§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action he plans to take in respect of London in response to the conclusions of Her Majesty's inspector's report on training teachers for inner city schools.
§ Mr. FallonWe have asked the higher education funding councils to give specific consideration, in the 545W allocation of initial teacher training places, to courses which are particularly focused on the needs of inner city schools and which give the students concerned experience of teaching in such areas.
We have made available grants to the Urban Learning Foundation, whose work in inner London was commended in Her Majesty's inspector's report, and the St. Peter's Saltley project, which provides teaching experience in inner city Birmingham for trainee teachers.
We have commissioned research by Professor Desmond Nuttall of the London School of Economics to establish whether increasing the number of trainees at institutions in London would in itself increase the number of those taking up first appointments there.
Finally, in the light of Her Majesty's inspector's findings, the Teaching as a Career Unit's spring advertising campaign "Train to Teach in London" was specifically targeted towards people resident in London, more than 11,000 of whom responded.