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House of Commons
Tuesday 30 March 1993
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[ Madam Speaker-- in the Chair ]
PRIVATE BUSINESS
Pwllheli Harbour (Amendment) Bill
Order for Third Reading read.--[Queen's consent, on behalf of the Crown, signified.]
Bill read the Third time, and passed.
Dawat-e-Hadiyah (England) Bill
Order for Third Reading read.
Bill read the Third time, and passed.
Oral Answers to Questions
EDUCATION
Parenthood
2. Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support he is giving to education for parenthood.
The Secretary of State for Education (Mr. John Patten) : It is vital that parents set out for their children the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and teach them the differences between right and wrong. If parents do not give a lead, then children will not respect them. If there is no respect, then there is no authority. And too many children are entering school with too little respect for authority. Schools must help to reinforce those standards, but teachers alone cannot do the job of parents.
The basic values of decency, self-discipline and respect for others are some of the most important things that we can instill in our children and pass on to them. We must teach children to be responsible parents, and the law provides for that to be done in schools under the Education Reform Act 1988. Today's school children are tomorrow's parents, so that task is vital.
Mr. Bowis : I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer, with which I wholly agree. Does he accept, however, that as a result of social changes one in four of 16-year-olds has seen the break-up of the parental home and increasing numbers of children in my constituency never have a father in the home, so there is no paternal example to follow? In seeking ways of educating for parenthood through the school system, will my right hon. Friend bear that in mind? Otherwise, those future parents will have had no example to follow. They desperately need the support of society as a whole.
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Mr. Patten : Of course I shall reflect carefully on what my hon. Friend, with his characteristic sympathy for people in difficulties, has said, but it is also right that parents should always try to fulfil their responsibilities, however difficult the home circumstances. I sometimes think that the greater use of more school-home contracts would help in that regard.
Nursery Education
3. Mr. Callaghan : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment has been made of the number of nursery places which would be provided by local education authorities if each one spent at least at the level provided for in the Government's financial settlement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Mr. Eric Forth) : The Government make no planning breakdown of the overall amount allowed for education within the local government finance settlement. It is for authorities and schools to decide how that might best be allocated between the various services, including nursery provision, which authorities provide under discretionary powers.
Mr. Callaghan : I thank the Minister for that reply. May I point out, however, that in addition to the huge mailbag that I have already sent to the Department from parents in Rochdale borough who are concerned about the lack of provision for education and the national lack of nursery places, this morning I received a further 53 such letters from concerned parents? In the light of those worries, will the Minister introduce statutory provision for nursery education nationally so as to allay parents' fears?
Mr. Forth : No, I can give no such undertaking. In this country we have a system of voluntary provision, which is left to the discretion of elected and accountable education authorities. About 90 per cent. of children receive pre-school education in a variety of different ways. We believe that that is by far the best way to deliver the provision. It is for parents, both as parents and as electors, to decide locally whether they are satisfied with that provision. I believe that we have made good progress in that regard during the 1980s, and that we shall continue to do so in the 1990s.
Sir Malcolm Thornton : May I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the Select Committee report in the previous Parliament on under-five provision, and especially to its comments on the appropriateness of the curriculum? It is good that 90 per cent. of our children are in some form of pre-school education. However, the Select Committee showed clearly the importance of having a curriculum particularly suited to their needs. May I direct my hon. Friend's attention to that report and ask him to take it on board in any advice that he gives to local authorities?
Mr. Forth : We always pay the closest possible attention to Select Committee reports, as I hope goes without saying. My hon. Friend is trying to take us somewhat further than we should like to go at this stage, bearing in mind that we have one of the earliest ages for mandatory universal school provision and, therefore, for curriculum. The pre-five provision is diverse and should remain so.
Mrs. Ann Taylor : Will the Minister confirm that parents who live in a Labour county council area have
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three times more chance of getting a nursery place for their children than those who live in a Conservative council area? What does the Minister intend to do about Conservative councils' appalling record on nursery education? Will the Minister agree that every three and four-year-old should have the right to the best start in education, which means being able to have the advantage of nursery education?Mr. Forth : No, I propose to do nothing of the kind, as local education authorities are responsible to the electorate and make their own decisions about these matters. I do not share the hon. Lady's apparent obsession with mandatory state taxpayer-provided pre-school provision. It is a matter of diversity of provision and of different parents having different provision of the kind that they prefer. If the hon. Lady does not understand that now, she never will.
