§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people entered courses of initial teacher education, broken down by gender, for primary and secondary schools in each year since 1992. [11339]
§ Mr. ForthThe following table shows new entrants to teacher training for primary and secondary from 1992 to 1996. An overall gender split is given for 1992 to 1994: the split is not available for primary and secondary separately. Data on gender for 1995 will be published in "Education Statistics for the United Kingdom 1996" which will be available on 31 January.
§ Mrs. GillanNo; decisions about whether to undertake a statutory assessment of special educational needs are for the local education authority following referral by a child's school, another agency or a request from a parent. The assessment is to determine a child's educational needs rather than to make a clinical diagnosis, although the authority will take advice from others, including the medical and educational psychology services. Throughout the process, the local education authority must have regard to the code of practice on the identification and assessment of special educational needs.