§ Mr. Allan StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the outcome of his Department's review of staffing standards in Scottish schools will be available; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythA review of the staffing needs of secondary, primary and special schools has been completed and I shall be issuing today for consultation new guidance on staffing standards based on its outcome. This will replace existing standards, which date from the mid-1970s. The new standards are based on existing and immediately foreseeable demands on teachers' time. They reflect the weight of classroom duties, but also take into account the need for specialist teachers, management time required to service school boards and for other purposes, and the importance of adequate provision for small primary schools and for pupils from eithnic minorities and from deprived backgrounds. They should also give authorities and head teachers more flexibility in the disposition of their staff resources than hitherto.
The standards offer a framework for the staff complements needed to implement current educational policies, and they are commended as an indicative guide to staffing levels. I shall be monitoring the effect of their application on schools from 1989–90, and as changes occur in the running of schools, for example, through the progressive delegation of financial and managerial responsibility to school level, I shall be ready to review the form of guidance on staffing for the longer term.
Application of the revised standards would have increased by about 2,700 the teacher numbers taken directly into account within the RSG settlement covering 1988–89. Financial provision for education within this year's settlement included an unallocated margin pending completion of the review of staffing standards. The new standards will be used as the basis of provision for the cost of teachers' salaries within the revenue support grant settlement for 1989–90.