What plans he has to amend the current arrangements for training days for teachers. [68872]

This summer term, teachers of pupils in key stages 1 and 2 will receive an extra day's training in the teaching of literacy or numeracy. The Green Paper "Teachers: Meeting the Challenge of Change" notes the Government's concern that a high proportion of training takes place within school time, which has a disruptive effect on children's education, and envisages training taking place outside the school year when that is feasible. If teachers are expected to take training courses outside directed time, national pay and conditions already allow them to be paid for doing so.

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Does she agree that the present system of training days—which we used fondly to call "Baker days"—is the cause of a good deal of disruption in schools? It disrupts life for parents and is disruptive for children. There is a lack of co-ordination inside the system, and there is no consistency across the country or within local authorities. Sometimes infant and junior schools on the same site—and with the same set of parents involved—have different days. That must surely be sorted out. Whatever else my hon. Friend does, will she at least ensure that training days are adjacent to holidays so that disruption is minimal?

I take my hon. Friend's point. Clearly, it is a matter for local authorities and others to decide when in the school year the training days will take place. I hope that they will make that decision in the interests not only of children but of parents, who have to make other arrangements.

Why should children lose five days' schooling because of some deal negotiated 12 years ago with the trade unions? [HON. MEMBERS: "Negotiated by you."] By whoever. Instead of letting local education authorities decide the matter, why not give the money to the head teachers and let them decide whether their schools should be closed?

If, given his article in The Times today, the hon. Gentleman is so concerned about what he clearly thinks is a major issue, one wonders what he was doing during his time at the then Department of Education and Science. Training days are days outside the school year in addition to the 190 days on which teachers teach pupils. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting for one minute that teachers do not need to be trained to do the job? The training that they have on those five days is part of their continuous professional development, which is essential if we are to achieve the standard of training that we want. The hon. Gentleman will be interested to know that the Government have massively increased the amount of money available to schools under the standards fund and the school improvement grant. At long last, teachers can catch up on the training that was denied them by the Conservative Government for far too long.

If he will make a statement on (a) his timetable for and (b) the means he will employ to achieve the doubling of the number of children in nursery education. [68873]

Over the next three years, we will double the number of free nursery education places for three-year-olds. We shall spend an additional £390 million. In the coming year, 50 of the most deprived authorities will receive specific grant, and in the following two years all authorities will receive the grant in addition to the standard spending assessment allocations that have been made to them.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does he agree that the three-year-olds in the 50 education authorities selected for next year, who will be able to obtain a pre-school place, will be more ready and able to learn when they attend school? Does he recognise that, although those 50 authorities represent severely deprived areas, there are many smaller areas of deprivation in constituencies such as mine that do not satisfy the criteria used for funding next year because those criteria are based on postcodes? Can my right hon. Friend give an assurance that those areas will receive that provision for three-year-olds in the following years?

My hon. Friend is right that there are pockets of severe deprivation, which are at the moment being taken care of by a substantial increase through the standard spending assessment for early-years provision. Derbyshire will receive a 5.2 per cent. increase in the coming year. In the second and third year of the additional spending of £390 million—which, I emphasise, will be specific grant applied purely to developing places for three-year-olds and therefore not absorbed in the SSA—Derbyshire will receive the money it needs to provide the services that my hon. Friend rightly seeks.

I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will agree that pre-schools—formerly playgroups—are often a preferable experience for children. They have better adult:children ratios, are more connected to the local community and, above all, give great encouragement and support to parents. What more can the right hon. Gentleman do to answer their concern that primary schools are putting undue pressure on parents to accept the maintained nursery place rather than the pre-school place, so as to deliver on the right hon. Gentleman's targets?

Provision for three-year-olds, as for four-year-olds, must be decided through the early-years development partnership, which deals with both nursery education and child care and in which the voluntary, private and statutory sectors are properly represented. Early-years development plans will not be approved by my hon. Friends unless they involve a proper recognition and development of services by the voluntary sector. We have been very clear about that.

Children's early years are crucial, in terms of both brain development and development generally. Given that, and given this radical and important initiative in regard to nursery education—and given also what the family policy consultation document said about the enhanced role of health visitors—can we find ways, through nursery education, of building more effective partnerships between parents and teachers and between families and schools, so that the sometimes unused resource of the family can embark on a better partnership with teachers for the benefit of our children?

