§ Mr. Baldryasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what initiatives Her Majesty's Government have taken since 1979 to monitor the use of educational resources to ensure a national standard of performance.
§ Sir Keith JosephA number of initiatives have been taken since 1979 to promote a more appropriate distribution of resources within education and their more efficient and effective use; among the more significant of these are
analysis of statistics regularly assembled for monitoring purposes and their presentation in statistical bulletins in a manner relevant to the evaluation of standards and spending;The education support grant programme which is intended to raise national standards of performance through a number of discrete activities, details of which are given in DES circulars 6/94 and 5/85 (copies are in the Library). The monitoring arrangements vary from activity to activity according to what is appropriate but in all cases the Department is keeping in touch either through regular reports or through regional agents. Her Majesty's Inspectorate is also looking at ESG-supported work in the course of its normal inspection programmes;the decision to publish the reports of Her Majesty's inspectors. These reports, in particular the three which have been published on the effects of local authorities' expenditure policies on education provision, offer important messages to the education service as a whole about the interplay of various factors which together contribute to the quality of education in the schools and colleges. In its report last year on the effects of local authority expenditure policies on education provision in England in 1984, HMI made it clear that the most crucial factor influencing effective learning was the quality of teaching, followed, in order of importance, by the identification of pupils' and students' needs, the level of resources available and their effective management and deployment.
Expenditure on maintenance of buildings and grounds Primary schools Cash terms Real* terms Real terms index England† £ million Hampshire £ million England† £ million Hampshire £ million England† Hampshire 1975–76 60.4 1.6 153.4 4.1 100 100 1976–77 67.8 2.0 152.0 4.5 99 110 1977–78 74.3 2.4 146.2 4.8 95 117 1978–79 91.4 3.0 162.7 5.3 106 129 1979–80 108.5 3.1 165.3 4.7 108 115 1980–81 131.9 4.3 169.2 5.5 110 134 1981–82 132.0 3.5 154.0 4.1 100 100 1982–83 149.4 4.1 162.8 4.4 106 107 1983–84 164.8 4.2 171.9 4.4 112 107 1984–85 165.8 4.2 165.8 4.2 108 102 * Real terms: The cash figures for each year have been repriced to 1984–85 prices using the gross domestic products (market prices) deflator. † England: Information about Wales is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how much has been spent on maintenance in secondary schools in England and Wales each year since 1975, expressed in money terms, real terms and as an annual percentage change in real terms;
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Expenditure on maintenance of buildings and grounds Secondary schools Cash terms Real* terms Real terms index England† £ million Hampshire £ million England† £ million Hampshire £ million England† Hampshire 1975–76 66.8 1.8 169.5 4.5 100 100 1976–77 76.1 2.1 170.8 4.7 101 104 1977–78 87.9 2.3 173.2 4.6 102 102 although the Department's assessment of performance unit does not monitor the use of education resources, it has conducted surveys which provide a national picture of pupil performance in specific areas of the curriculum;
further information on the use of performance indicators in education is given in the relevant chapter of "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1986/87 to 1988/89" (Cmnd. 9702)