§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received supporting the extension of the work of classroom assistants into some aspects of teaching; who was consulted before the proposal was announced; and how many representations(a) for and (b) against he has received. [77678]
§ Mr. MilibandA working party involving representatives of teachers and support staff, local government employers and other government bodies has met monthly over the past year and has had extensive discussions about the proposed extension of roles and responsibilities of teaching assistants and other support staff. These discussions led to the development of a consultation paper, "Developing the Roles of School Support Staff", which was published on 22 October 2002. An analysis of responses to the consultation will be produced after the response deadline of 22 January 2003.
714W