We certainly can. Part of the role of the early-years development partnership will be developing the role that families can play, and emphasising the importance of involving families. It will also be possible to learn from the early excellence centres: we have already set up some centres, and the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Barking (Ms Hodge), will announce the establishment of a number of new ones shortly. We need to, as it were, cascade out the best practice and the lessons that have been learnt through the family literacy initiative, the involvement of parents and the experiments that have been launched throughout the country—experiments of which my hon. Friend is aware. We need to extend all that to other areas and other providers. Our policy needs both to be family friendly and to recognise the critical role of the family in the education service.

The expansion of early-years education under the present Government is very welcome, but when does the Secretary of State intend to set targets for the universal provision of early-years education for three-year-olds—whose parents want that for their children—as promised in the Labour party manifesto? Does the Secretary of State agree that, while expansion is important, so is quality? Would it not therefore be sensible to establish a key stage for early-years provision, which is what we have done in respect of other aspects of school education?

I am pleased to be able to help the hon. Gentleman and the House. We have set targets that would give all four-year-olds access to early-years places, and we have achieved those targets. We are now setting a target that would give two thirds of three-year-olds free nursery places, and we will achieve that target by the next general election.

If he will make a statement on the progress in establishing education action zones. [68874]

We have established 25 education action zones. Twelve began in September, and 13 at the start of the January term. The zones have now developed their action plans, and are in the process of implementing new and radical policies.

The new education action zone in Croydon is supported not only by many big businesses—Commercial Union, the Midland bank, the National Westminster bank, Direct Line, Iandis and Gyr, Allders, Abbey National and many more—but by the community health trust, which is concerned about the health of school children, and by the Whitgift school, one of the most successful independent schools in the country, because it provides musical instruments and advises on best teaching practice and the use of playing fields and sports facilities. Surely this is the real third way of partnership that will drive up standards in Croydon's schools.

Steer carefully on the third way.

As ever, I am grateful for the help of my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner).

Can the Secretary of State name anything happening in an education action zone that is not happening, or could not happen, elsewhere?

Yes, I can. For example, as part of raising standards in those zones, 140 major companies have now committed themselves to working in them that would not have done so. This year alone, they have put into the zones £5 million that would not otherwise have been available. The major electronic commitments of British Aerospace, for example, in Hull, are making an enormous difference by linking every school with their family and community developments in adult education. When the Prime Minister and I launched the latest round of education action zones in Blackburn, we saw schools that are linking with companies to design—and then be able to manufacture—which brings education and employment prospects together.

If he will make a statement on the responses that have been received to the learning age Green Paper. [68875]

We had some 3,000 responses to "The Learning Age" Green Paper. Nearly 2,000 were from members of the public and the rest were from employers, educational institutions, local authorities and others. We are greatly encouraged by the broad support in those responses for our overall vision and proposals. We will, in due course, publish a summary of the responses.

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that one of the worst legacies of the previous Government is the fact that 7 million workers have no formal qualifications in the workplace, which puts us among the bottom countries in the European Union? Does he further agree that individual learning accounts will be a key element in trying to address that problem? When does he intend to move that forward, to have a plan in place and to make the first 1 million individual learning accounts available, perhaps through training and enterprise councils?

If we are to improve the competitiveness of the British economy and to end social exclusion, which mars and disfigures our cities and communities, we will have to succeed with "The Learning Age" proposals, a key one of which is the individual learning account. From April, up to 100,000 people will be able to have an individual learning account and call up £150 to spend on learning. Working in partnership with employers, trade unions and any other group, we view that as an important catalyst in bringing people back to learning who may not have given it a thought.

What plans he has to introduce a needs-weighted element into the current pupil formula for schools funding. [68876]

Under the "fair funding" arrangements, which take effect in April, the allocation of funding to individual schools is a matter for each local education authority to decide, within the framework of regulations that were recently approved by Parliament. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is satisfied that those regulations allow ample scope for taking account of the different needs of schools and pupils.

Will my hon. Friend consider some of the advantages of a national Government lead on that? She knows as well as I do some of the problems of recently created unitary authorities such as mine, which face a legacy of under-achievement and long-term under-investment in city schools. Will she consider the successful introduction in Canada of a needs-weighted, rather than age-weighted, pupil unit into the formula? Not least of the consequences of that has been the successful reversal of the outward migratory trends of parents and families, who moved away from schools needing a recovery strategy. One of the remarkable achievements of that change in Canada was the rediscovery by parents of the virtues of the local school, and the realisation that there was no point in sending their kids in one direction when the resources for schools were going in the other direction.

