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Higher Education (West Cumbria)
3. Tony Cunningham (Workington): What progress is being made in the provision of higher education in west Cumbria. [135234]
The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education (Alan Johnson): A project board chaired by Sir Brian Fender is currently considering higher education in Cumbria. The group was formed following the publication of the review of higher education in Cumbria. Its task is to produce a strategic plan for the development of higher education in Cumbria early next spring. Working groups are
considering marketing, communications and estate issues and the subject supply and demand across the region.
Tony Cunningham : I am delighted that serious progress is being made towards a university in Cumbria. Will my right hon. Friends the Minister and the Secretary of State take a personal interest in that serious and desperately needed project? If necessary, will they meet a delegation from west Cumbria?
Alan Johnson: I can assure my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I will take a close interest in the project. There is a specific problem in Cumbria and that was the reason for forming the working group and publishing the report last February. I should be happy to receive a delegation.
Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry): I have taken an interest in higher education in west Cumbria for a long time. Does the Minister acknowledge that it is essential to encourage potential students to enrol? Has he noted the conclusions of the recent NatWest "Money Matters" study that 46 per cent. of students in the north-west, including Cumbria, compared with 33 per cent. elsewhere—that is bad enough—are more likely to have thought twice about going to university because of tuition fees? His message is not of lifelong learning but lifelong debt.
Alan Johnson: I hope that the hon. Gentleman was not plodding around with the students on Sunday in a vain attempt to look hip and groovy. He would have been better off at home with a mug of tea, listening to the omnibus edition of "The Archers".
The question of enrolment is extremely important. According not to us but to the Higher Education Policy Institute, under the Conservatives' plans we would lose nearly half a million university places by 2010. The sensible and constructive debate should be on how we handle investment and expansion, in contrast to the policy of Her Majesty's official Opposition, which is to take money out of higher education and reduce the opportunities available.
Children's Centres
4. Mrs. Ann Cryer (Keighley): How many children's centres have been established; and if he will make a statement. [135235]
The Minister for Children (Margaret Hodge): Sixty-one children's centres have been designated in England. Local authorities have now submitted their plans for developing further children's centres, and we are currently considering them. Children's centres funded by this programme will be created in the most disadvantaged areas in England. We will develop 43,000 new child care places and provide integrated sure start services, including community health services and family services, for up to 650,000 children under five.
Mrs. Cryer : I thank my right hon. Friend for that very welcome news. Will she join me in welcoming the fact that the current Guardhouse, Braithwaite and Highfield
sure start programme will become Keighley's first children's centre in 2004, and that in 2005, children's centres will be developed in Parkwood, Woodhouse and Bracken Bank, and in the Lawkholme area of Keighley? Lawkholme is an acutely deprived Asian area. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the children from Lawkholme will benefit enormously from attending a children's centre before going to school, and that it might even give them some knowledge of English before they go into nursery and then reception?
Margaret Hodge: I welcome the ambitious programme to create children's centres in my hon. Friend's constituency. They will make a huge difference to the opportunities for young children to develop their potential. I entirely agree that if the centres can use locally the resources that we make available to them to help the development of English speaking among those children who do not have English as their first language, it will be important in ensuring their inclusion and high standards when they go through school.
Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston): May I tell my right hon. Friend about a constituent of mine who contacted my office a couple of weeks ago? She was the first person—the first of many, I hope—to approach me to say, "I do not want to be moved away from the Stanney estate." Sure start has had a massive impact on that estate. It is welcomed by the parents, and the estate is also the location for a proposed children's centre. A couple of weeks ago, we were pleased to be able to show some visitors from Hungary—visiting us through the Department for Education and Skills—what we were doing in that area. This initiative is having an impact right across the most deprived parts of my constituency. Let us see more of it, and more control of the centres by the parents in those communities.
