HC Deb 24 October 2002 vol 391 cc471-2W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what has been the total cost in each of the last four years of the performance related pay scheme for teachers, broken down by(a) administration costs, (b) payments to teachers and (c) other costs; how many of those who applied received the additional payments; and if she will make a statement. [75260]

Mr. Miliband

Teachers have been receiving performance threshold increases since September 2000. Over £245 million in threshold grant payments were paid to local authorities in the 2000–01 financial year, over £436 million in 2001–02, and to date over £279 million in the current financial year.

The Department has a contract with Cambridge Education Associates (CEA) for the provision and deployment of threshold assessors and external advisers to governing bodies on heads' performance. We also have a contract with Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) for training in threshold assessment and performance management. The value of these contracts depends on the volume and quality of activity. Since January 2000 total CEA contract costs have been around £47 million and CfBT costs around £13 million.

Not all teachers who were eligible to apply did so. Over 200,000 teachers in England applied to cross the performance threshold in the first round and over 31,000 in the second round. Of these, nearly 224,000 were assessed as meeting the threshold standards. This is something of which the profession can be proud.