I am always happy to look at what is happening overseas to see what we can learn. The decision on age-weighted pupil units is a local one. Nationally, we insist that 80 per cent. of funding should be pupil led. We feel that the remaining 20 per cent. gives local authorities enough flexibility to reflect their local circumstances. I entirely accept my hon. Friend's comment about his area's chronic underfunding under the previous Government. I know that he will welcome the more than £1 million of new deal for schools capital that has gone into the city and the fact that more than £500,000 has already been provided to begin the reduction of infant class sizes.

Is the Minister aware that there is a growing crisis in schools funding because local education authorities do not have the information to set schools' indicative budgets? Even at this late stages, the Department cannot tell them how much money they will have to set aside for all the Ministers' pet projects. One LEA phoned the Department and was told by the operator, "I am sorry, I haven't got anything under 'LEA support'. All I have is 'LEA intervention' and `Ofsted.'" Is not that the Government's real agenda—intervention, intervention, intervention, rather than setting schools free?

No, the Government's agenda is standards, standards, standards. Unless we intervene where standards are not sufficiently high, we shall have failure, failure, failure. That is the choice that we face. Local authorities know exactly where they stand for next year. They have had their best settlement for years. Most of the standard spending assessment money has already been announced. Local authorities throughout the country are making decisions about revenue arrangements for next year and passing the information to schools.

If he will make a statement on future plans in relation to specialist schools. [68877]

We plan to have 500 specialist schools in operation by September 2001. Our priority is to ensure that the range of schools in each specialism spreads across England, so that the benefits of the scheme are maximised.

My hon. Friend will be aware that Milton Keynes is fortunate in having four specialist schools already. I should like to draw his attention to an example of good practice at Lord Grey school, the specialist language school, to inform schools elsewhere. It has made enormous efforts to set up links with its feeder primary and middle schools through the national grid for learning and in partnership with a local business, Yamaha Keyboards, which has supplied computer keyboards to 1,000 pupils in the feeder schools to enable them to link electronically with the modern languages resources at Lord Grey. The school is also sending teachers to teach the top-year middle school pupils French, German and Spanish, as well as Japanese culture, because Milton Keynes has a large number of Japanese businesses. Will my hon. Friend join me in commending the school on its efforts and ensure that its good example is spread throughout the country?

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. I join her in congratulating and commending Lord Grey school. I should also like to congratulate Milton Keynes as a whole, where four of the nine secondary schools—more than 44 per cent.—are specialist schools. That is the highest proportion in the country. There is a specialist school in each of the disciplines—arts, sport, Ianguages and technology. We are seeking to spread that example throughout the country. My officials stand ready to help all local education authorities and schools seeking to put forward bids as we go for the target of 500 in September 2001. The aim is to spread skills and experience widely. The specialist schools that I have visited have been—like my hon. Friend's in Milton Keynes—inspirational.

I welcome the Minister's decision to extend the specialist schools initiative started by the previous Government. Such schools provide choice, diversity and excellence and we applaud them. In the hope of some reciprocal generosity, will the Minister applaud the performance of another group of specialist schools that concentrate on academic attainment—namely the grammar schools? On Monday, the Prime Minister said:

"if a school's doing a good job then we don't want to get rid of that school."

As the hon. Gentleman knows, when we took office there were 222 specialist schools. There are now 330 and I recently announced that a further 35 will open in September. As I said earlier, our target is 500 by September 2001. I have visited many of the schools and I agree that they are inspirational and spreading value. The hon. Gentleman asked about grammar schools—a different subject, as he well knows. As the Prime Minister made clear, we commend all good-quality schools. The issues of admission are dealt with under separate legislation in a way that the hon. Gentleman well understands.

What progress has been made on introducing after-school child care places. [68878]

The national child care strategy is already having a positive impact locally. We have funded the creation of nearly 30,000 new out-of-school child care places and through the commitment of a wide range of partners we are on target to create 60,000 new places in England by April 1999.

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. It is good that everything is going so well. What is her view on an initiative by Grimsby college, my local further education college? It is called the weekend college and integrates education, training and child care so that while parents use weekends to retrain and acquire new skills, older children can participate in activities at the college and the little ones have a free child care place. Does my hon. Friend approve of that model of integration and would she like it to be used as an example elsewhere in the country?

