at half-past Eleven o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
PRIVATE BUSINESS
Kent County Council Bill [Lords] (By Order)
Medway Council Bill [Lords] (By Order)
Mersey Tunnel Bill (By Order)
Orders for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Thursday 2 March.
Oral Answers to Questions
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
The Secretary of State was asked--
Specialist Schools (Deprived Areas)
1. Mr. Colin Pickthall (West Lancashire): What measures he proposes to assist schools in deprived areas to secure the private sector funding required to achieve specialist status. [109128]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): The sponsorship requirement for specialist schools has been reduced from £100,000 to £50,000. In addition, we provide grant in aid to the technology colleges trust and the youth sport trust in their work to help potential applicants raise sponsorship and to raise funds directly themselves. We have agreed with the trusts that emphasis will be placed on areas of deprivation and that they will assist nationally in encouraging sponsors to do that. So far, £45 million has been raised through that mechanism; £25 million since May 1997. I pay tribute to the technology colleges trust and the youth sport trust for the enormous effort that they have put in to make the partnership successful.
Mr. Pickthall: I thank my right hon. Friend for that helpful answer, but I am sure that he understands the immense difficulties faced by schools in towns such as Skelmersdale--deprived, low-wage towns, which do not have many or any large firms, and where those firms are heavily involved in other partnerships. Such schools do not get the attention that inner-city schools manage to achieve from time to time. Does my right hon. Friend realise that £50,000 is still a great deal of money for a school to find, and can result in the school leadership
having to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to rustle up money from a large number of sources? Can he go even further with areas such as Skelmersdale?
Mr. Blunkett: We are aware of the enormity of the challenge of raising £50,000 for schools in some areas. That is why, with Sir Cyril Taylor and the technology colleges trust in particular, we have been working to get major companies to put up resources specifically targeted at areas such as Skelmersdale, in a way that assists schools to continue the task of linking up with those companies, raising the resources and acting as a mentor and boost to the school.
Mr. David Ruffley (Bury St. Edmunds): May I draw the Secretary of State's attention to the problems experienced by schools making bids in rural areas? Stowmarket high school in my constituency made a bid for specialist status this past year and was turned down. One reason was that it could not raise the full £50,000. In a rural area such as Stowmarket, there are simply not enough local private sector companies and bodies to make the necessary donations. Will the Secretary of State therefore consider making allowances when schools such as Stowmarket high, in rural areas such as mine in mid-Suffolk, make bids for specialist school status?
Mr. Blunkett: I do not think that it would be possible to change the regulations specifically for schools in areas such as mid-Suffolk, given the level of inherent wealth and employment in East Anglia. However, we would be prepared to look more closely, with the TCT, at ways in which we could link schools in areas of deprivation within areas of greater wealth and privilege, so that we can link companies that are prepared to reach out to them. [Interruption.] There are murmurings from the Opposition Front Bench, but East Anglia has virtually reached full employment. Encouraging companies to reach out to deprived areas in such regions is an important part of the trust's work.
Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield): Does my right hon. Friend agree that, although the specialist schools initiative has been widely welcomed, there is a problem with the amount of money available for co-operating with other local schools for community projects? During the Select Committee's visits, we found that there was often a lack of co-operation between schools. We want schools to open doors and co-operate, but perhaps too little money is available for that.
Mr. Blunkett: I am pleased to respond positively to my hon. Friend. We changed the regulations to ensure that co-operation is essential, first in developing the bids, then in implementing specialist status, so that the schools must reach out to feeder schools, other neighbouring schools and the wider community. We place considerable emphasis on that, because we want the near-500 specialist schools that now exist to cascade their resources and their work outwards. Part of the resources that they receive from the Government depends on the work that they do with the wider community.
Mr. Nick St. Aubyn (Guildford): Is the Secretary of State aware that, on a recent visit to Gateshead, the Select Committee on Education and Employment learned that
none of the local Labour Members of Parliament had ever, in 10 years, visited their highly successful city technology college? Does he agree that, if those Labour Members were to visit their local city technology college, they would learn about attracting private sector funds to schools in deprived areas?