Dyslexic Children
5. Mr. Nicholls : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provision he has made for the teaching of dyslexic children in grant- maintained schools.
Mr. Forth : Where a pupil's special educational needs, including dyslexia, require a statement, provision is the responsibility of the local education authority. Where a pupil does not require a statement, primary responsibility for provision rests with the school and its governors, whether the school is grant maintained or not.
Mr. Nicholls : Does my hon. Friend agree that although dyslexia is an overused term, it is nevertheless a specific learning difficulty which should be addressed in a specific way? Does he also agree that the belief held by some schools and some local education authorities that is simply a general disability to be treated like any other disability condemns many children of above average ability to having their lives blighted because their full potential is never realised?
Mr. Forth : I find it almost incredible that anyone should have the attitude that my hon. Friend has described. If a child has a specific educational need, the local education authority must by law make an individual assessment of that need and must then make proper provision. My hon. Friend will know that among the many important advances in special educational provision under the Education Bill, which is currently in another place, is a code of practice which will introduce uniformity and standardisation in this important matter. That should go a long way towards eliminating any residue of the thinking that my hon. Friend describes. Any parents who are dissatisfied with the way in which their children are being treated by the local education authority have the right, which I hope that they will exercise, to appeal to the Secretary of State for a review.
Mr. Trimble : May I assure the Minister that the problem described by the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Mr. Nicholls) referred is not unique and that there is considerable reluctance within many education authorities to recognise dyslexia where it exists? I am glad to hear that there is to be a code of practice. Will the Minister take steps to ensure that the code is brought vigorously to the attention of local authorities so that people who have this problem, which does exist, will have a remedy?
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Mr. Forth : Indeed, the code of practice is to be statutory. It is contained in the Education Bill and it will apply to the territories covered by that Bill. I cannot stray on to the territory represented by the hon. Gentleman, but I hope that the best practices which are now developing and the recognition of various types of special educational need will now be brought forward and clarified by the Bill and I am sure that they will be reflected, if they are not already, in all parts of the United Kingdom.
Mathematics
6. Mrs. Gillan : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what efforts are being made to raise standards in mathematics.
Mr. Patten : Under the national curriculum, mathematics is for the first time compulsory for all pupils aged five to 16. With regular assessment and testing, that will do more than anything to raise the competence of young people in mathematics. As recently as Tuesday, I met representatives of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications to discuss those important issues.
Mrs. Gillan : I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that the lack of basic skills in numeracy and literacy is estimated to be costing British industry approximately £5 billion per year? Does that not demonstrate the importance of a national curriculum and of regular testing? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that there has been an improvement in mathematic results for seven-year-olds which will eventually have a beneficial knock-on effect for British industry and this country?
Mr. Patten : I congratulate my hon. Friend on her question. I agree that both the national curriculum and testing are bringing about a steady improvement among school children in mathematics, particularly the use of numbers. We need to do more, however ; that is why I welcome the fact that the new general national vocational qualifications will do a great deal to help children in perhaps the bottom 30 per cent. of the ability range to perform better, because that is what British industry and business need in terms of training our work force for the future.
Ms Estelle Morris : Does the Minister share my concern about the chronic underachievement of girls in mathematics, with almost three times as many boys taking mathematics A-level? Since the report by Her Majesty's inspectorate four years ago, what action has his Department taken to overcome those problems and what new research has he commissioned?
Mr. Patten : In the past four years, the national curriculum and the new testing regime have been introduced and mathematics continues to be very popular indeed ; it is the second most popular A-level subject. Teaching methods for girls as well as for boys are being improved, although I should like work using computers to be balanced by as much use of tables from an early age.
Mr. Patrick Thompson : My right hon. Friend will be aware that specialist subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry have often been taught in schools by teachers who were underqualified in those subjects. Can he confirm that, as a result of the Government's initiative and desire to raise standards in our schools, that trend is
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lessening and we are getting better qualified mathematicians and scientists into our schools to help to raise standards among our young people?Mr. Patten : I can indeed confirm exactly that. The number of underqualified mathematics teachers is diminishing fast and is currently about 10 per cent. of those teaching in secondary schools. I am also pleased to be able to report to the House that in 1992, the last year for which I have figures available, there was a shortage of 73 mathematics teachers out of the total of about 400,000. That is a good picture for the future of maths.