Indeed, I applaud the initiative that has been taken by Grimsby college and join my hon. Friend in congratulating the college on that innovative development. The further education sector can make an important contribution to early education and child care and the integration of the two. That is why we have allocated £5 million this year and a further £5 million next year to create 20,000 places. The further education sector provides high-quality places for children and opportunities for adults to gain new skills and qualifications.

We have already been regaled with plans to get children as young as three out of their homes and into school and now we are being asked to consider keeping them in after school. Does not the Minister consider it any part of her job to encourage children to spend some time at home with a responsible parent?

We all know that parents are the prime educators and nurturers of their children. However, there have been enormous changes in working practices. More than 50 per cent. of mothers with children under five work. The Government need to provide a framework that enables flexibility and choice for parents to ensure that children get the best start in life and that parents do not have to choose between the jobs that they need and the children whom they love.

The working families tax credit, especially the child care element, is most welcome, but according to the Kids Clubs Network there is a great deal of ignorance about what is available. It would be a shame to lose the impetus before October. Will there be a promotional campaign to make sure that everyone knows about it? There should also be more providers, particularly in areas of need.

The working families tax credit is an important part of our strategy to expand child care and ensure that all families can afford it. We will indeed launch a promotional campaign, and I warmly welcome the introduction of the child care tax credit, not only because it will make child care affordable to more parents, but because it will enable us to improve the quality of much of that care and increase the quantity, so that we provide genuine flexibility and choice for all families.

We welcome the fact that more after-school care will be made available, but before the Minister preens herself too obviously about the number of places created, as she did in reply to the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), she should ask her civil servants to examine closely how much taxpayers' money has been provided and determine whether places have actually been created or whether best endeavours have merely been used to try to create them. The civil servants may tell her that, in a year or two, the National Audit Office may have to investigate that.

I have written to the hon. Gentleman and to all right hon. and hon. Members about the places that have already been created under our national child care strategy in their locality. We know that, within the first two years of this Government, we will have doubled the number of child care places available. In two years, we will have created twice as many places as the previous Government did in 18 years. That is only the start of an ambitious and successful programme to provide flexible and affordable high-quality child care.

If he will make a statement on the development of the single work-focused gateway. [68879]

We are on course for pilots of this important innovation to start in four Benefits Agency areas in June, and in another eight in November. I am visiting each of the early pilot areas, meeting staff, councils, claimants' representatives and advisory bodies, as well as arranging briefing here for hon. Members whose constituencies are affected. We are determined that the gateway will provide a better standard of service and support to claimants than they have ever received before, as well as striking a good balance between rights and responsibilities.

Will my right hon. Friend join me in saying a big thank you to the northern region Employment Service? Paul Robson's staff have worked hard and creatively to achieve good job opportunities for hundreds of people. The northern region is very disappointed not to be part of the pilot schemes, as the staff were keen to be involved.

I am pleased to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the Employment Service and all the other partners who are making such a success of the new deal and the other initiatives that we have launched for job generation. I agree that the role of the work-focused gateway, by extending the continuity of support and advice from personal advisers, which has been such a successful feature of the new deal, will indeed help claimants towards work where appropriate, and towards greater independence and personal development. It will stop claimants being shunted from pillar to post as they all too often have been in the past, as well as striking the right balance between rights and responsibilities. The single gateway will provide a whole new standard of service for claimants as well as shaping the future of the welfare state.

I am sure that the Minister will be aware that the National Audit Office can provide robust evidence that fraud and mispaid benefits in the social security system amount to a staggering £4 billion. How will the single work-focused gateway reduce that figure?

In two ways: first, we will provide a genuinely joined-up service, integrating that which is separately provided at the moment through the Benefits Agency, jobcentres and local authorities. Secondly, by requiring people to attend a work-focused interview as a condition of receiving benefit, we will have the opportunity to cut fraud and to make people aware of their responsibilities, as well as the extra help that we are providing.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the single gateway is to work as we would wish, much will depend on the personal advisers? Can he assure the House that sufficient training will be offered to those advisers to enable them to do their job effectively with the vast numbers of people with whom they will have to deal? Will that include training in disability issues and in recognising mental health problems, so that they can adequately support their clients?

