HC Deb 11 May 1995 vol 259 cc597-9W
Mr. Pope

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what are the production and distribution costs of her Department's recent leaflet "National School Tests in 1995—a Parent's Guide"; and what is the circulation of the leaflet other than for schools. [22704]

Mr. Forth

The cost of producing 9 million copies of the leaflet "National School Tests in 1995—a Parent's Guide" is £140,000. In addition to schools, distribution routes included post offices and inserts in television listings magazines. Copies were also sent to a database of parents who have asked to receive our material, and will shortly be distributed through a number of retail outlets. In all, over 6 million copies will be in circulation, in addition to the 2.3 million copies requested by schools. The total distribution cost is estimated at some £273,000.

Mr. Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what has been the total cost of(a) establishing and (b) administering the GM publications centre. [22791]

Mr. Robin Squire

The GM publications centre was established in January 1994. The costs to date are as follows:

Establishment £ Administration £
1993–94 6,000 28,000
1994–95 — 124,000

The administration costs include handling the freephone requests and publications dispatch costs but do not include call charges.

Mr. Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what has been the cost for 1994–95 for the publication and distribution of(a) "How to Become a Grant Maintained School", 1995 edition, (b) "Going Grant Maintained: A Brief Guide", (c) "Questions Parents Ask", (d) "Questions Staff Ask", (e) "Questions Governors Ask", (f) "Funding Worksheet 1995–96", (g) "Nursery Factsheet", (h) "Experiences of Primary Schools", (i) "Experiences of Secondary Schools", (j) "Experiences of Former Voluntary Schools", (k) "Our Children, Our Choice" and (1) "Going Grant Maintained with other schools: Grant Maintained clusters; and how many responses has she had to each of these publications (i) in total and (ii) from Nottinghamshire schools. [22782]

Mr. Robin Squire

The information requested is as follows:

Approximate publication cost 1994–95 £ Responses September 1994—March 1995
(a)"How to Become a GM School, 1995 edition 24,000 —
(b)"Going Grant-Maintained: A Brief Guide" 6,000 —
(c)"Questions Parents Ask" 0 568
(d) "Questions Staff Ask" 7,600 483
(e) "Questions Governors Ask" 16,200 477
(0 "Funding Worksheet 1995–96" 11,500 —
(g) "Nursery Factsheet" 0 234
(h) "Experiences of Primary Schools" 55,000 496
(i) "Experiences of Secondary Schools" 55,000 357
(j) "Experiences of Former Voluntary Schools" 55,000 248
(k) "Our Children, Our Choice" 46,000 328
(1) "Going Grant-Maintained with Other Schools: GM Clusters" 12,500 285

Notes: 1. The above costs do not necessarily represent the full production and printing costs for these publications, but only those which were incurred during the 1994–95 financial year.

2. The total distribution cost for publications by the DFE GM publications centre in 1994–95 was some £124,000.

3. The Department does not keep records of how many people it is contacted by as a result of seeing these publications. The table shows how many orders for one or more copies of each publication were placed with the GM publications centre between September 1994 and March 1995 inclusive. Data on such inquiries were not collated before that time and are therefore not readily available.

4. It is not possible to specify how many orders were destined for Nottinghamshire schools.

5. Although costs were incurred in 1994–95 on the production of items (a), (b) and (f), these were not available for distribution to schools until the current financial year.

Mr. Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total cost of the publication and distribution of the letters and information concerning the annual consideration of grant-maintained status; and what was the specific cost of the packaging in which the information was sent. [22789]

Mr. Robin Squire

Final figures are not yet available, but the estimated total cost of producing and distributing these letters concerning the annual consideration of grant-maintained status, including the enclosed publications, is some £50,000. The cost of packaging was £3,000—some 12p per item. The letter and enclosures were sent to all chairmen of governors and chief education officers in England. Copies of the letter without the publications were sent to head teachers.