§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will list(a) the funding made available in each of the last five years through the Standards Fund to help LEAs with the costs of training teachers of children with special educational needs, including training leading to the mandatory qualifications and (b) the amount and the proportion of that funding spent on mandatory training for teachers of the deaf for each of the last five years; [124466]
(2) what guidance his Department gives to the Standards Fund to ensure adequate resources are available for mandatory training for teachers of the deaf; [124467]
(3) what mechanisms are (a) in place and (b) planned, to monitor the amount and proportion of Standards Fund money allocated to support mandatory training for teachers of the deaf. [124468]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 5 June 2000]Expenditure supported under the Standards Fund relating to training teachers and others in special educational needs over the last five years has been as follows.180W
Year £ million 1996–97 20 1997–98 17 1998–99 18 1999–00 21 2000–01 26 Note:
Total supported expenditure by English local education authorities, against which DfEE pays grant
The Standards Fund circular makes it clear to local education authorities that support is available for courses leading to mandatory qualifications but the actual decisions as to how the funding is deployed are made by individual LEAs according to local needs. A breakdown for the period in question is not available. As to monitoring of expenditure, LEAs are asked to report on the overall number of teachers and others trained with the benefit of Standards Fund support.