§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Wales how much money has been spent in Wales under the microelectronics programme since it was established in 1981.
§ Mr. John Stadling ThomasThe Welsh joint education committee steering committee, which is the agent of the microelectronics education programme in Wales has been allocated £465,000 from central funds to cover the first three years of the programme and comparable resources will be made available for the two additional years up to 1986. Additional funds have been provided for the purchase of a mobile caravan and accommodation for the regional information centre — £20,000 for the two projects.
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§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what provision has been made for the needs of the Welsh language in relation to the curriculum development projects for microelectronics;
(2) what encouragement he is giving to local education authorities in Wales to ensure that in those schools where Welsh is the medium of education, whether primary or secondary, his microelectronics programme is pursued through the medium of the Welsh language.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasMy right hon. Friend's support for the Welsh language as a teaching medium is well known and does not need to be restated in the context of microelectronics in education. So far, the Welsh joint education committee steering committee has not received applications for any curriculum development project which would involve the production of Welsh language material. Some work in this area is being undertaken by local education authorities themselves, although information is not available centrally on the expenditure of local education authorities on this or other aspects of microelectronics in schools. The Welsh Office has given support by way of grant under section 21 of the Education Act 1980 to projects involving the translation and development of Welsh language material. In this as in any other aspects of the microelectronics education programme it must be remembered that developing the use of microtechnology in schools is a co-operative effort, involving not least the efforts of local education authorities themselves.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what additional funds have been allocated to the regional information centres in Wales under the microelectronics programme to enable them to meet their responsibilities of providing all relevant teaching materials to schools in Wales in either the Welsh language or the English language as requested by those schools;
(2) which of the special education microelectronics regional centres so far established have responsibility for ensuring that appropriate materials are available in the Welsh language.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasThe remit of the regional information centre is to provide and disseminate information on software and other materials and equipment which exist at present or are being developed. It does not have the responsibility of providing all relevant teaching materials to schools in the terms implied by the hon. Gentleman. Nor, indeed, do the special education microelectronics regional centres have a corresponding responsibility in the field of special education.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Wales what steps have been taken to ensure that the microelectronics programme for Wales co-ordinates negotiations concerning the adaptation of school computer software into the Welsh language for use by schools in every part of Wales which require Welsh language content for their microelectronics education.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasI understand that the question of the co-ordination of efforts to develop and produce software in the Welsh language is currently under consideration by staff of the microelectronics education programme in Wales. This question will no doubt be further discussed with the steering committee appointed by 53W the Welsh joint education committee and with MEP at national level and in due course with central Government Departments.