§ David TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the pay rates are for teaching assistants in Leicestershire; [132483]
(2) what training opportunities exist for teaching assistants in Leicestershire; [132484]
440W
§ Margaret HodgeThe available information for the three Sure Start local programmes in the Birkenhead area is shown in the following tables. These programmes were approved at different times—Birkenhead North in August 2000, Ferries in January 2002 and Birkenhead Central in January 2003. Information is drawn from the local programmes' delivery 9 plans and Sure Start Unit's finance and performance monitoring IT system. N/A denotes not applicable where year shown is before a programme's inception.
Table 1—Research Research Spend (£) Sure Start local programme 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 Birkenhead North nil 21,145 18,545 nil to date Ferries n/a nil 250 nil to date Birkenhead Central n/a n/a 5,803 nil to date Note:
Programmes are advised to spend around 5 per cent. of their Revenue allocation on research. There are no set amounts allocated.
(3) what assessment he has made of the job content for a teaching assistant in Leicestershire. [132485]
§ Mr. MilibandPay, contractual arrangements and job descriptions are matters for local determination:the Government believe that this is the best way of ensuring a flexible system that can respond to local needs and circumstances. Many local authorities, including Leicestershire, have reviewed support staff pay and undertaken job evaluations in the light of the agreement—commonly known as the Single Status Agreement—made in 1997 by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. I understand that that National Joint Council is in the process of issuing guidance about the grading of school support staff.
The Standards Fund for 2003–04 contains a grant of £37.45 million for the training and development of support staff and Leicestershire's share of this is £424,542. Responsibility for deciding how to devolve the funding to schools rests with LEAs. The grant can be used for those participating in induction training programme for teaching assistants, developed by my 441W Department, as well as for the professional development of more experienced teaching assistants including course fees for training leading to National Vocational Qualifications. Schools have always been able to use their own budgets to fund teaching assistant training and to 'buy in' or pay for any training available locally.
The National Agreement on raising standards and tackling workload signed on 15 January 2003 by the Government, local authority employers and school work force unions will improve training and career progression opportunities for support staff and makes clear that we expect their pay to reflect their level of training, skills and responsibilities. Following the Agreement, the Teacher Training Agency has published standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants and training and assessment for these standards will be rolled out from April 2004.