HC Deb 01 July 1994 vol 245 cc745-6W
Mr. Hain

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish a table outlining the costs of implementing the national curriculum; what are the costs so far of the current review procedure; and what is the forecast cost of the national curriculum subjects to be implemented in September 1995.

Mr. Robin Squire

The main elements of direct Government expenditure since 1988 on developing and implementing the national curriculum in England are as follows (in £ million):

1988–94 (outturn) 1994–95 (estimate)
Grants for Education, Support and Training (GEST): 457 93
Government grants to:
National Curriculum Council: 37 —
School Examinations and Assessment Council: 66 —
School Curriculum and Assessment Authority: 21 32
Direct expenditure by the Department for Education: 29 8
Totals 611 133

Notes:

1. GEST is mainly in respect of books, equipment, training and assessment related to the basic curriculum as a whole (that is the National Curriculum, including information technology plus religious education and sex education).

2. Grants to the NCC and SEAC cover the period from 15 August 1988 to 31 December 1993. The grant to SEAC includes some elements attributable to Wales.

3. Grants to SCAA cover the period from 1 October 1993 to 31 March 1995. The grant in 1993–94 includes some elements attributable to Wales.

4. Direct expenditure by the DFE excludes staff costs and grants to the NCC, SEAC and SCAA.

The cost of the review of the national curriculum in England is estimated at £9.3 million. This includes:

  1. (i) £755,000 for the interim and final Dearing reports on the national curriculum,
  2. (ii) £528,000 for work on slimming down the curriculum by SCAA and its advisory groups (excluding SCAA internal staff costs),
  3. (iii) an estimated £2 million for the current consultation on the revised curriculum proposals (including the cost of publishing and distributing the consultation documents and a report on the outcome of consultation), and
  4. (iv) an estimated £6 million for the publication and distribution of the final subject documents in January 1995 (excluding staff costs).

These estimates are subsumed within the expenditure figures for NCC, SCAA and DFE above.