Mr. Rooker : Does the Secretary of State accept that it is not simply a question of raising standards, but that maths must be made user- friendly? There is a joy in numbers, but in the last decade the climate against science and technology, which were put across as bad and damaging subjects, led to an acute shortage of entrants for technical degrees in some universities. It is crucial to get the message across as early as possible in schools that those subjects are not bad and damaging. Humanity needs mathematics as much as maths needs the humanities.
Mr. Patten : I do not want to alarm the hon. Gentleman, but I agree entirely with all that he has said.
A-S Level
7. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will consider promoting A-S level GCE examinations at sixth form final examinations.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further and Higher Education (Mr. Tim Boswell) : A-S examinations are making a significant and worthwhile contribution to broadening post-16 studies. The Government have been encouraging schools, colleges and students to use them as they think best. I look to higher education and employers to take full account of the A-S achievements of young people.
Mr. Fabricant : Is my hon. Friend aware that despite the best efforts of Staffordshire county council, which has decided to knife all travel for students in rural areas to sixth-form colleges and high schools in my constituency, twice as many young people are studying at higher education institutions as in 1979? Does my hon. Friend agree that although A-levels may be the gold standard, they force students to specialise far too early? Would it not be better if universities were encouraged to accept A-S levels, which have a much broader educational approach, as the first means of entry?
Mr. Boswell : From what my hon. Friend says, it is clear that Staffordshire county council is not going to win a gold standard for anything in education. On the substantial part of my hon. Friend's question about A-S levels, we believe that it is unwise to challenge a standard that is in place by seeking to diminish it. We seek to offer alternative approaches, which may or may not be taken up, as a matter of choice. Already more than 50,000 A-S levels are taken each year, including, last year, my own daughter's. Alongside that, as an alternative, we have at last tackled the problem of vocational qualifications by providing clear, comprehensive and comprehensible alternatives through the national vocational qualifications and general
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national vocational qualifications. Pupils and future employers can decide on the most appropriate route to take.Selection (Penrith)
8. Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has held with Cumbria county council on the introduction of selection in education in Penrith.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend has had no such discussions.
Mr. Campbell-Savours : The decision to restore selection in Penrith is an absolute outrage. Does the Minister not realise that people of all political persuasions in Penrith reject that decision, as they did last year when consultation took place in the community? If Ministers are impaled on the nonsense of the policy, can we have a ballot of the people of Penrith and the surrounding communities so that they have the opportunity of rejecting the Government's nonsense?
Mr. Forth : There seems to be a certain desperation in what the hon. Gentleman says. I do not know what he is worried about. It seems that our response to what the school governors wanted and our fulfilling of a need in education for a diversity of provision causes Opposition Members upset and discouragement. I am intrigued by the suggestion that we should start running things by local referendum--I do not know whether that is now Labour party policy. I believe that the combination of governor decisions in schools and the election of governors and of local education authorities which are fully accountable creates sufficient democracy. I do not believe that we should go down the route suggested by the hon. Gentleman.
Mr. Harry Greenway : Does my hon. Friend agree that we must have equality of opportunity in education in Penrith and everywhere else? If we are to educate children according to their age, aptitude and ability--as we must, and as the Education Act 1944 rightly laid down--there must be self- selection by children, and schools must have the right to select according to subject and other disciplines. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is the only way to give every child the maximum opportunity to fulfil his or her potential?
Mr. Forth : My hon. Friend, who is extremely knowledgeable and experienced in such matters, points us in the right direction. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made it clear that it is his desire to respond to what local schools say about how they want to serve their local communities and to advance towards the policies that their governors choose.
Mr. Campbell-Savours : People do not want it. The Tories do not want it.
Mr. Forth : The case cited is a good example and one that I believe will be followed by many schools up and down the country [Interruption.] My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will examine each case on its merits and make a calm and rational educational judgment-- [Interruption.] --as Opposition Members seem incapable of doing.
