§ Mr. EvennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Erith and Crayford of 15 March,Official Report, columns 221–22, if he will describe how, in 1987, his Department determined the numbers of rate B, rate D and rate E incentive allowances which would be awarded automatically as at 30 September 1987; whether the information used in making such determinations was up to date; what information subsequently became available to his Department regarding the actual numbers of teachers either on the basis of entitlement to such automatic awards or on the basis of payment of such awards; whether the numbers of actual payments exceeded the original expectations of his Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Rumbold[holding answer 24 April 1989]: Circular 8/87 assumed that 129,000 teachers in ordinary schools would be awarded an incentive allowance in October 1987, of whom 104,000 would receive a B, D or E allowance automatically as a result of being on scale 3, scale 4 or the senior teacher scale on 30 September 1987. These numbers were based on the distribution of teachers across the pay scales at March 1985 as shown on the database of teacher records. Results from the DTR are currently emerging about two years in arrears because of delays in the supply of information to the Department. The Department projected these 1985 DTR data forward to September 1987 on the basis of assumptions about wastage, recruitment and the movement of teachers on the pay scales.
DTR data for March 1987 will be available shortly. Early indications are that the numbers of teachers on scale 3, scale 4 or the senior teacher scale in March 1987 were slightly higher than had been projected at the time the system of incentive allowances was being introduced. Information about the numbers of teachers who actually received an incentive allowance in October 1987 will become available in due course from the 1988 DTR.
§ Mr. EvennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Erith and Crayford of 15 March,Official Report, columns 221–22, what was the total cost to employers of school teachers' incentive allowances in financial year 1987–88 (a) on the basis of his Department's plans before October 1987 and (b) on the basis of outturn figures; what amount and proportion, for each case (a) and (b) above, relates to allowances awarded automatically on 30 September 1987; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Rumbold[holding answer 24 April 1989]: The estimated cost of incentive allowances awarded to teachers in ordinary schools in the financial year 1987–88 was £113 million, of which approximately £106 million (94 per cent.) was in respect of allowances awarded automatically on 1 October 1987. Outturn figures for the cost of incentive allowances cannot be disaggregated from the total cost of teachers' pay.