HC Deb 28 January 1992 vol 202 c510W
28. Mr. Hardy

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what expenditure was incurred by his Department in providing and issuing printed material including binders concerned with the national curriculum and the assessment of children in 1990 and 1991; and what is his estimate of the amount which this involved per teacher in the state school system.

Mr. Eggar

Expenditure by the Department on printed material concerned with the national curriculum and assessment amounted to some £2.5 million in the financial year 1990–91 and some £1.3 million in the period April to December 1991, total of £3.8 million.

There are about 400,000 teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools in England. The cost of these documents works out at roughly £9 per teacher on average.

138. Mr. Steinberg

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has to ensure that local education authorities remain able to monitor the delivery of the national curriculum within the schools throughout their area.

Mr. Eggar

Under our proposals, local authorities will be sent full inspection reports every four years on every school they maintain. They will have annual information about assessment results across the national curriculum at four key ages. For the first time authorities will have reports and tables of information which apply national standards to their schools and show clearly what they are achieving.