§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what discussions he has had on the Howie committee's proposal that pupils leaving before the end of S5 should not receive any external certification;
(2) if he will ensure that implementation of the Howie committee proposals will not result in the creation of schools that concentrate effort on either Scotbac or Scotcert;
(3) how many hours per week he expects will be devoted to each subject taken at higher level, assuming that five higher courses are studied in a single year; and how many hours per week would be available for the totality of non-higher education;
(4) what discussions he has had on the content of higher and advanced higher vocational courses and how they might differ from existing higher and CS75 and higher national certificate courses which cover similar ground;
(5) what is his policy concerning a national curriculum in relation to the introduction of Howie committee proposals;
(6) what action he will take to prevent streaming in secondary schools, following the introduction of assessment for some pupils for standard grade at the end of standard 3.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonDetails of our decisions on upper secondary education following consideration of the report of the Howie committee are set out in the policy document "Higher Still: Opportunity for All" published by The Scottish Office in March. A high level development programme strategy group and three task groups on curriculum and assessment, staff development and information and publicity have been established to take forward work on detailed aspects of the programme. There will be full consultation on these at appropriate stages throughout the planning period.