Mr. Blunkett: I am delighted to tell the hon. Gentleman that I have visited several of the original technology colleges, and I am certain that, as those schools reach out, as they are doing, voluntarily coming into the programme that we have laid out and working closely with their neighbouring schools, Members of Parliament of all persuasions will be delighted to welcome that and to engage with their activities.
New Deal (Over-25s)
2. Mr. David Lepper (Brighton, Pavilion): If he will make a statement on his Department's plans for the development of the new deal for the over-25s. [109129]
The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities (Ms Tessa Jowell): The new deal for those aged 25 and over has already helped 33,000 long-term unemployed people into jobs, and we have set aside a further £100 million to strengthen the new deal from April this year. From April 2001, we will be introducing a substantially strengthened new deal for this group, building on the successful approach of the new deal for young people.
Mr. Lepper: I thank my right hon. Friend for that information. Will she note that, since the introduction of the new deal, the number of long-term unemployed over-25s in my constituency has fallen from about 1,500 to about 450? Will she join me in congratulating the Brighton Employment Service staff on the vital role that they have played in making the new deal work for my constituents after years of underfunding of training and employment services by the previous Government? However, will my right hon. Friend acknowledge that a real and continuing need for many people who left school in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, demoralised at the prospect of never having a job, is help with basic literacy and numeracy skills? How will her proposals help those people to overcome that barrier to employment?
Ms Jowell: I pay tribute to my hon. Friend's support for the new deal which is delivering large numbers of his constituents from unemployment into work. I also join him in praising the efforts of the Brighton Employment Service, which has enabled 325 people from Brighton to move through the new deal for the over-25s into work--a higher rate of achievement of jobs than the national average. It is to be congratulated on that.
My hon. Friend has identified a critical challenge for the new deal, which is tackling the high level of illiteracy and innumeracy. Estimates suggest that about 20 per cent. of all unemployed people have literacy skills below level 1, and about 50 per cent. have numeracy skills below level 1. The new deal is about making people employable, getting them into one job so that they can sustain their place in the labour market. Lack of basic skills is an obstacle to that and a pathway to social exclusion, which is why we will redouble our efforts to ensure that all those
leaving the new deal, whether young people or older unemployed people, are liberated from illiteracy and innumeracy and have the skills to stay in work.
Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire): How much does it cost for each person over 25 to obtain a full-time job through the new deal?
Ms Jowell: If we take all the starts on the new deal, the figure is approximately £500 per person--[Interruption.] I am answering the question. If we consider the number of people who have started work--33,000--the figure is £3,500.
Education Spending (Redbridge)
3. Mr. Mike Gapes (Ilford, South): When he next plans to visit Redbridge to discuss the level of education spending. [109130]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Jacqui Smith): My right hon. Friend has no plans to visit the London borough of Redbridge. However, I am pleased to announce that my right hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards was able to visit Glade primary school to see the two new classrooms provided through the Government's class size initiative.
Mr. Gapes: Despite the welcome increase in resources that the Government are making available for education in Redbridge and the good results in our borough, there is widespread local anxiety among teachers, parents and governors that all three political groups on the Conservative-led council do not propose to spend that money on education and that part of it is being spent on other matters. Will my hon. Friend ensure that the Department holds urgent discussions with the council and all three political groups to ascertain whether we can solve that problem?
Jacqui Smith: My hon. Friend makes an important point. He is a strong and powerful advocate of the schools, pupils and governors in his constituency. I join in his commendation of the high standards that schools in Redbridge achieve.
However, let me make it clear that unless the local authority is willing to ensure that this year's 6.6 per cent. increase in its education standard spending assessment is passported to education and delegated effectively to schools, it will let down the schools, pupils and governors in the constituency.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has given a clear signal to local authorities that we expect our commitment to education to be replicated by local education authorities. We shall monitor LEAs to ensure that they make the same commitment to education as the Government, schools and parents.
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