§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many specialist schools there are in(a) Lancashire and (b) England. [107642]
§ Mr. MilibandThere are currently 26 designated specialist schools in Lancashire. Three of these will not begin operating until September 2003.
There are currently 1,209 designated specialist schools in England. 217 of these will not begin operating until September 2003.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to increase the number of specialist schools. [107643]
§ Mr. MilibandSpecialist schools are a key driver of the Government's plans to raise standards in the secondary education sector, as set out in the secondary strategy document, "A New Specialist System" (published in February 2003). There are currently 992 specialist schools and at least a further 217 will be in operation from September this year. We have a target of at least 2,000 specialist schools by September 2006.
We want all secondary schools that are ready to join the programme to apply, and in the long-term we hope that all secondary schools will be specialist schools. We will, of course, continue to be rigorous in maintaining the standards of the programme, and will de-designate schools which fail to make the progress required of them.
In November 2002, the Government lifted the cap on national funding for the programme so that any school which meets the required standard in its application can now become a specialist school.