§ Mr. Anthony CoombsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much expenditure he intends to support in the 1992–93 grants for education support and training programme; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI propose a grants programme for 1992–93 supporting total spending by local education authorities of £377 million. This compares with a programme of £346 million in 1991–92.
The proposed programme will target resources to help implement the Government's key education reforms. It includes over £80 million to improve school management and £146 million for the national curriculum. Within these areas, I propose to increase the level of support for key priorities compared with last year: there would be £10 million for governor support; £14 million for teacher appraisal; £15 million to help meet the equipment needs of schools implementing the national curriculum; and £45 million for training and other support for national curriculum assessment.
334WI am proposing a major new initiative for the inner cities. The most important new policy would be a scheme to raise standards in identified schools facing particularly severe problems. I am also proposing a pilot scheme in a number of inner city areas to improve access by local people to higher education. The new projects, costing £8.6 million, would be concentrated in areas covered by the Government's city action teams and inner city task forces, and would be drawn up in consultation with these bodies.
Another new activity will support the development of regional projects designed to meet the special needs of deaf-blind children.
The programme will support a number of other priority areas, including teacher recruitment and induction of newly appointed teachers.
The package also includes support for schools wishing to introduce vocational qualifications in their sixth forms.
I am writing today to the local authority associations setting out my proposals in detail. I shall be issuing a draft circular shortly, in the light of any comments from the associations, inviting LEAs to hid for grant support.
The table lists my proposals in full.
335W
Grants for education support and training 1992–93 Proposed programme £ million School management and appraisal School administration/management information systems 37.5 Governor training 10.0 Central LMS implementation teams 10.0 School management training 11.0 Appraisal of teachers 14.0 TOTAL 82.5 National curriculum and assessment Books 15.0 Equipment 15.0 Primary maths/science designated courses 11.0 Other INSET and teacher support 54.0 Assessment 45.0 LEA inspection 6.0 TOTAL 146.0 IT in schools 30.0 Teacher supply Teacher recruitment 10.0 Induction training 2.5 Licensed teachers 10.1 Articled teachers 11.0 Teacher data transfer systems 1.0 TOTAL 34.6 Special educational needs Specialist SEN training 6.0 Training for SEN in ordinary schools 1.2 Training of educational psychologists 2.8 Deaf/blind children 2.0 TOTAL 12.0 Vocational qualifications in schools 3.0 Under-fives 5.0 Management of training 20.0 Inner cities Raising standards in schools 6.6
£ million Pilot schemes for access to higher education 2.0 TOTAL 8.6 Youth and community 3.5 Health education 5.0 Further education College management 9.4 National vocational qualifications 7.0 Initial training of FE teachers 2.0 SEN in FE 0.9 TOTAL 19.3 Workers Educational Association 1.3 Continuing education support grams programmes Difficult pupils 2.6 Improving attendance 2.5 Multi-ethnic schools 1.1 Adult literacy 0.04 TOTAL 6.3 TOTAL 377.1