HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 cc742-3W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many advanced skills teachers there are. [36607]

Mr. Timms

There are 1,234 Advanced Skills Teachers. This figure is based on the annual 618g survey (January 2001) and all those successfully assessed since then up to 13 February 2002.

Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding is being made available to enable schools to recruit advanced skills teachers. [36606]

Mr. Timms

Funding for Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) posts is available to maintained schools through the Standards Fund. In the current financial year, £40,391,000 is available to enable schools to recruit ASTs, and in 2002–03 this figure will rise to £56,658,850. This total Standards Fund AST grant includes contributions from local education authorities (LEAs) as well as DfES.

Schools are able to claim the additional cost of placing an AST at an appropriate point on the AST pay spine and a fixed amount towards the cost of outreach work. In addition, the grant includes funding for each LEA to use for the co-ordination of AST outreach work and to support and develop its cadre of ASTs.

While specific allocations for ASTs have been made available to LEAs, the Standards Fund does allow some virement between grants.