HC Deb 07 May 1998 vol 311 cc853-4
8. Mrs. Betty Williams (Conwy)

What plans he has to ensure teachers and head teachers have access to multimedia laptops. [40040]

The Minister for School Standards (Mr. Stephen Byers)

In March, the Government allocated £23 million for the purchase of 9,500 multimedia portable computers for the use of head teachers and senior teachers in maintained schools. That means that about 25 per cent. of schools in England will have teachers who have received laptops from the initiative.

Mrs. Williams

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that effective use of information and communications technology will help to raise standards in literacy and numeracy? Can he say what the figures are for Wales?

Mr. Byers

I am pleased to say that a similar initiative is being developed by the Welsh Office. The real challenge for the Government is to ensure that we can harness the benefits of new technology to support the basics of literacy and numeracy, which is why we are developing our national literacy strategy alongside our national grid for learning, so that the two initiatives complement each other and bridges can be built between them. In doing that, we believe that we can not only give young people a grounding in the basics, but allow them to embrace new technology.

Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East)

Why should it be necessary for the Secretary of State to interfere in such matters? Could not any halfway competent head sort out for himself whether he wants to spend some of his budget on a laptop computer? Is not the real problem that the Government have insisted on taking full control over budgets away from head teachers, so that busybody Ministers have constantly to nanny and to interfere, when they should properly be dealing with policy?

Mr. Byers

This is additional money that has been targeted for a specific purpose—we are confident that it will raise standards in schools. That represents a totally different approach from that adopted by the previous Government, who stood to one side and ignored the needs of children in our schools. We shall not do that. We do not accept the criticism that we are creating a nanny state; in raising standards in schools, we are going with the grain of public and parental opinion, which is why our education policies have a huge approval rating.