HC Deb 19 June 1984 vol 62 cc105-6W
7. Mr. Nellist

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the gross percentage rise in teachers' salaries since May 1979.

Sir Keith Joseph

Teachers' pay settlements since May 1979 have resulted in a cumulative percentage increase of 61.6 per cent.

24. Mr. Barnett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about current negotiations over teachers' pay.

27. Mr. Colvin

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the present teachers' pay dispute.

30. Mr. Dormand

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the teachers' pay dispute.

32. Mr. Fatchett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will now take any steps to encourage a settlement in the current teachers' pay dispute.

44. Sir John Farr

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the current teachers' pay dispute.

Sir Keith Joseph

I refer the hon. Members to the answer which I gave earlier today to my hon. Friends the Members for Bromsgrove (Mr. Miller) and for Eastleigh (Sir David Price).

28. Mr. Cartwright

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will consider proposals to introduce a permanent structure for the independent assessment of teachers' pay, similar to the Review Body for Nursing and Midwifery Staff and Professions Allied to Medicine.

Sir Keith Joseph

I have seen no such proposals, nor do I have any of my own.

31. Mr. Greenway

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the talks aimed at the restructuring of teachers' pay and conditions of service.

Sir Keith Joseph

Discussions are continuing in the Burnham joint working party on the possible reform of the teachers' pay structure and associated conditions and contracts of service. A residential meeting was held in Plymouth on 3 to 5 June and it is proposed to hold a further meeting early in July. I remain interested in the ideas under discussion and see potential in them for raising the quality of teaching and so educational standards in the schools. But before the Government could back any proposed reform, they will need to be satisfied that rigorous arrangements for the teachers' assessment of performance would be introduced and applied across the whole school system.

35. Mr. Peter Bruinvels

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what effect the current teachers' dispute is having on children's examination prospects.

Sir Keith Joseph

I understand that the teachers' unions have undertaken to ensure that public examinations classes and the examinations themselves are excluded from the current industrial action. It is impossible at this stage to judge the extent to which candidates may have been adversely affected by indirect effects of the action such as the air of uncertainty generated by the dispute.