Carson issues call for teacher training funding

UUP MLA Joan Carson has called for some of the money from Chancellor Gordon Brown's latest £1.2 million spending package to be directed specifically at teacher training.

The Chancellor unveiled the funding increase for Northern Ireland on Monday afternoon as part of his three year spending review, which has seen him pledge a total of £90 billion on improving public services throughout the UK.

The Northern Ireland Office will receive "significant new resources" aimed at supporting policing and criminal justice reforms, with a 3.5% increase in the Northern Ireland Office’s budget over the three years to 2005/06. The Northern Ireland Executive is also to receive substantial new resources, which will see spending in Northern Ireland rise an average annual rate of 3.3 per cent over the next three years – up by £0.4 billion in 2003-04, £0.76 billion in 2004-05 and £1.2 billion in 2005-06 compared to 2002-03.

Speaking about the allocation of the extra funding, Ms Carson said: "It is imperative that our education system is geared to cope with the increasing demands it faces and there is a crying need for supporting teacher training.

"While I welcome money being targeted at health and education, there must be serious consideration given to how we develop and improve teacher training. I welcome a spending review for education if it is thorough and helps identify key areas of most need."

The Executive will publish its draft budget in September indicating how it proposes to allocate resources to services in line with the priorities of its Programme for Government. (CL)