§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what detailed restrictions on applications by schools for specialist status have been announced since July; how many schools had(a) made formal applications and (b) entered into preliminary discussions with the Department about making a bid; how many bids have been aborted or delayed in consequence; what impact there has been on the distribution of specialties across the country; what costs have been incurred by bidding schools; what private funds have been raised; and if he will make a statement. [134219]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe specialist schools programme has grown from 181 schools in May 1997 to a network of 535 schools and we have plans for 1,000 specialist schools by 2004. Unlike under the previous Administration, there is now a substantial budget for specialist schools and a clear programme of expansion. Currently, around 19 per cent. of secondary pupils attend specialist schools, compared with 6 per cent. in May 1997. That percentage will increase to over 30 per cent. by 2004. There is no permanent upper limit on the number of specialist schools that there can be in any area, nor on the number of pupils. However, in order to ensure that all parts of the country have an opportunity to benefit from the expanded programme, my Department wrote in July to LEAs indicating to them that where 193W specialist schools were already educating over 30 per cent. of their pupils, we would not want to receive further applications until we had ensured a fairer spread in other parts of the country. This does not mean that in the future, subject to resources being available, no further bids will be considered.
The LEAs where currently over 30 per cent. of pupils attend specialist schools are: Bath and North East Somerset, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, North Somerset, Northumberland, Rutland, West Berkshire and Wigan. I have indicated to those LEAs also that, in exceptional circumstances, where applications have already been prepared, we would be willing to consider them. While we have received no formal applications from schools in these areas in the current Technology and Language College competitions, we have had discussions with six schools which were planning applications and are discussing with each whether we could support their application coming forward. We have so far agreed that two of these should submit an application. The costs incurred by bidding schools are not known but, as these cases demonstrate, our arrangements provide for schools to draw our attention to exceptional circumstances such as a nearly completed application, including where the sponsorship has been raised.