HC Deb 05 July 1995 vol 263 cc239-40W
Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside, (Mr. Blunkett) of 12 June,Official Report, column 417, if she will list separately for each inner, outer, and fringe London education authority and value per teacher of the London cost weighting allowance and the value of other incentives. [31978]

Mr Robin Squire

A teacher serving in the London area shall receive a London area allowance of:

  • £1,950 per annum if he is serving in the inner-London area;
  • £1,281 per annum if he is serving in the outer-London area; or
  • £498 per annum if he is serving in the fringe area.

The inner-London area means: Camden, City of London, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hackney, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster and the areas of the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Haringey, Merton and Newham;

The outer-London area means: Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Enfield, Harrow, Havering, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Kingston, Redbridge, Richmond, Sutton, Waltham Forest;

The fringe area means:

  • in Berkshire: the district of Bracknell, Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead;
  • in Buckinghamshire: the Districts of South Buckinghamshire and Chiltern;
  • in Essex: the districts of Basildon, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow and Thurrock;
  • in Hertfordshire: the districts of Broxbourne, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, Hertsmere, St. Albans, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield;
  • in Kent: the districts of Dartford and Sevenoaks;
  • in Surrey: the whole county; and
  • in West Sussex: the district of Crawley;

A governing body may also award up to two points on the classroom teachers' pay spine, or three in inner London, to a teacher who is employed "to teach subjects in which there is a shortage of teachers" or "in a post which is difficult to fill". It is for the governing body to judge whether any teacher meets either of these criteria and, if so, whether to award one or more points. The value of points on the spine varies.

Mr. Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Education which inner, outer, and fringe London education authorities, in compensating teachers for working in London, pay the inner-London supplement; and, which award extra points on the national wage scale for teachers' salaries. [31950]

Mr. Squire

New awards of the inner-London supplement—the discretionary additional supplement of £822 for teachers serving in the inner-London area—were discontinued from 1 September 1993 for classroom teachers and from 1 September 1994 for head teachers and deputies.

Teachers in receipt of the supplement have a continuing entitlement to it for as long as they remain in the same post and provided they have not been awarded an extra point or points that overtake their current salary including the supplement.

It is at the discretion of relevant bodies to decide whether to award an additional point or points. The relevant body in most cases is the governing body of a school with a delegated budget or a grant-maintained school. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of those governing bodies that have awarded such additional points.