HC Deb 13 January 1981 vol 996 c510W
Mr. John MacKay

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the maintenance of provision for in-service training in the areas at present served by Callendar Park and Hamilton colleges of education after the closure of those colleges.

Mr. Younger

As I have already indicated, this is a matter to which the Government attach considerable importance and on which my Department stands ready to have early discussions with the colleges and other interests concerned. Subject to such discussions, I envisage arrangements on the following general lines:—

  1. i. Responsibility for the maintenance of in-service training (IST)in the areas in question would pass, in each instance, to another college which would act as parent college for the area.
  2. ii. The complements of the parent colleges would be increased by the full-time equivalent number of staff currently employed on the provision IST at Callendar Park and Hamilton, respectively.
  3. iii. In each of the areas at present served by Callendar Park and Hamilton there would be established an out-station of the parent college, which would provide a base for the provision of school-based IST and as much as necessary of the college-based IST offered by the parent college to teachers in the area.
  4. iv. IST would be carried on through the out-stations in the same general way as at present, ie with a substantial number of staff of the parent college spending part of their time only on this work. Continuity with existing provision could be preserved as far as possible by the re-employment by parent colleges of staff at present employed at Callendar Park and at Hamilton.
  5. v. Accommodation would be required for these out-stations, amounting to a few rooms in each case. These out-stations might be located either at the Callendar Park and Hamilton College sites or in other suitable accommodation in the same localities.
  6. vi. Detailed estimates of accommodation and staffing requirements and of costs will of course depend on the outcome of the discussions to which I have referred. The major part of the costs (ie academic salaries) would be incurred whether IST was provided directly from the parent colleges or through local out-stations. Any additional costs arising from closure of Callendar Park and Hamilton Colleges are included in the figures set out in my reply of 18 December to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Ancram).—[Vol. 996, c. 453–4].