My hon. Friend identifies an enormously important issue. There will be a comprehensive training programme for all personal advisers and those helping claimants through the single gateway. That will draw on the existing expertise within the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency—for example, disability employment advisers—as well as ensuring that people who are coming to what, for them, is a new area of work, are fully appraised of the benefit entitlement and the extra help in the single gateway areas.

Does the Secretary of State realise that he will receive support from the Liberal Democrats for the gateway, provided that it offers clients advice on child care and other benefits, and provided that clients are visited at home for the interview if they cannot get into the gateway? Is he aware of the practical difficulties? The gateways will have staff from the Employment Service, local authorities, other agencies and private providers—all with different pay and conditions and different computers. How will he ensure that they will be able to talk to each other to ensure that the Government's good intentions provide good results?

By doing the job properly—and considerably better than I imagine the Liberal Democrats would, judging by the hon. Gentleman's convoluted question. I assure him that the provisos that he puts on his support will be satisfied. Therefore, we will have support from the Liberal Democrats for the initiative.

If he will make a statement on the measures which his Department proposes to introduce to encourage parents to combine work with family life. [68880]

Working with employers and others, we will promote employment practices that benefit both families and businesses. We will finalise a campaign in the light of responses to our consultation document, "Supporting Families".

Does my hon. Friend agree that the spread of family-friendly working practices is not as wide as it might be? It is a shame that only one in 10 employers contribute in any way to the child care of their staff. Will she look at ways in which her Department and other appropriate Departments can provide joined-up thinking to encourage more employers to understand the business benefits of providing family-friendly policies for their staff, but also to see how we can enable some of those employers who want to do more to achieve their aim?

I agree that there is a lot of work to be done to change the culture on the acceptance of family-friendly employment policies. Some 46 per cent. of employees today have no access to any of the family-friendly working practices that we want to encourage. We are working across Government to raise the profile and importance of the policies to ensure that people understand the business case for adopting them. We shall be launching a campaign to provide advice, information and guidance, and we will give public recognition to those companies with family-friendly employment policies.

Does the Minister understand that, for most families, financial constraints are the greatest pressure on family life and cause the most difficulties in combining that with work? Does she accept that steps to tax child benefit would only increase the pressure on family life, and would mean that hard-pressed families would spend more time working to make up for the money that they lose?

It is indeed the pressure of finance that means that many people work long hours and that families do not spend enough time together. For that reason, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will support the Government's introduction of the minimum wage, which will tackle that problem. People want time, as well as sufficient income—and as a mother, I know that time is often at a premium.

My hon. Friend and her colleagues on the Front Bench, as well as Labour Members on the Back Benches, keep referring to joined-up thinking and joined-up writing. If we want to introduce family-friendly provisions in the workplace and the other protections contained in the employment relations legislation, why are those provisions not to be extended to firms with fewer than 21 employees?

I believe that my hon. Friend is referring to the extension of the disability discrimination legislation, which reduces the number of employees in firms to be covered by the measures from 25 to 20. We shall make further progress in that regard once the Disability Rights Commission is established. We shall seek advice from the commission about reducing the threshold further.

What plans he has to review the standard spending assessment system, with particular reference to the area cost adjustment, in connection with education. [68881]

We all accept that there are valid objections to the current system, including the area cost adjustment. We will be looking at proposals for reform over the next three years.

I thank the Minister for that encouraging reply. I remind her that the scheme means that Kent, for example, benefits in purely educational terms to the tune of about £26.5 million year, and that Oxfordshire similarly benefits to the tune of about £8.2 million a year. However, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire's neighbouring county, loses out by about £2 million a year. Will she look at the iniquities of the scheme?

We certainly will; indeed, we began to do so when we took office. The inequalities did not begin on 1 May 1997, they have been going on for years. The previous Conservative Government failed to tackle the issue. We have begun to look into the matter and I hope that, over the next few years, we can work with local authorities to achieve a better formula.

The significant additional resources for education being provided by the Government are warmly welcomed throughout the country, but is my hon. Friend aware that the anomalies of the area cost adjustments as reflected in educational standard spending assessments mean that those additional resources are widening unfairness? That, coupled with the serious anomalies in the additional educational needs formula, means that my local education authority, like many others, is at a serious disadvantage. In this regard, the Government's three-year plans are not bringing stability, but are perpetuating an injustice. Will my hon. Friend at least consider what interim measures can be taken to mitigate that serious problem?

