§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many(a) consultation documents, (b) regulations, (c) revised and corrected regulations, (d) guidance notes. (e) requests for statistical information and (f) letters from Ministers have been sent to (i) schools and (ii) local education authorities by his Department in each year from 1997–98 to 2003–04; what the cost to the Department was in each case; and how many required a response from (A) a local education authority, (B) a school and (C) a member of staff. [175918]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 25 May 2004]: We strictly monitor and gate-keep the information that we automatically send to schools. However, we do not have the information segmented in the way requested.
The academic year 2002/03 saw a 50 per cent. reduction on the number of documents sent to all schools compared with the previous 2001/02 year. We will be reporting on the current academic year shortly.
1826WGoing forward, we have successfully piloted an on-line ordering system that will enable schools to choose what information they want from the Department and when. This will put schools in control of what they receive.