§ Dr. PalmerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, if she will make a statement on progress in secondary school specialisation. [75282]
§ Mr. MilibandThere are currently 992 specialist schools in England located across 146 local education authorities. In the October 2002 competition we have received 350 applications for specialist school designation. We are committed to a target of 2,000 457W specialist schools by September 2006 with the expectation that over time all secondary schools ready and able to can be specialist schools.
§ Mr. McWalterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to encourage schools to apply for specialist engineering status. [75268]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisWithin the framework of the Specialist Schools Programme it is for individual schools to decide on the specialism for which they wish to apply. We are funding the Technology Colleges Trust to support schools wishing to apply for specialist school designation, including as an Engineering College. In addition to allowing for the possibility of combined specialisms which involve Engineering we have made it possible for existing Technology Colleges to switch to an Engineering specialism when they apply for re-designation.