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has lead responsibility for looking at the SSA formula. However, we have been working closely with his Department and with others to try to deal with what I accept is a very serious matter. I take seriously what my hon. Friend says: his area and surrounding Staffordshire have suffered for too long from an unfair formula, but it is no good changing that formula if we do not get it right this time around. It is right that the Government work with local authorities to reach an agreement on how we can move forward. We were not able to reach an agreement this year, but we will continue to look at this important matter.

It is clear from that answer, and from the Minister's earlier answer on schools funding, that the Government do not understand the impact of their policies—increased burdens on LEAs, extra bureaucracy and failure to fund fully the teachers' pay award—on SSAs and on LEA funding. One LEA has announced that the Government's interventions will cost it almost £1.5 million before it can even consider spending money on improving school standards. Does the Minister realise that her Department for intervention will cost LEAs and schools dear? Far from raising standards, intervention, intervention, intervention means bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy. Money is being spent on Government intervention instead of being spent, as it should be, on standards in the classroom.

Half the time, I do not know what world the hon. Lady lives in. When her party was in government, it increased the SSA but did nothing to match the increase with increased funding. We have provided an increase this year that will give local authorities ample money to fund the most generous teachers settlement in years. Many key objectives relating to class size are being funded at 100 per cent., as were child care places.

If he will make a statement on the admissions policy of Mill Hill county high school. [68882]

Mill Hill county high school has a substantial partial selection policy, with the usual admissions implications for parents in the area, and for other schools there. The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and the statutory code give parents the ability—like admissions authorities in the LEA area—to call on the adjudicator to make a judgment about the impact of those selective policies and the way in which they distort the real choice and preference of parents in the area.

Is my right hon. Friend aware of a real sense of outrage felt by many parents in my constituency at the fact that 45 per cent. of places at the school will be allocated by aptitude, with the bulk of the remainder going to siblings? Only 10 of the 210 places at the school are reserved for local kids. My right hon. Friend will understand why one parent has written to me, saying:

"The implication is that local children are not worthy of a place at this school."

I understand both the concern expressed by parents and the understandable outrage displayed by my hon. Friend. Forty five per cent. of places depend on selection, not aptitude—

What is the difference?

The difference was invented by the previous Government and the previous Secretary of State. Perhaps the House can tell why I am so keen to ensure that history stays in the national curriculum. On the Opposition Benches, amnesia is matched by a lack of literacy and numeracy.

What measures he is taking to ensure that education standard spending assessment fund increases for 1999–2000 are implemented by North Yorkshire county council education services. [68883]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to North Yorkshire county council to make it clear that all the increase in the education standard spending assessment should be used to support education services, and especially the drive to raise school standards.

Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating the children and parents of Scarborough and Whitby and the rest of North Yorkshire on persuading the county council's corporate affairs committee to heed the Secretary of State's letter? Will he accept an invitation to visit my constituency so that he can see the desperate need to increase standards and so that we may, in future, not only passport increases of 6.6 per cent. for school services in the county, but have regard for the special needs of the urban areas of North Yorkshire?

Yes, I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating all the children and parents and the rest of the community who have persuaded the county council to carry the money through to education, as we intended. I would also be happy to visit my hon. Friend's constituency sometime in the future to see what has been done there.

I obviously live in a different part of North Yorkshire, because I have seen the £12.9 million passported, despite opposition from the Tory Administration. There has been a 9.6 per cent. increase in council tax and we still find ourselves £2 million short—100 teachers will be sacked in North Yorkshire as a result of the Government's allegedly excellent settlement.

On the hon. Gentleman's final point, we made announcements regarding music a few weeks ago along the lines that he has requested. I find it strange that, although almost every commentator has remarked on the very high SSA settlements that have been achieved this time, nothing is enough for the Liberal Democrats. They are not prepared to work with others effectively. However, I commend the Liberal Democrats, as my colleagues did earlier, on campaigning for more resources for education. That is fine. It is not enough to whinge and whinge; we must create and create. That is what the Government are trying to do.

Leading on from that reply, is my hon. Friend the Minister aware that, in the south-west, Liberal Democrats—

Order. The Minister is replying to questions about North Yorkshire so I tend to call hon. Members who represent that area. The hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) does not represent North Yorkshire, although he is quite entitled to speak about it. His question must be about North Yorkshire. I call Mr. Key.

