§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what steps he intends to take to assess academic progress and attainments in secondary schools in respect of pupils from Asian communities in comparison to those from West Indian communities;
(2) what resources he intends to make available for the purpose of promoting teacher exchanges between all-white and multiracial schools;
(3) what resources he intends to offer to ethnic minority community schools to assist them to raise their standards of education in conjunction with requirements set down in General Certificate of Education ordinary and advanced level syllabuses.
§ Mr. DunnThese subjects are among those which have been reviewed by the committee of inquiry into the education of children from ethnic minority groups, now chaired by Lord Swann. The Government will consider future action in the light of its findings.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action he has taken resulting from the findings of the 1981 report on West Indian education chaired by Mr. Anthony Rampton.
§ Mr. DunnThe interim findings of the committee of the inquiry into the education of children from ethnic minority groups on children of West Indian origin were widely disseminated through a public consultation process initiated by the Government. Many LEAs and schools have taken action in response. For their part, the Government's policies on education have taken account of the needs brought about by ethnic diversity. The Government have undertaken a review of section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966, which resulted in 1982 in the promulgation of new criteria for the funding of posts. They have also set up a working group to look at the mechanics and acceptability of collecting ethnically based statistics on school pupils. The Government will consider further action in the light of the committee's final report