HC Deb 21 January 2003 vol 398 cc249-50W
Jim Dowd

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the progress of the tender for electronic registration systems in secondary schools. [91149]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

[holding answer 16 January 2003]The £11.25 million Capital Modernisation Funding project to provide electronic registration systems in over 500 secondary schools with high truancy rates is a key initiative in the continuing drive to tackle truancy. There is no tender involved as schools are allocated funding through the Standards Fund and are free to contract with any suitable supplier.

Since the first round of funding was released last May, schools have been working together with local education authorities to purchase and implement suitable systems in schools subject to the approval of the Department for Education and Skills. Currently a third of the targeted schools have had their proposals to implement systems agreed and we expect the remainder to be approved by August.