§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will state the bodies representative of parents from whom he received representations prior to the publication of his recent consultative papers; and if he will place copies of such representations in the Library.
§ Mrs. RumboldMy right hon. Friend and his ministerial colleagues frequently meet parents and their representatives in the normal course of work. The reforms set out in our consultation documents take account of views expressed by parents and others over a number a years.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the formal responses he has received to his various consultative papers on educational change.
§ Mrs. RumboldNo. It is for those originating responses to decide whether or not to make them publicly available. We are, however, arranging for copies of responses, other than those from individuals, to be placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list in the Official Report the numbers produced of each of his duplicated consultative documents on educational reform, the numbers he distributed initially without request, and those subsequently distributed with or without charge, respectively.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe numbers of documents produced, to date are as follows:
739W
Total number produced Number distributed initially Number distributed subsequently The National Curriculum 5–16 60,000 1,200 56,800 Charges for school activities 9,000 1,100 7,000 Collective worship 500 390 34 Financial delegation to schools 10,500 514 9,683 Grant Maintained schools 12,000 514 10,874 Admission of pupils to Maintained schools 10,500 514 9,626 Changes in structure and national planning for higher education (polytechnics and colleges sector) 2,000 450 1,380 Changes in structure and national planning for higher education (contracts between the funding bodies and higher education institutes) 3,000 1,300 1,450 Changes in structure and national planning for higher education (Universities Funding Council) 2,000 466 1,489 Maintained further education: Financing, governance and law 7,000 1,687 5,063 Academic tenure and related matters 32 32 Nil Organisation of education in inner London 4,000 1,975 1,947 Accounting and auditing in higher education 1,000 588 1Nil 1 Document issued 20 October 1987. All these documents are available free of charge from the Department.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, as a contribution to the consultations he is holding concerning the opting out procedures for maintained schools, he will estimate, or initiate studies to establish, the value to schools in (a) ILEA and (b) other local education authorities, of the professional, administrative and other goods or services not currently covered by current capitation allowances.
§ Mr. DunnMy right hon. Friend has no plans to do so. Current capitation allowances commonly account for only a small proportion of school budgets and there would be little point in collecting information in the form proposed. As from September 1987 local education authorities have to provide governing bodies with an annual statement of all expenditure incurred at their schools, and we propose to extend the requirement to include information about the cost of central educational services.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what consultations he had with the bodies currently responsible for determining the syllabuses of the main school examinations, prior to deciding the terms of paragraph 33 of his consultative paper on the national curriculum proposing transfer of these responsibilities to himself.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe Government's consultation document on the national curriculum proposes that approval of the syllabuses prepared by the school examination bodies, which is currently undertaken on a non-statutory basis by the Secondary Examinations Council, should be put onto a statutory footing. The examination bodies have been invited to respond to this proposal and we shall take their comments into account, along with others we have received.