HC Deb 06 March 1984 vol 55 cc722-3
7. Mr. Boyes

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students in the borough of Sunderland stay on to the sixth form as a percentage of the school population compared with the national average.

Mr. Dunn

In January 1983 the proportion of pupils aged 16 years the previous autumn who stayed on beyond compulsory school age in maintained secondary schools in Sunderland was 20.7 per cent.; for England, the proportion was 28.9 per cent.

Mr. Boyes

Is the Minister aware that the surveys being carried out by the Sunderland education authority show that the main reason for students not stopping on to the sixth form in Sunderland is cash? Sunderland has one of the highest unemployment levels in Great Britain, and many of these students have to leave school — bright, able children who should be going to university—to to take part in YTS schemes. Is it not a national disgrace that educational opportunity is indirectly related to poverty and to unemployment, and should not the educational maintenance allowance be at least doubled or trebled, so that children can stay on at school?

Mr. Dunn

The hon. Gentleman must accept from, me that staying-on rates in the north-east tend to be rather low. In that sense, I agree with him. If he makes inquiries among other local authorities in the north-east region he will find that many local authorities succeed in obtaining a much higher staying-on rate of the children in that category.

Mr. Greenway

Will my hon. Friend confirm that sixth-form students in Sunderland and elsewhere will benefit greatly from I-level courses? Will he say when he expects them to be started?

Mr. Dunn

I cannot answer that question at present.

Mr. Sheerman

Will the Minister stop talking about gimmickry, even though often he does not know what is the latest gimmick from his Department, and concentrate his mind, and his Department's mind, on the choice that young people have when they leave school? Should that not depend on their abilities and their inclinations, rather than on the pressure of the market place? Since his Government have destroyed the apprenticeship system, could he not bring in some initiative to give an incentive to young people to stay on at school?

Mr. Dunn

The question relates to staying on in Sunderland, and not elsewhere.