Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 January 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 30 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

One-to-One Tuition

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils she estimates will be eligible for targeted one-to-one tuition in (a) English and (b) mathematics; and what estimate she has made of the cost of the proposed provision.

Answer: Our recent White Paper—Higher Standards, Better Schools for All—sets out this Government's determination to ensure every child masters the basics of literacy and numeracy. There will be an extra investment of £565 million by 2007–08 to support personalisation in primary and secondary schools, focusing particularly on helping children who have fallen behind in English and mathematics. A further £60 million will be available in each of the next two years to provide effective one-to-one and small group tuition for the lowest attaining pupils in targeted schools.It will be for each school, with support from the National Strategies, School Improvement Partners and other local authority school improvement staff, to decide the type and pattern of provision they need to meet the learning needs of their pupils, and how to make the best use of small group and one-to-one tuition.

Secondary information