§ 8. Mr. Howard Flight (Arundel and South Downs)What steps are being taken to promote awareness of the EU in schools. [55097]
§ The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities (Mr. Andrew Smith)Awareness of the European Union in schools is promoted mainly through the study requirements for geography, history and modern languages laid down in the national curriculum.
§ Mr. FlightThe Minister will be aware that at the end of last year and the beginning of this year the Minister of State in the other place circulated a large pack to heads of all schools about the EU. I had letters from more than one head in my constituency complaining about this because, on looking through it, in fairness it was propaganda in favour of the euro and of the concept of a European state. In the light of the Neill report comments in particular, will the Minister undertake that the Government are careful that information only, not propaganda, is circulated?
§ Mr. SmithWe certainly need information and not propaganda, but I am not sure about the hon. Gentleman's definition of which is which. Surely it is sensible that young people whose future and economic prosperity turn to a large extent on our links with European partners should know something about the EU and be properly equipped critically to discuss it. Of course we want balanced teaching on this as on other issues. I am confident that this can and should be left to the good sense of head teachers and classroom teachers acting under their statutory requirements.
§ Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge)Is my right hon. Friend aware that many schools have improved their knowledge of the EU by establishing a connection with schools in Europe through using the world wide web and electronic mail? Does he consider that that is a useful way of acquiring information? Will he think about incorporating such collaborations within the national grid for learning?
§ Mr. SmithI am sure that contact, whether through the internet or school exchanges, which are such a well-established feature of school life, has an enormous amount to contribute. I shall, indeed, pursue my hon. Friend's suggestion. Our young people deserve the opportunity to have accurate balanced information, as I was saying earlier, and to meet and exchange ideas with other young people, whether elsewhere in the European Union or in the world, and the internet provides that great opportunity.
§ Mr. Christopher Gill (Ludlow)Can the Minister confirm that the glossy children's comic produced by the European Commission and ludicrously entitled "The Raspberry Ice Cream War" has been pulped? In his reply, will he tell the House exactly what his consideration was in taking the decision to pulp that comic and how much it has cost the public purse to produce it?
§ Mr. SmithAs far as I am aware the comic has not been pulped, but is piled up in a warehouse somewhere 1389 in Oxfordshire. It undoubtedly was an ill-judged and, in part, factually inaccurate publication. The EU Commission representative here, Mr. Geoffrey Martin, sensibly decided that it was inappropriate to distribute it. What happens to it is for the Commission to decide. The Commission might want to donate it to Oxfordshire's recycling effort or simply send it back to Brussels.