§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the number of schools holding opt-out ballots, the number of yes votes and the total percentage of parents voting yes and total percentage voting no in(a) October 1993, (b) November 1993, (c) December 1993, (d) February 1994, (e) March 1994 and (f) April 1994.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information requested is set out in the following table:
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what were the criteria set by his Department for placing advertisements in national newspapers to promote the availability of information on grant-maintained status; and what was the estimated readership of the advertisements.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe advertising campaign was designed to alert schools, governors and parents to the availability of factual information on grant-maintained status. It was timed to coincide with the introduction of the new statutory requirement that the governing bodies of schools should consider each year whether to ballot parents on applying for grant-maintained status. The newspapers where advertisements were placed were chosen because they enjoy a high level of readership among those likely to have an active interest in education.
It is not possible to estimate the readership of the advertisements themselves. However, the official Audit Bureau of Circulation estimated daily readership figures for the titles used during the campaign as follows:
315W
Number Guardian 1,457,000 Independent 1,148,000 Mail on Sunday 5,999,000 Observer 1,619,000 Radio Times 5,433,000 Sunday Times 3,538,000 Times Educational Supplement 530,000