§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by date the circular documents which have been sent by his Department to(a) local education authorities, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools since 1 May 1997; and how many pages each document contained. [148352]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 2 February 2001]: Our monthly batched mailings to schools clearly distinguish between documents requiring action and those for guidance and information. Since May 1997 schools have had an average of one action document a fortnight during term time from DFEE. Many of these related to literacy and numeracy, teachers pay or funding improvements. Most items sent are for information only.
Since September 2000, we have sent less automatically to schools. Of the 47 documents sent to all primary schools since September 2000 only 11 required action. The main documents of substance were the guide to improve grammar teaching and the autumn package of benchmarking data on pupil performance.
The position for secondary schools was similar. Of the 48 documents sent since September 2000 only 11 required action. The main document of substance was the autumn package of benchmarking data on pupil performance.
The table shows for each school how many documents we sent to all primary or all secondary schools. Many documents went to both types of school and are counted in each list. The full list of titles is in the Library.
22 March 2000, Official Report, column 571W, gave the number of mailings prior to this date. Page lengths of mailings to LEAs are not recorded centrally.