HC Deb 09 November 1999 vol 337 c525W
Mr. Edward Davey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what analysis his Department has undertaken of the impact of decisions by the Teacher Training Agency to withdraw funding from teacher training institutions on the number of primary and secondary school teachers completing initial teacher training courses; and if he will make a statement. [97269]

Ms Estelle Morris

The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) withdraws accreditation from teacher training institutions whose quality is judged by Ofsted to be unsatisfactory. Where this happens, the training places and funding are withdrawn and reallocated to high quality providers. Therefore, there should be no reduction in the number of trainees in the system as a whole, and no impact on overall numbers of primary and secondary teachers completing initial teacher training courses. The work of the TTA in improving the quality of initial teacher training is crucial to the Government's standards agenda.