§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what research his Department has carried out on the correlation between expenditure on educational equipment for use in schools and standards achieved in schools.
§ Mr. DunnThe Department has not undertaken research into the association between expenditure on 19W school equipment and school standards. Spending on equipment and books together is under 4 per cent. of recurrent expenditure on schools. The Department has, however, examined the relationship between per capita spending on secondary schools by local education authorities and school standards as measured by successes in public examinations. The results of this study have been published in the Departments' Statistical Bulletin 16/83. They show that examination results are strongly associated with the social background of the pupils. The total level of expenditure (of which spending on equipment is a small part) on the other hand was generally found not to be statistically significant.