§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the scheme for school achievement awards was devised; and what consultation took place before its introduction. [3004]
§ Mr. TimmsDetails of the scheme were first published in the Green Paper "Teachers, meeting the challenge of change" in December 1999.
We consulted relevant national bodies about the design of the School Achievement Awards Scheme in May—June 2000. We confirmed the scheme design in September.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the criteria for the allocation of school achievement awards were announced; and if he will publish them. [3005]
§ Mr. TimmsDetails of the scheme were first published in the Green Paper "Teachers, meeting the challenge of change" in December 1999. Details of the scheme were published in a DfES leaflet (DfEE/0159/2000) issued September 2000 and can also be found on the scheme website at www.dfes.gov.uk/teachingreforms/rewards/schoolachieve. The criteria are now being reviewed for the next round.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools received school achievement awards; and for what reasons schools received two separate allocations under the school achievement awards scheme. [3006]
§ Mr. TimmsThe names of the award-winning schools were announced on 15 March. About 7,000 schools have won awards, equivalent to 30 per cent. of maintained schools in England. A full list of the award winning schools was posted to the House of Commons Library at the time of the announcement.
The Department had always planned to check the value of every award before paying the money to schools. In some cases we found that schools would be getting less than they should, so we topped up their awards to the correct level. This means that every award-winning school will either receive the amount it was initially told it would receive or a larger amount. The figures placed in the House of Commons Library reflect these recalculations.