HC Deb 16 May 1986 vol 97 cc563-4W
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has had

£ per annum
Scale 1 Scale 2 Scale 3 Scale 4 Senior teacher Deputy head* Head teacher
(i) 1 April 1979
Minimum 3,231 3,714 4,590 5,463 5,838 4,041 5,637
Maximum 5,082‡ 5,652‡ 6,495 7,218 7,722 9,462 12,585
(ii) 1 April 1979 at 1 April 1986 prices (adjusted by the RPI)
Minimum 5,822 6,693 8,271 9,845 10,520 7,282 10,158
Maximum 9,158 10,185 11,704 13,007 13,915 17,051 22,679
(iii) 1 April 1986

from local education authorities and from teachers' unions about the need to provide extra funds to purchase books for this autumn for the new general certificate of secondary education courses.

Mr. Dunn

My right hon. Friend discussed the costs of, and planning for, the GCSE with the local authority associations on 30 April and has held meetings with the NUT and the NAHT. My right hon. Friend has indicated that he stands ready to meet all the teachers' associations to discuss these issues. Meetings will be held shortly with the PAT and the NAS/UWT. In addition, since the beginning of this year my right hon. Friend has received letters from 12 local education authorities which refer to the provision of additional resources for books.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimates he has of the cost per pupil for local education authorities of providing new books for the general certificate of secondary education courses this autumn: how much extra he has allocated per pupil for this purpose; and if he will now make extra funds available.

Mr. Dunn

It is not possible to estimate precisely, for each local education authority, the cost of providing new books for the GCSE. Demand will vary from school to school in the light of existing stocks and the individual GCSE syllabus in each subject which teachers have chosen to follow. The Department is discussing these and other matters connected with the introduction of the GCSE with the teachers' associations. These discussions will be taken into account in our consideration with the local authority associations of local authority expenditure on education generally and including the GCSE. Under the education support grant programme, as announced by my right hon. Friend on 12 May at columns 325–28, we propose to devote £20 million to the provision of books and equipment for the GCSE as a contribution to local authority expenditure in this area. This would amount to an average of £5,000 per secondary school over two years.