§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will issue guidelines to all initial teacher training colleges recommending that they include road safety education on all PGCE and B.Ed. courses;
(2) if he will make it his policy to provide a specific allocation of financial resources for the training of teachers in road safety education.
§ Sir Wyn RobertsNo. The Government set out the criteria which all courses of initial teacher training must meet, focusing on the subject knowledge and teaching skills new teachers require to be effective in the classroom. It is for the initial teacher training institutions to decide on the inclusion of cross-curricular elements such as road safety education in the courses they provide.
The funding made available to initial teacher training providers by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and through tuition fees is intended to reflect the costs of all aspects of the training courses and it would be inappropriate to make special provision for road safety education which is an optional element of these courses.
Separately, the Department provides funding to the British Institute of Traffic Education Research to provide the services of the Traffic Education Officer for Wales. Among other things, the duties of this officer involve advising on the handling of road user education in schools and organising seminars for student teachers.
§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to(a) place a general duty upon all schools to provide road safety education and (b) include child casualty reduction as a stated aim in their programmes of preventive health and safety education.
§ Sir Wyn RobertsThere are opportunities within the framework of the national curriculum for road safety education. It is for local education authorities and schools to determine the organisation of any such education and whether it should be delivered in the context of individual national curriculum subjects or as part of a cross-curricular programme.
The Government's strategy for reducing road accidents involving children is set out in the document "Children and 511W Roads: A Safer Way", a copy of which is in the Library of the House and which includes a section on road safety education in schools. Road safety officers in individual authorities provide advice to schools and a range of teaching materials is available.
The Welsh Office provides funding for the services of the traffic education officer for Wales who advises on the handling of road user education in schools and organises seminars for student teachers.
Simplified scheme Main scheme County £ Cereals £ Oilseeds £ Protein £ Set-aside £ Total £ Clwyd 410,500 201,003 92,365 50,903 87,646 842,417 Dyfed 1,023,574 386,878 127,527 68,800 156,527 763,306 Gwent 258,122 275,784 158,478 37,083 108,494 837,961 Gwynedd 201,997 86,392 14,143 12,367 32,826 347,725 Mid Glamorgan 35,322 120,958 55,760 21,705 47,289 281,034 Powys 362,912 267,031 68,021 21,568 96,698 816,230 South Glamorgan 97,319 219,383 39,986 29,344 78,977 465,009 West Glamorgan 72,248 12,258 12,059 — 5,074 101,909 TOTAL 2,461,994 1,569,957 568,339 241,770 613,531 5,455,591