HC Deb 21 February 1996 vol 272 cc357-8
9. Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she is taking to improve standards of reading and arithmetic in primary schools. [14684]

Mrs. Gillan

The Government have taken a wide range of measures to raise standards in English and mathematics in primary schools.

Mr. Nicholson

My hon. Friend is right to point out that a number of measures have been taken. While reminding her that primary education standards in part of my constituency would be enhanced by a successful outcome to discussions—in which I hope to participate—between the diocese, the local education authority and the Department to secure the early replacement of Dulverton first school, may I ask my hon. Friend what the Teacher Training Agency is doing to improve standards of English and arithmetic teaching?

Mrs. Gillan

I congratulate my hon. Friend on raising on every possible occasion the subject of Dulverton first school, of which he is an assiduous champion. The TTA has not only identified English and mathematics as priorities but commissioned research into the effective teaching of numeracy and literacy. The evidence will be disseminated to teachers.

Mrs. Helen Jackson

Does the Minister agree that one of the most important factors in upgrading and enhancing reading and arithmetic standards in primary schools is the ability to finance special needs auxiliary teachers to help pupils who encounter difficulties with those subjects? Does she further agree that primary schools' present level of resources, and the low morale of their teachers, is having a detrimental effect on the crucial quality standards that we expect?

Mrs. Gillan

No, I cannot agree. We have made available £878 million more for schools in the Budget, including £264 million of grants to help schools to improve their performance. The grant for education support and training allocations for 1996–97 are intended to increase primary teachers' subject knowledge and school effectiveness.

Mr. Dunn

Surely one factor in improving standards is making schools more accountable to the parents and children they serve. Is not it interesting that we continue to champion the cause of parental information against the representatives of vested interests on the Opposition Benches?

Mrs. Gillan

My hon. Friend is as familiar as I am with the fact that Labour Members always vote against anything intended to progress the education of young people. Ofsted has announced that it is to investigate mathematics teaching in primary and secondary schools, including standards, levels of achievement in numbers, teaching approaches and the extent to which teaching and courses prepare pupils for each stage of their education and for employment. The advances that we are making in education are improving opportunities for all pupils throughout the country.

Mr. Blunkett

Is that why the Government cut £14 million from the reading recovery scheme, pushed up class sizes and have over the past 17 years overseen a clear deterioration in the way that primary school teachers can do their job—as exemplified by test and Ofsted results? Is not it a fact, to use Scottian language, that the Government have designedly led the public to believe—or, in normal language, have deliberately misled the public to believe—that they have put £878 million into the budget for the coming year, when the actual grant is 1.2 per cent. only? The Government know that the standard spending assessment does not equal grant, and they are deliberately trying to delude the British people into thinking that they care about education when they do not.

Mrs. Gillan

That is pretty rich coming from the hon. Gentleman. We provided funding for a pilot project to assess the value of reading recovery, which is now over. We have disseminated the results, and it is now up to schools and LEAs to decide whether they want to include reading recovery in their plans. A number of them have done so within their own resources, in some cases supported by funds from the single regeneration budget. The hon. Gentleman ought to know that it is not the Government's job to dictate teaching methods to schools and LEAs, or to tell them how to use their budgets.