Margaret Hodge: I am delighted by my hon. Friend's experience of what I think is one of the most innovative and successful programmes to be initiated by this Government. It is interesting that nobody from the Opposition has risen to question us on this undoubted success of the Labour Government. I also share my hon. Friend's belief that sure start can contribute towards strengthening local communities rather than encouraging people to leave them. I entirely agree that one of the purposes of sure start is to provide support not only to young children but to their families, because parents play such a crucial role in ensuring good outcomes for children.
Social Behaviour (Primary Schools)
5. Andrew Selous (South-West Bedfordshire): What recent assessment he has made of the social behaviour of children entering primary school. [135236]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Ivan Lewis): In his most recent report, Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools found that in the majority of primary schools, children's behaviour was satisfactory, with a third of primary schools showing a real improvement in that area, and that in nearly nine out of 10 primary schools, procedures for monitoring and promoting good behaviour were
effective. However, he has since expressed a personal concern that an increasing number of children entering primary school exhibit poor social behaviour.
Andrew Selous: I am pleased that the Minister agrees with the chief inspector that the verbal and behavioural skills of the nation's five-year-olds are, as he put it, at an all-time low. Does he also agree that school can often be the most stable part of what may be very disrupted lives, and does he agree that the encouragement of family stability by both public and voluntary bodies is an integral part of tackling this important problem?
Mr. Lewis: It may surprise the hon. Gentleman to learn that I entirely agree with his analysis, and with his comments about families. I believe that the issue he raises is central to helping all children to attain the level that we want them to attain, and central to breaking the cycle of intergenerational deprivation that scars so much of our society.
The sure start scheme and early intervention are making a real difference, as are early excellence centres, the universal nursery provision that will exist for all three and four-year-olds from next April, the behaviour improvement programme that now exists in 1,000 primary schools, and the fact that we have given 3,500 primary schools the opportunity to buy in expert help and support for children with behavioural and emotional problems. Intergenerational deprivation, however, is a generational challenge, and there is no quick-fix solution. I do not like it when Opposition Members demand immediate results from our interventions, as though the problems could be solved overnight. They have come into being over 30 or 40 years.
Mr. Andy Reed (Loughborough): I agree with the Minister that the problem is intergenerational. A cross-party group of us has met a wide range of people who are interested in the subject: members of 30 charities, of trade unions and of Christian organisations. The main theme that emerged was that children now starting school do not possess many of the social skills that many had no more than 10 years ago. Many heads in my constituency say the same.
Will the Minister work with a range of organisations not just to deliver statutory and voluntary projects, but to encourage and help parents to learn parenting skills that will remove the need for us to establish such projects to solve these social problems? Will he also work across Departments to ensure that, for instance, atypical working weeks and the working time directive enable children to be brought up in stable families and can learn many of the required social skills?
Mr. Lewis: I agree with my hon. Friend. We need a strong approach across Government, but we must also work in partnership with the voluntary sector and with families. If we are to rebuild our communities, we need those communities to recognise everyone's responsibilities. The Government are investing unprecedented levels of resources and support, but parents must fulfil their responsibility to support their children. The Green Paper "Every Child Matters" is a vital step forward: it speaks of bringing together all the professionals and experts in the statutory and voluntary
sectors to support children in schools and outside them, and linking that to support for families. We need a partnership between the state and families.
Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham): How will the new special needs funding formula affect the education of emotionally and behaviourally disturbed children? If schools cannot meet their own requirements and those of other units, will not disruptive children be left unsupported in mainstream classrooms, making it impossible for teachers to teach and for other pupils to learn?
Mr. Lewis: I reject that suggestion. We now have 1,500 learning mentors in primary schools across the country, and a number of learning support units. That enables schools, for the first time, to offer children more intensive one-to-one support and to forge important links with parents and families.
We are providing inclusive education, while also ensuring that the system is responsible enough to support individuals and help them to develop as we all want them to. I believe that there is both more mainstream support and more targeted support than there has ever been before.
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