§ Laura MoffattTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools have won school achievement awards; and if he will make a statement. [156759]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisAbout 7,000 schools have won Achievement Awards worth about £5,000 for a typical primary school and about £25,000 for a typical secondary school. These will enable schools to pay bonuses to staff teams.
About 5,000 of these schools have been awarded improvement awards. There have been some amendments to the original list of improvement awards because of a statistical error in the calculation of the 1997 average point score for Key Stage 2 tests. The final lists have been placed in the Library. The lists also update answers previously given to the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) about School Achievement Awards on 20 March 2001, Official Report, columns 160W, 165W and 168W, and provide rankings of improvement award winners by the differences between their average point scores in 1997 and 2000. Schools that had improved, but with the statistical change would not have merited an improvement award, will not lose financially as a result of these changes.