§ Mr. FranksTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many places he is making available for intakes to initial teacher training in 1990; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I have decided to make available 23,172 places for intakes to initial teacher training courses in England and Wales in the academic year 1990–91, an increase of over 9 per cent. over the 1989 target of 21,157.
Four hundred and fifty of these additional places will be set aside for the development of innovative forms of secondary phase training in chemistry, music and modern languages. Initial teacher training institutions in the university and English PCFC sectors will be invited to bid for these places shortly.
I have also decided on the provisional allocations of intake numbers to individual courses at institutions in the English public sector. The Secretary of State for Wales will be seeking advice from the Wales advisory body on the allocation of places to the public sector initial teacher training institutions in Wales. I am writing today to the chairman of the Universities Funding Council to invite the council to consider the allocation of places in the university sector in England and Wales.
I am placing details of my proposals in the Library.