HC Deb 26 April 2004 vol 420 cc809-10W
Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional resources will be made available to non-Pathfinder schools after 2005–06 to provide for additional staff to meet the requirement of the workload agreement. [167000]

Mr. Miliband

[holding answer 22 April 2004]: Our approach in 2004–05 has been to ensure a rigorous analysis of average cost pressures and a guaranteed minimum level of per pupil increase that gives schools headroom above those cost pressures. The details of our approach for 2005–06 will be announced later this summer. The level of resources in school budgets after 2005–06 will be announced in due course and will take account of the spending settlement for the Department for 2006–07 to 2007–08.

However, workforce reform cannot simply be about the use of additional resources. Schools need to consider how they make best use of their existing resources, for example, by extending the role of support staff, maximising the impact of ICT and reducing reliance on expensive short term supply teachers.