§ Mr. George Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the present membership of the Scottish Examination Board; what are their terms of office; how many members of the board he directly appoints; and what is the professional background of those members.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe present membership of the board is listed in the board's annual report for 1984 a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. The list indicates the professional backgrounds of the chairman and the 37 members who are all appointed by the Secretary of State, 32 of them on the nomination of bodies regarded as representing certain educational interests, as specified in the Scottish Examination Board regulations 1981 (SI 1981/1562). The chairman and board members are appointed for a four-year term of office and they are unpaid.
§ Mr. George Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff are employed by the Scottish Examination Board; what are the comparable figures for the last six years; and how many part-time examiners have been employed over that period.
§ Mr. Allan StewartTable 1 gives the number of members of central examining teams and the number of visiting examiners employed by the board in the years from 1980–the earliest year for which figures are readily available—to 1985:
TABLE 1 Year Total number of presentations Members of SEB central examining teams Visiting examiners 1985 614,317 432 *673 1984 631,734 447 832 1983 652,195 428 833 1982 657,412 422 769 1981 637,493 425 719 1980 613,822 415 621 * The drop from 1984 is explained by the withdrawal of a number of visiting examiners particularly in CSYS biology and chemistry and ordinary grade home economics (food and nutrition). In home economics the remaining examiners covered all presenting centres by undertaking more visits each. In CSYS biology and chemistry, the face-to-face interviews with the candidates on their projects were made optional. Table 2 gives the Board's staffing figures for 1985 in numbers of employees and full-time equivalents (ie employee years). Comparable information for 1983 and 1984 appears on page 37 if the board's annual report for 1984 and for 1981 and 1982 on page 32 of the board's annual report for 1982. Copies of both reports are in the House of Commons Library. Figures for earlier years are not available.
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TABLE 2 1985 Number employed Full-time equivalent Permanent Staff: Full-time 109 109 Part-time 2 1 Part-time cleaning 22 7 Seasonal staff: Full-time 255 94 Part-time 298 19 TOTAL 686 230
§ Mr. George Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions in the last 12 months he has met the chairman and director of Scottish Examination Board.
§ Mr. Allan StewartMy right hon. Friend has not himself met the chairman and director of the Scottish Examination Board over the last 12 months but I have done so on two occasions, once on 7 February 1985 and once on 20 September.