§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many persons are employed by local authorities at the nearest available date(a)as school cleaners and(b)in school meal services; and what were the comparable figures for 1979, 1980 and 1981.
§ Dr. BoysonInformation is not available centrally about numbers of school cleaners. The numbers of kitchen and canteen staff employed in maintained schools in England were:
Year 1979 166,000 1980 142,000 1981 130,000 Information for 1982 is not yet available.
§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science which local authorities have allowed private contractors to take over the following services(a)school meals and(b)school cleaning.
§ Dr. BoysonI know of no authority which has fully contracted out either service. However, I understand that Essex has awarded an experimental one-year contract for meals in one school and that a number of authorities employ private contractors to do some school cleaning.