§ Mr. Alec Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about his plans for the pre-service training of primary and secondary teachers in Wales.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsFollowing advice from the advisory council on the supply and education of teachers, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and I announced on 27 July 1982 the number of teacher training places in universities and public sector institutions for intakes in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Separate numbers were allocated to primary and secondary teacher training and, within these numbers, to one year postgraduate and three or four-year undergraduate courses.
The number of places allocated to public sector institutions in Wales is as follows:
1983 1984 1985 Primary B Ed 407 475 500 Primary PGCE 79 87 100 Secondary B Ed 100 100 100 Secondary PGCE 105 105 105 Total 691 767 805 The distribution of the 1983 places is described in my late hon. Friend's reply to the right hon. Member on 2 February—[Vol. 36, c. 115–16]. I have invited the Wales advisory body for local authority higher education to advise me on the distribution of places for 1984 and 1985 and I expect its advice within the next few months.
The allocation of places to individual universities, including the University of Wales, is a matter for the University Grants Committee.
My right hon. Friend and I have also recently received advice from the advisory committee on the supply and education of teachers on ways in which initial teacher training might be improved. We hope to be able to respond to this shortly.