§ Mrs. Clwydasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the teachers' pay dispute.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe teachers' panel of the Burnham committee met on 5 December and resolved to seek an early resumption of negotiations. The management panel is to meet today. The Government will continue to work for a settlement of this damaging and unnecessary dispute of a kind which would secure progress towards its objectives for better schools.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to ensure that the latest offer to teachers is made known to school governors and to individual teachers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe offer made by the management panel on 12 September, and constructed on the Government's conditional willingness to see an extra £1,250 million spent on teachers' pay in the four years 1986–87 to 1989–90, was rejected by the unions after just 20 minutes. That offer is no longer on the table, although the Government's conditional offer of additional resources still stands. The holder of my office does not employ the teachers and I was not in a position to write to them direct about the 12 September offer. However, it is my judgment that most teachers did learn about the content of the offer through their unions, their employers or the educational press.