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Mrs. Ann Taylor : Will the Minister think again, as the Penrith decision is turning the clock back in a ridiculous way? The reintroduction of a crude and fallible selection at 11 will deny education opportunities to many children. That decision is clearly wrong on educational grounds. Does the Minister not realise that comprehensive education has produced good results in educational terms, as evidenced by last year's GCSE examinations? How on earth does dividing children at 11 years of age fit in with what the Prime Minister says about creating a classless society?
Mr. Forth : Many people believe that a certain amount of turning the clock back might not be a bad thing in some respects. I can only say to the hon. Lady that not only can a decision like this not be reversed, but this decision certainly should not be reversed. I believe that it reflects the ability of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to respond to local desires and demands in the best interests of the education of children up and down the country. [Interruption.] If the Opposition will take the time to reflect more calmly on the matter, they will see that there is not much to get excited about.
Seven-year-olds (Testing)
9. Mr. Pickles : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the results of the tests for seven-year-olds.
Mr. Patten : Last December I published the national and local results of seven-year-olds in the 1992 tests. Those results fully supported the importance of the tests, showing some worrying variations in performance between local education authorities and continuing weaknesses in key areas of the curriculum : for example, the tests revealed that just under a quarter of seven-year-olds still could not read independently by that age. Much more needs to be done.
Mr. Pickles : I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply, which will be read with great interest by teachers in my constituency. Given that the children who sat the test for seven-year-olds are likely to be the beneficiaries in full of our education reforms, and given that a recent report showed that the quality of both teaching and learning were improved by the tests, does my right hon. Friend agree that children go through the education system only once and that valuable lessons can be learnt by those who seek to boycott the tests at 14? Will my right hon. Friend give a commitment that he will not leave these children at the mercy of those who want to ruin their education and that he will continue with our education reforms so that every child gets a chance?
Mr. Patten : My hon. Friend has carried with him his robust turn of phrase and accurate analysis of a situation in his journey from Bradford to becoming a born-again southerner in Brentwood and Ongar. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I can give him every undertaking for which he asks. The evidence produced by the independent inspectorate this week clearly shows that, year on year, the tests have produced improvements in learning and teacher assessment. Best of all, they have improved the expectations of individual teachers about what children can achieve.
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Mr. Skinner : Would it not be a good idea for the whole Cabinet to have another test? Is it not a cheek to be talking about testing seven-year -old kids when the Cabinet got the poll tax and council tax figures wrong, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was £15 billion out on the public sector borrowing requirement and £10 billion out on the balance of payments and chucked £10 billion away on Black Wednesday, and the right hon. Gentleman--who is supposed to speak for education--is educated beyond his intelligence?
Mr. Patten : All I can say to the hon. Gentleman is that the voters of Bolsover clearly got their electoral tests wrong time after time.
Dr. Spink : Will my right hon. Friend encourage the use of the seven -year-olds' test results to report to parents in terms of value added in future years, which will be much more useful than giving an absolute level of result?
Mr. Patten : My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The tests will make it possible to judge the improvement or not of a group of children at each age level as they progress from seven to 11 to 14 to 16. It is the best sort of value added measurement that the tests will reveal over the years.
Mr. Win Griffiths : Will not the Secretary of State admit, to his own shame, that the poor results to which he referred to for seven-year- olds were produced after 14 years of Tory government? The Office for Standards in Education report to which his hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) referred, and to which the Secretary of State referred in his reply to him, says that "the benefits and costs are finely balanced. There are some clearly discernible signs that the impact of teaching to the test' and the complexities of the assessment required could lead to a distortion between teaching, learning and assessment."
Will the Secretary of State heed that warning and undertake a review of this tortuous system of tests and assessment, consult teachers and then introduce reforms along the lines of those that were introduced by his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland--reforms which have already happily been accepted by teachers, parents and pupils in Scotland?
Mr. Patten : Each year's tests are preparations for the next year's tests. Each year's tests are refined on the basis of experience of the tests of the previous year. The pilot tests have conclusively shown, both at age seven and at age 14, that there is an unacceptably long tail of children--perhaps up to 30 per cent.--who do not come out of school with the standards of literacy that we should expect. That is justification for the testing regime, let alone the very clear way in which the inspectorate has pointed to these tests as raising standards overall and the expectations of teachers about what children should achieve. Above all else, I believe that we need a more competitive education system and that expectations should be very much greater than they have been in the past.
