Mr. Edward M. Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will ensure that no suitable applicants for places in the teacher training colleges will be turned away solely on grounds of late application so long as places are available at these colleges;
(2) what discussions took place between his Department, the teachers' professional organisations and the principals of the teacher training colleges before it was decided that no late applications for places in the colleges would be entertained this year;
89W(3) how many places will be available in Scottish teacher training colleges this year; how many applications have been received for them; and how many applications have been accepted.
§ Mr. RossColleges of education expect to offer about 2,700 places to first year students in the diploma course for primary teachers. The number of effective applications cannot be given at this stage since many applicants not yet qualified for admission are awaiting examination results and others are dual applicants to a college and to another educational institution. There has been no decision by college principals excluding late applicants from consideration. Such applicants will be referred to a central clearing house for allocation, if possibly, when timely qualified applicants have been assigned places, and I understand that in the case of Roman Catholic students the individual colleges concerned will adopt a similar procedure.