HC Deb 11 April 2000 vol 348 cc88-9W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the budget for 2000–01 for training teachers in special educational needs. [118556]

Jacqui Smith

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: Under the Standards Fund for 2000–01, the Department is supporting expenditure to a total of £26 million to provide in-service training in special educational needs. The Teacher Training Agency is also providing £21 million per year in support of in-service courses, and SEN is a priority within this. In addition, the School Improvement Grant for 2000–01 of £290.5 million can be used to support training teachers in special educational needs.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers are being trained to provide for teaching children with special educational needs, broken down by area of specialism. [118557]

Jacqui Smith

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: All teachers, as part of their initial teacher training, are trained to deal with special educational needs and must meet the standards set in order to gain qualified teacher status. In addition, special educational needs feature in induction standards, which all teachers must meet at the end of their induction year in order to be able to teach.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average time given to SEN training in(a) PGCE and (b) BEd courses. [118558]

Jacqui Smith

[holding answer 10 April 2000]: This information is not collected centrally. In order to secure qualified teacher status (QTS), students must be able to demonstrate that they can identify pupils with special educational needs, know where to go to get help in order to give positive and targeted support and are familiar with the requirements of the Code of Practice on identification and assessment of SEN, including requirements with regard to the keeping of pupils' records.