§ Mr. Gerald BowdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has now considered the views expressed by the local authority employers, teacher unions and others on his proposals following the third report of the Interim Advisory Committee on School Teachers' Pay and Conditions.
§ Mr. MacGregorAfter careful consideration of the representations I have received I have decided to accept730W the recommendations contained in the third report of the Interim Advisory Committee on School Teachers' Pay and Conditions, but to stage their introduction over the period up to 1 January 1991 and to make some minor modifications.
I believe that the changes to be introduced will markedly increase the attractiveness of teaching as a profession and improve career prospects for good teachers. The introduction of range pay for heads and deputies, and of incremental enhancements and local scales for classroom teachers, will greatly improve the 731W scope for flexible local decision taking to meet local circumstances. The new discretionary £750 pay supplement for teachers in the inner London weighting area will help tackle the special problems in London.
Drafts of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document 1990, an order which will give effect to this document, and a circular to local education authorities and others are being sent to the relevant local authority associations, teacher unions and bodies representing the interests of the governors of voluntary schools and grant-maintained schools, inviting their comments by Thursday 26 April 1990.
The draft document incorporates the changes recommended by the IAC, subject to staging and to some modifications. These include the assimilation of deputy head teachers in existing school groups 6 and 9 one point higher on the new pay spine, and the addition of one extra spine point on the top of the normal range for deputy head teachers in new school groups 1, 2 and 3 and for head teachers in new school groups 1 and 2.