§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what orders his Department has made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 in each year since 1994; and what plans it has to introduce such orders. [106088]
§ Mr. Wills[holding answer 20 January 2000]: The Department has made two orders under this Act:
The Contracting Out (Administration of the Teachers Superannuation Scheme) Order 1996 (SI 1996/178) enabled the Secretary of State to authorise another person, or that person's employees, to carry out functions regarding the teachers' superannuation scheme and the payment generally of pensions, allowances and gratuities to or in respect of teachers.
The Deregulation (Provision of School Action Plans) Order 1997 (SI 1997/1142) amended sections 17 and 21 of the School Inspections Act 1996 so as to reduce a burden on the appropriate authority for a school to take reasonably practicable steps to secure that every parent of a pupil at the school receives a copy of the authority's statement of action following an inspection of the school under that Act.
We will continue to look for opportunities to use such orders to remove legislation where we can.