To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much money will be available to trainee teachers under the new priority subject recruitment scheme for 1996–97; and how this money will be allocated to individual students. [7333]

A total of £1.4 million has been retained in the bursary scheme to cover students in the second year of two-year courses in England and Wales. In 1996-97 £7.869 million will be available under the new priority subject recruitment scheme in England, administered by the Teacher Training Agency. I have asked the chairman of the TTA to write with details of the allocation arrangements. The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales will be administering a similar initiative in Wales in 1996–97.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much funding has been made available in bursaries to trainee teachers in priority subjects since the commencement of the scheme; and what subjects have been covered. [7334]

By the end of the current financial year some £67 million will have been made available since the start of the scheme in 1986–87. The following subjects have been included at some time in the course of the scheme: chemistry, physics, biology, technology, mathematics, modern foreign languages and Welsh.