Written question asked by Barry Sheerman (Labour) on Thursday, 4 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 May 2006. It was answered by Parmjit Dhanda (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 May 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Educational Psychology

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what recent discussions she has had with the British Psychological Society on the funding of the training of educational and clinical psychologists.

Answer: The full-time equivalent number of educational psychologists in post in local authorities in England as at January 2005 is 2,156, compared to 1,768 in January 1997. There were 100 vacant full-time permanent posts as at January 2005.Educational psychologists are employed by local authorities and it is for those authorities to determine how many to employ in light of their assessment of local needs and available resources, and to plan for future needs. The Department makes no manpower planning estimates for this group of local employees, nor do we collect centrally information on the number of EPs trained or the cost of EP training, funding for which is not provided by DfES.There have been no recent discussions between the Department and the British Psychological Society on funding of EP training. Questions relating to clinical psychologists are for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Heath.

Secondary information