HC Deb 09 December 1991 vol 200 cc295-6W
Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) into how many streams he intends that students for the new GCSE courses should be divided; by what criteria the students concerned, including new entrants into each new school, are allocated into specific streams; and whether such allocation will be made by(a) school authorities, (b) parents of each student or (c) the students themselves;

(2) what extra resources will be made available by the Government to the local education authority in Devon in 1991 to enable separate streams of students in each GCSE to be instructed properly; how the need for such resources has been calculated, and upon what assumptions; and what specific provision has been made for streaming in small secondary schools.

Mr. Eggar

School organisation and the allocation of resources are matters for the schools and local education authorities themselves to decide.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what time interval he has allowed in his calculations for ordering and delivery of the necessary books and teaching aids by schools between the publication of the new GCSE syllabi and the commencement of the autumn terms of secondary schools in 1992.

Mr. Eggar

Syllabuses in the core subjects are expected to be in schools by April 1992. This should allow sufficient time for the ordering of those materials needed by the start of the autumn term, especially given that schools already have information on the curriculum and that not all books and aids are required from the start of the two-year GCSE courses.