HC Deb 24 July 1997 vol 298 cc1036-7
11. Mr. Ian Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures he proposes to take to ensure money that saved from the abolition of the assisted places schemes is ring-fenced to reduce class sizes of five, six and seven-year-olds. [8606]

Mr. Byers

We intend to channel funds to local education authorities through specific grant to ensure that resources are dedicated to delivering on our pledge to reduce class sizes.

Mr. Bruce

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for explaining that, but he has not clarified the issue of ring-fencing. My education authority in Dorset is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, not the Labour party. County councillors have the right to decide how to spend that money. The Government have made a pledge to reduce class sizes. How will they fulfil that manifesto pledge without ring-fencing the money and telling county councils that they can spend it only on reducing those class sizes?

Mr. Byers

I apologise for not addressing that clearly enough in my original reply. I said that we would channel the funds through specific grant, which is a technical way of saying that the money will be ring-fenced. The money can be used only to reduce class sizes for five, six and seven-year-olds. We make no apology for that requirement. We made that pledge to the British electorate during the campaign, and we intend to honour it in government.

Valerie Davey

Will the Minister join me in deprecating the comment of the Conservative candidate in Uxbridge, who, when told that one in five children in the area were in classes of more than 30, claimed that it had no direct bearing on Uxbridge?

Mr. Byers

I join my hon. Friend in condemning the Conservative candidate in Uxbridge, who is clearly prepared to turn his back on the needs of five, six and seven-year-olds in that constituency. There is no doubt in my mind that, after the by-election next Thursday, I shall be able to work with my colleague Andrew Slaughter to ensure that we can deliver on the class size pledge to those young children in Uxbridge, where one in five are presently in classes of more than 30. We shall deliver on that pledge in Uxbridge and in the rest of the country.

Mrs. Browning

Last Friday morning, the Minister promised a technical consultation to work out how the Government's pledge of classes of a maximum of 30 could be put into practice in small Victorian primary schools in rural areas that teach across an age range. Will he promise that a cost assessment will accompany that consultation? If the practicalities of how the pledge will be delivered in rural areas have yet to be worked out, there will clearly be attendant costs that the Minister has not taken into account.

Mr. Byers

The Government have made it clear that we shall honour the pledge that we gave to the electorate during the election campaign. The hon. Lady is right. Within a matter of weeks, we shall issue our consultation paper, which will show how we intend to honour the commitments made in the White Paper. That consultation document will address the issues the hon. Lady raised last Friday and again today.