§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new measures he is adopting to improve standards of literacy. [26694]
§ Mr. HainFor 1998–99, I have made an additional £1.5 million available to support local education authority literacy strategies in Wales. These strategies will describe the action that authorities are proposing to enable us to reach the stretching literacy targets we have set for the year 2000 and 2002. I will be issuing guidance on the preparation of these plans shortly. I have also made clear that the Government are committed to removing overload in the National Curriculum to enable schools to focus greater attention on the basic skills of literacy and numeracy.