§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his answer of 17 March, Official Report, column 471, about computer usage in schools, what steps are taken by his Department to monitor the results of spending on computers in schools; how he measures the performance of different schools; and what recent representations he has received from Her Majesty's inspectors on this subject.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe Department undertook a survey in 1985 on the use of computers in schools and related expenditure, copies of which are in the Library. A further survey is planned for this autumn, and thereafter at biennial intervals. Whilst the Department has riot undertaken systematic performance measurements of individual schools in the field of information technology, reports by Her Majesty's inspectorate often include observations on this.
£000 Science Budget Grant-in-Aid 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 General (net of receipts) 1,357 1,373 1,471 1,440 Pensions (net of receipts) 154 85 104 177 Transfer of Centre for Cullure of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP) (net of receipts) — — — 338 Total Grant-in-Aid 1,511 1,458 1,575 1,955 The grant-in-aid from the science budget for 1987–88 has yet to be finally decided but it is expected to be about £1,508,000 made up as follows:
£000 Science Budget Grant-in-Aid General (net of receipts) 1,310 Pensions (net of receipts) 123 Transfer of CCAP (net of receipts) 75 Total Grant-in-Aid 1,508 The FBA council has recently made proposals to the NERC as to how the reduction in total income, arising largely from lower expected commissioned receipts, may be met. Representatives of the NERC and the FBA are to meet shortly to discuss these proposals.