I am grateful, Madam Speaker.

Try harder than the last Member.

Is the Minister aware that North Yorkshire is not alone in that education authorities up and down the country view with great concern his Department's new policy, which suggests that local councillors no longer know best about what to spend, within SSA indicators, on which services? Far from being welcome, that doctrine has caused great disturbance among local councillors.

In North Yorkshire.

The amount that North Yorkshire spends on its education services is best judged at local level by North Yorkshire's elected councillors.

Characteristically, the hon. Gentleman completely misses the point: it is not about the rights of local councillors to take decisions, but about the judgments that they make. In his letter to North Yorkshire county council, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State urged the council to spend the money on education. I hope that Opposition Members will urge Conservative councillors to ensure that that happens.

What his assessment is of the response to date by local education authorities to the Government's national year of reading initiatives. [68885]

The response from local authorities has been extremely positive. All local authorities had a co-ordinator in place by the beginning of the national year of reading. Most also have steering groups in place, bringing together a wide range of local services, including education, libraries and business. That gives a framework within which local initiatives can flourish and can continue to have an impact after the year has officially ended in August.

I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for that answer. Does she agree that good local education authorities have a key role in delivering the link between literacy in the home and literacy in school through family initiatives? Will she therefore join me in applauding the initiative of Blackpool council in appointing a reader-in-residence, Dr. Charles Bennett, a mature student and poet, whose role will be to deliver community learning projects in schools, after-school clubs, youth clubs and community centres? Is not that an excellent way to move forward? Does she agree that imaginative and historical literature can be prime sources for literacy schemes?

I add my congratulations on the initiatives in my hon. Friend's constituency. His local authority has a good record on its work for the national year of reading. I was delighted recently to announce a further £7,000 to support local community initiatives in the Blackpool area. We perhaps differ about one thing: it is the role of not only local education authorities, but local authorities in general, to work on the national year of reading. The obligation to support our children in learning a love of reading and to support schools in the literacy strategy lies not only with local education authorities but with everyone, whatever their walk of life.

Does the Minister think that the literacy project would be compromised by the projected widespread closure of public libraries? It is all very well for the Prime Minister yesterday, and the Minister today, to talk about literacy, but how can the scheme possibly be supported by such closures? What assessment has she made of their effect on opportunities for schools and children in areas such as North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and elsewhere across the United Kingdom?

I have made no assessment of the effect of libraries because they are not my ministerial responsibility. I have assessed the £48 million that the Government have put into spending on books in schools. The hon. Gentleman must accept that more has been put into supporting literacy through teacher training, getting books to schools and facilities throughout the community, than was ever done under his Government.

What plans he has to introduce an intermediate labour market strategy. [68886]

Intermediate labour market initiatives already play a part in the Government's overall employment policy and are especially helpful for people who are particularly disadvantaged in the open jobs market. Government funding already contributes to a number of successful projects up and down the country, and that will be extended through the recently announced employment zones.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. He knows that there is much male unemployment in the former steel and mining communities of south Yorkshire. We are talking about men in their 40s and 50s. Intermediate labour markets are one way of reintroducing such people to the formal labour market. Does his Department intend to evaluate some of the local community business projects within a regional framework?

Very much so; we have been surveying experience of intermediate labour market projects both in this country and abroad. As soon as we have the results, they will be published—within the next month or two, I hope. The new deal 25-plus pilots have a specific remit to provide extra help for older unemployed people to get them back into work. As a result of the strategic responsibilities of the regional development agencies and work under the coalfields communities initiative, I expect more programmes to help precisely the people whom my hon. Friend described. They have had a rough deal in the past and deserve help from the Government. I hope that they will get it.

What role will deregulation play in the Government's strategy? It is not only the 48-hour directive or the minimum wage; what role will there be for cutting bureaucracy, rules and regulations for businesses so that they can employ more people? When will Ministers start properly to think through the implications of directives for the labour market and their impact in this country before they sign up to them?

This Government, not the previous one, have had written into the European employment guidelines a commitment not only to examine new European proposals to ensure that we minimise the regulatory burden and generate jobs, but to re-examine the proposals previously signed up to, including those signed up to by the Conservative Government. As part of our employment generation programmes, such as enterprise development in employment zones, we are applying the benefits of the cuts in bureaucracy and regulation that my colleagues in the Department of Trade and Industry are examining to stimulate the formation of new businesses.