§ 37. Mrs. Virginia Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the progress of the lower attaining pupils programme.
§ Mrs. RumboldI am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the speech which my right hon. Friend made on the programme at Warwick university on 1 July, together with a copy of the recently published report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate on the first two years. Briefly, the main impact of the programme so far has been on the motivation of pupils and their attitude to school. The challenge for the future is to exploit this to raise the educational attainment of the pupils concerned. A formal evaluation is in hand.