§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on any representations he has received from grant-aided and independent schools on the operation of standard grade courses.
§ Mr. YoungerThroughout the period of preparation, development and introduction of standard grade there has been opportunity for interested bodies to make known their views on the proposed system, on the implementation time table, and on proposals for individual courses. A large number of representative bodies, individual schools, subject departments within schools, and individual teachers have written from time to time on these issues. Letters received from grant-aided and independent schools have not been separately recorded and to do so now would involve disproportionate costs.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the amount of public money given 674W to each grant-aided and independent school to enable participation in the various computer education schemes for schools.
§ Mr. YoungerOnly George Watson's college, Edinburgh, is involved in the piloting of ordinary grade and standard grade courses in computing studies. Materials at a cost of approximately £250 have been provided.
Of the 68 project centres established under the Scottish microelectronic development programme, for which £300,000 was made available, three were in independent schools. No detailed allocation of the resources between centres is available but the value of the equipment provided to the independent schools was about £5,000.
The Department of Trade and Industry introduced a 50 per cent. grant in 1981 to help secondary schools acquire computers and associated equipment. The scheme expired in December 1982 and a similar scheme for primary schools expires on 11 January 1985. Separate information on the cost of equipment provided to independent and grant-aided schools is not readily available.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the grant-aided and independent schools which (a) have participated in pilot schemes associated with standard grade courses and (b) are currently offering foundation level courses.
§ Mr. YoungerGeorge 'Watson's college, Edinburgh, is the only school in the grant-aided and independent sector which has been or is participating in the piloting of standard grade courses. It is one of the 23 pilot schools for the proposed foundation course in computing studies. Which grant-aided and independent schools are offering courses at foundation level will start to become clear in 1986 only when candidates are presented for the first examinations, although details of courses offered are usually to be found in the prospectuses produced by such schools.