§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will list those English schools which have been approved by the Business and Technician Education Council to run courses; and what proportion these schools are of the total number of schools which(a) could qualify and (b) applied to run such courses.
§ Mr. EggarA total of 118 maintained schools in England have received approval from the Business and Technician Education Council to offer from September 1991 courses leading to BTEC first diplomas. This represents 6 per cent. of maintained schools with sixth form pupils in England, and 80 per cent. of schools which applied to offer the courses. Nearly 800 schools plan to seek accreditation to offer BTEC firsts from September 1992.
A number of maintained schools in England have been approved by BTEC to offer courses leading to BTEC national diplomas, but details are not available in the form requested.