§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate he has made of the additional finance, manpower and other resources required for the introduction of the general certificate of secondary education.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe general criteria for the GCSE provide that syllabuses and methods of assessment should not make unreasonable demands on human or financial resources. The Government's expenditure plans should allow authorities to make appropriate provision for the GCSE provided that they take advantage of the scope for efficiency saving and contain their costs.
In initiating the special programme of in-service training for the introduction of the GCSE, the Government has recognised the resource implications for examining groups, LEAs and schools and has arranged to make a substantial contribution towards these costs: it is supporting £8 million expenditure on supplying cover for teachers attending training seminars; and is giving £1.5 million to the Secondary Examinations Council and the examining groups towards the cost of providing that training.