Education Support Grant: Allocations (Hansard, 27 January 1988)

§ Lord Gainford
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science (Baroness Hooper)
My Lords, the education support grant allocations for the 1988–89 programme were announced on 17th December last year. They total £115.5 million. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales will shortly announce allocations of £7.3 million for the programme in Wales. We are currently considering what activities should be included in the programme for the financial year 1989–90.

§ Lord Gainford
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that interesting information. Can she say as to what degree Her Majesty's Government consider this scheme a complete success?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, my noble friend alongside says 100 per cent. Most certainly the Government consider that the education support grant programme has been a success. There has been a great deal of valuable activity covering all age groups and many areas of the curriculum as well as aspects of local education authority management. All the local education authorities have received some ESG support over the three years of its existence, and for the 1988–89 round each category was overbid. In total, the bids for activities other than those which are essentially formula based amounted to 2.6 times the envisaged expenditure.

§ Lord Ritchie of Dundee
My Lords, one of the proposed pilot projects for the year 1986 was, to improve the use of the spoken word by pupils of compulsory school age. May I ask the Minister what the take-up on the part of local authorities has been for this particular project since it seems to be one of the greatest importance and interest? She may not be able to let me know now, and if she cannot perhaps she would be kind enough to write to me.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I should certainly he happy to write to the noble Lord with the detail he requested. I can in general respond that there appears 626 to have been an extremely successful result. Indeed, in terms of the GCSE examinations, where oral assessment is an essential part, this too is proving successful and is welcomed.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, would the Minister agree that there is a considerable problem so far as grant is concerned with the 16 to 19-year-old group? Many young people of that age are prevented from going on to further education because of lack of financial support. Is the noble Baroness further aware that the settlement made in December last year does nothing to improve the situation? Can it be reexamined?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I am not sure that I can agree with the noble Lord. Last week I visited two colleges of further education, both of which welcomed very much the influence and effect of the education support grant provision in their establishments. In fact, taking a particular example, over £28 million of expenditure on IT in non-advanced further education has been supported, and local education authorities have had the opportunity to bid for around £40,000 worth of equipment for each of their colleges.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, the noble Baroness said that the Secretary of State for Wales will shortly announce a grant of £7.3 million for Wales. In view of the fact that she has just announced it, what more will he say?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I understand that he will say the same thing, but no doubt in an inimitably Welsh way.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, is it true that he is going to say it in Welsh?

§ Baroness David
My Lords, how much money is going to be allotted to No. 11 on the schedule presented in December for the development, provision and appraisal of courses of initial training for school governors? Am I right in thinking that only £100,000 was allotted over the last two years, going to just 10 authorities? If the present Bill goes through, governors will need a great deal more training. Why should that be confined to so few authorities?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the details of the 1989–90 programme have yet to be finalised. Certainly, the training needs of school governors is an important issue in the light of the educational reforms and will be considered when the ESG programme is drawn up for the next period.