§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the unit cost is of collecting General Teaching Council registration fees by(a) compulsory deduction and (b) voluntary payments. [88887]
§ Mr. MilibandI am informed by the General Teaching Council that it estimates the direct cost to the Council of collecting the registration fee for 2002–03 through voluntary payments from 153,000 teachers to be £90,000. The direct cost incurred by the Council in respect of a further 227,000 teachers whose fee was deducted from salary is estimated to be £166,000. The Council expects administrative costs to reduce next year as fee collection processes bed down.