Grant-maintained Schools
10. Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of children who will be in grant- maintained schools by the end of the current year.
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Mr. Patten : Current estimates suggest that more than 625,000 children will be educated in self-governing grant-maintained schools by 1 January 1994.
Mr. Pawsey : I thank my right hon. Friend for that extremely helpful reply. Does he agree that that figure of 625,000 children underlines, as nothing else could, just how successful these schools are and how popular they are with the parents who vote them into existence? Will my right hon. Friend join me in condemning Labour Members who wish to abolish these schools, which provide parents with additional choice?
Mr. Patten : Already by this afternoon, about 15 per cent. of all our secondary schools have voted to go grant maintained. That number will increase rapidly. Indeed, the number of grant-maintained schools will increase so rapidly that, despite the pledges of Labour Front-Bench Members, by the time of the general election in 1996 or 1997 the movement to grant-maintained schools will be absolutely irreversible.
Mrs. Anne Campbell : Will the Secretary of State join my in congratulating the parents and governors of Hinchingbrooke school in Huntingdon, which is in the Prime Minister's constituency, on having recently voted by an overwhelming majority to stay with the local education authority?
Mr. Patten : Each school must make up its own mind whether it wishes to be self governing or a local education authority controlled school. Month after month, year after year, every time that schools hold a ballot, eight out of 10 resoundingly vote yes.
Mrs. Angela Knight : Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the teachers, parents and many hundreds of pupils in Friesland school, the first school in my constituency to go grant maintained and whose proposals he has just approved? Does he agree that the widely publicised inspectors' report on grant-maintained schools shows not only that they work well but that self government is the best future for every school in the country?
Mr. Patten : I have two things to say to my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Mrs. Knight). First, I congratulate the school very warmly indeed, in particular because I know what the electors in that school had to go through, in terms of the vicious campaigning against the school becoming grant maintained. Secondly, the inspectors' report, published at 2.30 this afternoon, points clearly to the overwhelming advantages of self- governing, grant-maintained status.
Mr. Steinberg : Does the Secretary of State agree that he and his colleagues told us when grant-maintained status was introduced that it would allow schools to escape from bad local education authorities? Can he tell us how many grant-maintained schools there are in Tory authorities and how many there are in Labour authorities?
Mr. Patten : There have been ballots in nine out of 10 local education authorities. Very soon, there will have been ballots in every education authority.
Sir Anthony Grant : On the question of Hinchingbrooke school, in the Prime Minister's constituency, is my right hon. Friend aware that the headmaster, as is typical of a
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Liberal Democrat activist, has chopped and changed his views so much that it is hardly any wonder that the parents are totally bemused?Mr. Patten : I did not know that there were many Liberal Democrat activists left in Cambridgeshire. I have nothing to say on any individual ballot, other than that it reflects the individual wishes of the parents who have taken part in that ballot. I believe that it is critical, however, that parents have in front of them a clear set of information about the pros and cons of becoming grant maintained. It is equally important that no local education authority or local education officer is involved in campaigning with misinformation in this way.
Second-tier Schools
13. Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Mr. Callaghan) on 23 June, Official Report, column 123, what progress he has made in eliminating second-tier schools.
Mr. Forth : The national curriculum will ensure that all pupils receive a coherent education, relevant to theipils are making. Every school maintained wholly or partly by public funds will be inspected at least once every four years by independent teams led by an inspector registered by Ofsted. Education associations can intervene where these inspections reveal a school to be failing. Taken together, these measures should ensure that standards rise steadily in every school throughout the country.
Dr. Jones : Can the Minister explain to the House exactly what the Secretary of State meant when he used the term "second-tier schools" last June, and why they exist after 14 years of Tory Government, 17 pieces of education legislation and 400 additional powers for the Secretary of State under the Education Reform Act 1988? Could it have anything to do with the fact that the Secretary of State seemed to recognise belatedly yesterday when he equated under-achievement with low spending? Will he, therefore, congratulate Birmingham City Council on a 9 per cent. increase in its education budget and also make representations to make up the shortfall in the standard spending assessment of capital financing, so that Birmingham can further increase its spending? Will he intervene to stop the cuts in education spending that are occurring throughout the country?
