HC Deb 05 May 1993 vol 224 cc97-8W
Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will name the advertising agency handling the campaign to publicise the parents' guide, "How is Your Child doing at School?" and what is the fee for this account.

Mr. Forth

The advertising agency is GGK London Ltd. Information about the agency's handling fee is commercial in confidence.

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the estimated cost of the free phone line set up for parents to request copies of "How is Your Child Doing at School?".

Mr. Forth

The cost of setting up the free phone line is estimated at £3,500. The cost of operating the line will depend on the response rate.

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he placed the order for the parent's guide "How is Your Child Doing at School?"; and how many copies of the leaflet have been published in each of the 10 languages listed in the advertisement published on 27 April.

Mr. Forth

Proposals for a campaign to provide parents with information about testing, based on similar campaigns undertaken in the previous two years, formed part of the Department's publicity strategy approved by the Secretary of State in December last year. The number of copies being produced in each language is:

Number
English 3,000,000
Hindi 10,000
Bengali 10,000
Punjabi 10,000
Gujerati 10,000
Chinese 10,000
Greek 10,000
Turkish 10,000
Urdu 12,000
Vietnamese 7,500

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much it cost his Department to publish the parent's guide "How is Your Child Doing at School?" in each of the 10 languages listed in the advertisement published on 27 April.

Mr. Forth

The cost of producing the guide in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujerati, Chinese, Greek, Turkish and Vietnamese is estimated at £18,000 in total. It is not possible to allocate a cost for each individual translation. The cost of producing the version in English is estimated at £132,000.

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has for future DOE leaflets for parents.

Mr. Forth

During the current year, my right hon. Friend proposes to issue the following leaflets whose primary target audience is parents:

  • a revised version of the parents charter;
  • the 1993 comparative tables of schools' performance;
  • a leaflet about the assisted places scheme;
  • a leaflet, "Questions Parents Ask", about self-governing (GM) schools; and
  • a leaflet about GNVQs.