HC Deb 19 July 2004 vol 424 cc98-9W
Alan Simpson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment he has made of the number of schools that will be able to fund the implementation of the School Workload Agreement in 2005–06 and 2006–07; [184660]

(2) what options head teachers can follow in order to release funds to implement the requirements of the schools remodelling agreement; [184658]

(3) what mechanisms are in place to ensure the successful implementation of the School Workforce Agreement in all schools for 2005—06; [184659]

(4) what assessment he has made of the impact of reductions in numbers of teachers and teaching assistants on the introduction of planning, preparation and assessment time for all teachers. [184661]

Mr. Miliband

I refer the hon. Member to the written statement I laid before the House on Tuesday 3 July on school funding for 2005–06,Official Report, column 55WS. On the same day there was also a press notice issued by the Department (DfES press notice 2004/0137) which included a statement welcoming the school funding settlement by the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (made up of the majority of the school workforce unions and other partners).

The written statement to the House sets out how we have considered, with our partner signatories, the costs of implementation of the National Agreement. It announces what funds will be available to schools to implement the Agreement in 2005–06.

From 2006 we will provide guaranteed three-year budgets for every school, which will give head teachers and governors unprecedented financial security and confidence, and the ability to plan for the future.

Practical advice and support is available to assist successful implementation at school level, from the national network of LEA remodelling advisers and from the National Remodelling Team—NRT (part of National College for School Leadership). The NRT website, www.remodelling.org, contains a range of strategies and models based on real school level case studies on managing in the changes and will include shortly, a toolkit and resources pack specifically on guaranteeing planning, preparation and assessment time for teachers.

In addition, from September, up to 10,000 schools will have access to workshops and conultancy as part of the second year of the Financial Management in Schools programme. This builds on the first year of this programme which saw thousands of schools benefit from the programme.

We will continue to monitor trends in the schools workforce through the Annual Schools Census each January. There are now 427,800 full-time equivalent teachers—28,600 more than in 1997 and the highest number since 1981—and the number of support staff has increased to 241,700, having more than doubled since 1997. These figures illustrate the trend of the significant increases in teachers and support staff since 1997. The next School Workforce Volume will be available in the autumn.