Mr Robin Squire: The hon. Gentleman has obviously been asleep. Next year, a total of —750 million will be spent on nursery places, of which —165million will be new money and go only into pre-school provision. To ensure that parents and, indeed, providers are able to take full advantage of the scheme, it is essential—indeed, it would be a dereliction of duty by the Government if we did not ensure...
Mr Robin Squire: My hon. Friend is right in both his main points. One of many interesting statistics that were published today is the independent survey of parental opinion which shows that vouchers are popular with parents in phase 1. I have no doubt that they will be popular in phase 2. On his second point, the concern that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have about the possibility of LEAs...
Mr Robin Squire: I think that the hon. Gentleman is wrong on every material particular. He is certainly wrong to suggest that the advertisements are in some way party political. [Interruption.] If those hon. Members who disagree had seen the advertisements, they would know that they are as party political as the weather forecast, but slightly more interesting. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Sheffield,...
Mr Robin Squire: No, but my right hon. Friend and her Ministers have discussed the benefits of the nursery education voucher scheme at a number of events up and down the country.
Mr Robin Squire: The hon. Gentleman must have misheard or not heard when I said a moment ago that another £165 million will be spent—next year alone—on pre-school education. He quotes a tiny fraction of that money, which is essential expenditure on publicity, as the totality of new spend. I say to the hon. Gentleman and to other hon. Members from areas where there is currently high provision that, if the...
Mr Robin Squire: With the leave of the House, I shall begin my summing up of the debate by agreeing with the opening comments of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Ms Morris); this has been a good debate. I realise that that will probably mean that it will be condemned by observers and others who read of our proceedings as having no meat, but that was not my impression, having sat in the Chamber for...
Mr Robin Squire: With a proviso, because my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor beams in on me every time I mention resources. This is a serious point, so I am happy to confirm that I will consider what is achieved by summer schools. Whatever is engendered at a summer school would better be engendered in school at the outset. I do not think that we disagree about that. That has been achieved by many...
Mr Robin Squire: I believe that what the hon. Gentleman has said is not fully right, but rather than rummage through my papers at this stage, I shall write to him with an answer. The hon. Gentleman asked about resources. Having said at the outset that I would not say much about resources, I shall not break my self-imposed ordinance, except to say that, whether we think about national funding since 1979 and...
Mr Robin Squire: I would hate what I said to be interpreted as an attack, not least because I meet Councillor Lane regularly, perhaps even more often than the hon. Gentleman does. I thought that I was merely saying that he holds strong views, but that they do not happen to be those of the hon. Gentleman's Front-Bench colleagues.
Mr Robin Squire: rose—
Mr Robin Squire: My hon. Friend and almost everyone else here, certainly those who have been present since the start of the debate, may be surprised to hear that a report is circulating of our earlier exchanges which is rather different from what I thought was said. So I hope that my hon. Friend will allow me briefly to clarify one specific point. I said, and I confirm again, that, if any professional group...
Mr Robin Squire: rose—
Mr Robin Squire: My hon. Friend knows that, although these operational matters lie fully with Ofsted and not with Ministers, I can assure him of two things—first, that the publicity has indeed been national, no doubt because of the general excellence of other Ofsted reports and, secondly, that the matter has unquestionably been brought to the attention of the chief inspector.
Mr Robin Squire: No.
Mr Robin Squire: Only this week, at a conference attended and addressed by both the Norfolk chief education officer and myself, the chief education officer made it clear on behalf of the largest of the phase 1 areas that the scheme was not bureaucratic, and that there were no significant administrative problems.
Mr Robin Squire: The key role of sponsor governors is in the development of specialist colleges, especially the technology colleges, which could be either grant-maintained or under a local education authority.
Mr Robin Squire: The hon. Gentleman is in full flood, but before he gets too carried away I remind him that the White Paper spelled out significant roles for local education authorities. It is already possible for LEAs and the FAS to come to different conclusions about proposals. In at least once instance, the Government accepted the LEA's recommendation rather than that of the FAS.
Mr Robin Squire: The hon. Gentleman could scarcely be more wrong. All four phase 1 authorities say that the scheme is going well administratively. All of them have got back as much or more money than they anticipated. Norfolk have opened 26 new nurseries, and more than a quarter of all pre-school groups have expanded their sessions. Furthermore, I repeat, for something like the 10th or 12th time, that £20...
Mr Robin Squire: I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman is developing his argument on assisted places. It must be one of the few policies of new Labour that is unpopular with the public, because it has not been developed in response to whatever seems to be the mood of the moment. It is clear that the public support the assisted places scheme. May I clarify something else? The hon. Gentleman asked why the range...
Mr Robin Squire: As the hon. Gentleman knows, things are developing at the Ridings, and it would be inappropriate for me to speak about the inspection report. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will understand that. Sadly, Labour Members have a blind spot on selection by ability—not selection by aptitude, but selection by ability—if they assume that the creation or existence of grammar schools makes other...
