Written Ministerial Statements
Thursday 30 April 2009
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Regional Development Agency
The Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Mr. Pat McFadden):
I am pleased to announce that I have decided to appoint two new business
position RDA board members to East of England Development Agency and East Midlands Development Agency.
| RDA | Board Member New Appointees |
The appointments will start on 1 May 2009 and will be for a period of two years and three months ending on 13 December 2011.
I am also pleased to announce that I have decided to reappoint 15 existing RDA board members who between them serve on seven of our Regional Development Agencies; listed below.
| RDA | Board Member Re-appointees | Period of Re-appointment -From 14 December 2009 |
I have agreed to extend the appointment of Joe Dwek at North-West Regional Development Agency, following agreement of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, for a further year expiring in December 2010.
The RDAs play a vital role in spreading economic prosperity and opportunity to everyone. All the re-appointees have bought a wealth of experience to their RDA adding a vast amount of value.
I have placed further details of these appointments, including biographies, in the Libraries of both Houses. I can confirm that the appointments were made in accordance with the code of practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Treasury
Consolidated Fund
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Alistair Darling): The sum of £1,555,162,313 was paid out of the Consolidated Fund on 30 March 2009 under section 228(5) of the Banking Act 2009. The Treasury is satisfied that the need for this expenditure was too urgent to permit arrangements to be made for the provision of money by Parliament.
Children, Schools and Families
Primary Curriculum Review
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (Ed Balls): As part of the Children’s Plan, we committed to a fundamental review of the primary curriculum, and I was delighted that Sir Jim Rose accepted my invitation to carry out this important work. The remit for the review was to consider how to:
Ensure that the primary curriculum builds on prior learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and supports transition to and children’s readiness for secondary school.
Increase flexibility and reduce prescription where possible to allow teachers more freedom to tailor the curriculum to their pupils’ interests, different and developing abilities and local circumstances to ensure that no child is left behind and to narrow achievement gaps.
Continue the focus on the crucial skills of literacy and numeracy, while recognising the increasing learning opportunities opened up by advances in technology in the last decade and children’s increasing ICT capabilities.
Give a greater emphasis to children’s personal development and well-being.
Balance these priorities with children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced primary curriculum which introduces them to the arts, sciences, humanities, physical education and sport and foreign languages as they progress through primary education.
In addition, I asked Sir Jim to consider how to improve outcomes for summer-born children, including considering when they should start school. During the review I asked Sir Jim to consider two of the EYFS early learning goals for writing as part of his wider review of improving transition from EYFS into primary Key Stage 1.
Sir Jim’s interim report was published on 8 December and has been subject to widespread consultation with teachers, parents, learned societies, subject experts and other professionals. He has now completed his final report, which I am publishing today along with proposals for a revised primary national curriculum. Hard copies are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses. I am accepting all of his recommendations subject to public consultation.
Sir Jim has made a number of recommendations directly related to the design and content of the primary curriculum which will require legislation, which I have accepted subject to public consultation which I have asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to carry out from today. They will also consult on the proposals to make personal, social, health and economic education statutory that I announced on Monday 27 April.
Sir Jim proposes a new core of essential skills for learning and life focused on literacy, numeracy, ICT and personal development and learning which is embedded across the whole curriculum. This will help ensure that all children leave school secure in the basics. Sir Jim’s recommendations also include restructuring the primary curriculum into six broad areas of learning, within which essential subject content will be organised and become more distinct as children progress from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2.
understanding English, communication and languages;
mathematical understanding;
understanding the arts;
historical, geographical and social understanding;
understanding physical development, health and wellbeing;
scientific and technological understanding.
The draft programmes of learning for these areas set out the knowledge, skills and understanding which children should learn linked to the overall aims of helping children become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. The curriculum content is set out in three clear phases to help teachers plan for progression. Sir Jim also recommends that a foreign language should become compulsory for the first time from age 7, building on the recommendation of the languages review carried out by the late Lord Dearing.
A number of other significant recommendations do not require legislation and I plan to take them forward subject to the forthcoming consultation. These will support and promote the successful implementation of
the new curriculum from September 2011. These include promoting what Sir Jim has already seen as excellent practice in some of our best primary schools relating to teaching reading and encouraging children’s spoken communication skills. He has also concluded that we should retain the two writing early learning goals as aspirational targets and that the Government should make available guidance and support to smooth children’s transition from the EYFS to primary school, including supporting those children still working towards these goals.
Other recommendations relate to helping schools plan for implementing the new curriculum, such as the Government supporting teachers’ professional development needs to deliver our increased expectations around ICT. Given the fundamental nature of the changes and the important contribution that I expect the new curriculum to make to children’s attainment and well-being, I have agreed that primary schools should be permitted an additional training day in 2010 to give every school the time and opportunity to plan for the new curriculum from September 2011. A full set of Sir Jim’s recommendations and my response is set out in the annex to this statement.
On the question of when summer-born children should start school, I have accepted Sir Jim’s recommendation that children should ideally start school in the September immediately following their fourth birthday, possibly on a part-time basis for some children, but with parents having freedom to choose. He has taken account of the compelling evidence on the benefits to summer-born children from starting school at the same time as their peers and that the majority of local authority areas already operate a single point of primary school entry in September. Young disabled children and children with SEN in particular will benefit from starting school as soon as possible so that the right interventions are put in place to ensure that these children also make progress alongside their fellow pupils. I am mindful however, that compulsory school age does not start until the term after a child turns five and that some parents have a strong preference for their child’s early years experience to take place outside a school setting. I therefore intend to make funding available across the maintained, private and voluntary sectors to enable all children to receive full time provision in education and childcare from the September after their fourth birthday. Alongside making that provision available, we will ensure that parents have clear information about the benefits of beginning reception in September and we will work to help schools and early years settings to smooth the transition for any children who move into reception after September.
I am enormously grateful to Sir Jim for the rigorous, inclusive and evidence-based way in which he has undertaken this major review. He has consulted widely with subject experts, learned societies, teachers and other professionals, and his review is informed by excellent practice in our best schools and internationally. Throughout the review he has kept in the forefront of his thinking the interests of children and their parents. I am confident that his work will make a huge difference to millions of young people, helping to ensure their primary years equip them with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to thrive in their future education and later lives.
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