§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 8 February 1999,Official Report, column 107, if he will set out the 317W budget for Ofsted for the financial years (a) 1997–98 and (b) 1998–99, calculated on the same basis as the figures contained in his answer. [75488]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 8 March 1999]: Total provision for Ofsted in the financial year 1998–99 is £110.3 million and total expenditure for 1997–98 was £151 million. The reduction in 1998–99 results principally from the change, announced by the previous Government and confirmed in July 1997 in the "Excellence in schools" White Paper, from a four-year cycle of school inspections to a differentiated approach in which schools will be inspected at least every six years but more frequently where weaknesses are apparent, and from lower than expected contract prices for inspections.