§ Mr. Hoggasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what further progress has been made in the proposal of the Interdepartmental Committee on Improvement in the Status of Technology to set up a working party representative of Departments concerned and of the Central Office of Information to co-ordinate the efforts of Departments concerned in an endeavour to encourage the ablest young people to recognise the attractions of choosing engineering as a profession, to plan a campaign to improve public understanding of the achievements and importance of the professional technologist, and to secure a higher regard for technology as a career;
(2) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Interdepartmental Committee on Improvement in the Status of Technology, that all possible encouragement be given to the development of contacts between science teachers, the engineering profession and industry; and what steps he has taken or proposes to take:
(3) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Interdepartmental Committee on Improvement in the Status of Technology that careers advisers in the schools should be approached by means of conferences and literature, and that careers literature for pupils should be provided by the Department of Education and Science, the Minister of Labour and the Scottish Education Department which stresses the national importance and the intellectual interest of technology as a career; and what steps he proposes to take in this regard;
(4) what consideration he has given to promoting films and broadcasts featuring technological subjects by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Television Authority directed to schools, as recommended by the Interdepartmental Committee on Improvement in the Status of Technology; and what further progress has been made since 15th October:
325W(5) what steps he has taken to bring the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Committee on Improvement in the Status of Technology to the attention. of the University Grants Committee; and with what results to date.
§ Mr. M. StewartA Working Party was set up in accordance with the committee's recommendations, under the chairmanship of my Department. Ten Departments are represented. Since the late summer the Working Party has met six times. A representative of the Engineering Institutions Joint Council has joined recent meetings and other national private organisations have also been present.
The Working Party will be relying principally on continuing to stimulate the interest of the Press and T.V. There are close consultations between the Working Party and the television authorities who are responding to the need for programmes of technological interest. In addition, the Working Party has prepared a programme of special governmental publicity with the aid of the Central Office of Information. This will include films, exhibitions and publications.
An exhibition on the theme of "Applied Science" to which a number of Government Departments and sponsored bodies are contributing will be held next week in conjunction with the annual conference of the Association for Science Education at Imperial College, South Kensington. This is an activity fostered by the Working Party.
The developments envisaged by the right hon. and learned Member in the second and third of these questions have been considered by the Working Party and by the Departments concerned and are being actively pursued.
The Committee's report has been considered by the University Grants Committee who agreed with it and are taking up with the universities those recommendations which affect them, including especially the question of flexibility in students' courses.