Mr. Forth : I hope that the hon. Lady is not attempting to justify and defend Birmingham's record in regard to education spending. That would take a much longer question than even she has just managed to ask. What my right hon. Friend meant, I believe, was this : the provision by local education authorities throughout the country has been, to say the least, somewhat patchy and rather variable. All the measures that we are taking-- the curriculum, standard testing, independent inspection by Ofsted and the safety net of education associations--are designed to ensure that no school will be allowed to fail its pupils and no local education authority will be allowed to fail its parents and pupils as, regrettably, as has been the case in the past. That is what my right hon. Friend meant and that is what our Bill is designed to do.
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Pupil Numbers (Kent)
14. Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children currently are educated in local education authority and grant- maintained grammar schools in the county of Kent ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : In January 1992, the latest figures available, nearly 26,000 pupils attended grammar schools in Kent. Of these, 7,000 attended schools which are now self-governing state schools.
Mr. Dunn : Is it not a fact that the people of Kent enjoy grammar schools and a range and variety of secondary schools that are second to none because of the existence of the Conservative-controlled county council and the election of a Conservative Government in 1979? What advice, therefore, would my hon. Friend offer the people of Kent on 6 May in order that they may keep their grammar schools?
Mr. Forth : I believe that the people of Kent will wish to consider the contrast between the quality and diversity of choice that are available to them under the present educational regime in Kent and the drab uniformity that would be offered by the Opposition. I believe that, having considered that, they will have no doubt in coming to the conclusion that a Conservative vote in the elections in May will be the only way to guarantee the continuance of the excellent record that Kent has had so far.
Mr. Bryan Davies : In those Tory-controlled authorities where schools select their pupils, what happens to parental choice?
Mr. Forth : Parental choice, or "preference" as it is expressed in the statute, is of course at the core of what we believe is the way forward in education. The support of parents up and down the land, to which my right hon. Friend referred a moment ago, in voting consistently for more grant-maintained schools, demonstrates the increasing number expressing themselves to be satisfied with our policies.
Technical Education
15. Mr. Heald : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress is being made in the promotion of technical education.
Mr. Patten : The launch of the new and independent further education sector on 1 April is a clear demonstration of the high priority we are giving to developing the technical and other skills the country needs. We are funding a record 25 per cent. increase in the number of students entering further education over the next three years, and shall see higher and more relevant achievement--not least through the new general national vocational qualifications.
Mr. Heald : Does my right hon. Friend agree that technical education is one of the key factors for investment by industry in Britain? Will he welcome the results that have just come out for 1990, showing that 20 per cent. of those entering degree courses in engineering already have vocational qualifications? Does he agree that we will build
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on that with the NVQ system, and that that will be good for jobs, for investment in Britain and, above all, good for this country?Mr. Patten : It is important that universities and other higher education institutions treat vocational qualifications seriously, because we should have been doing that for a very long time. I also applaud the excellent work of further education colleges, some teaching to degree level, not least the excellent North Hertfordshire college.
Books
16. Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the average sum per pupil spent on the purchase of books in primary and in secondary schools during 1992.
Mr. Boswell : In 1990-91, the latest year for which figures are available, the average expenditure on books and equipment in LEA-maintained schools in England was £41 per nursery and primary pupil and £80 per secondary pupil.
Mr. Hardy : Does the Minister realise that the costs of books and papers for teachers dealing with the national curriculum and testing in our primary schools now greatly exceed the sums available for the purchase of books for the children? Does the Minister not consider it absurd that more literature--if that is the right word--is reaching primary schools for the teachers' reading than for the pupils?
Mr. Boswell : The Government are aware of the costs of books and equipment. That is one reason why we provide excellent resources for the delivery of the national curriculum. It is also a matter of fact that we have increased spending throughout the country on books and equipment by some 31 per cent. in real terms during our period in office. May I suggest that the hon. Gentleman has a word with the Rotherham LEA, because it appears from the figures I have quoted that in that relevant year its spending was only half the national average? That may be a matter of some concern, although it is a decision for the LEA.
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