House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Nov 1989


Net institutional expenditure<1> per              

pupil<2>-cash terms                               

Northumberland                                    

          |Primary  |Secondary|Special            

          |£        |£        |£                  

--------------------------------------------------

1978-79   |415      |575      |n.a.               

1979-80   |425      |580      |n.a.               

1980-81   |530      |710      |n.a.               

1981-82   |600      |770      |n.a.               

1982-83   |655      |845      |2,890              

1983-84   |690      |925      |3,315              

1984-85   |720      |1,000    |3,800              

1985-86   |755      |1,075    |4,325              

1986-87   |840      |1,230    |4,700              

1987-88   |945      |1,390    |5,570              

Separate figures are not available for tertiary   

education which forms part of maintained further  

education.                                        

<1> Net Institutional Expenditure includes the    

cost of salaries and wages, premises and certain  

supplies and services. It does not include the    

cost of school meals, central administration and  

inspection, debt charges or revenue contributions 

to capital outlay.                                

<2> The figures are bases on LEA expenditure      

returns to DoE and pupil number returns to DES.

School Teachers

Mr Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Education And Science what has been the number of teachers from Europe who have been appointed to schools in England and Wales during the last six months due to teacher shortages.

Mr. Alan Howarth : The information is not available in the form requested but a total of 249 teachers from EC countries were accorded qualified teacher status in the period 1 May to 31 October.

Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list all measures which have been taken since 1987 to increase the supply of school teachers ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Alan Howarth : The principal measures taken since 1987 to increase the supply of teachers are as follows :

1. Bursary schemes for trainee teachers in maths, physics, CDT and (from 1989) chemistry.

2. Support for new initiatives in higher education institutions and the Open university for new types of initial teacher training and conversion courses.

3. The setting up of the TASC (teacher as a career unit to promote career and improve recruitment practices among local education authorities and initial teacher training institutions.

4. The support of publicity and advertising campaigns organised by

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TASC.

5. The introduction of new routes to teaching, including the licensed teacher and the articled teacher schemes.

6. The provision of education support grant as pump-priming support for LEA's local initiatives to improve the recruitment of new teachers not currently in service.

7. The provision of taster courses about teaching as a career for mature people seeking a new career in teaching.

8. The provision of funding through LEA training grants scheme for retraining courses to increase the supply of teachers in shortage subjects.

We shall continue and intensify our efforts to meet the demands of schools in the 1990s.

Disabled Students Allowance

Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many local education authorities pay the disabled students allowance retrospectively.

Mr. Jackson : The disabled students allowance is available as part of the grant under the mandatory awards regulations for a student who, as a result of his disability, is obliged to incur extra expenditure (other than travel expenses which are provided for separately) in attending his course. It is for the local education authority to assess the amount it considers appropriate up to the ceiling specified in the regulations, and to decide how and when to make grant payments. In practice assessments are often likely to take account of expenditure already incurred, but the Department does not collect detailed information on authorities' procedures.

Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether his Department has carried out any research into the adequacy of the disabled students allowance for meeting the additional costs incurred by disabled students.

Mr. Jackson : I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave on 13 November to my right hon. Friend for Exeter Mr. Hannam.

Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether his Department has carried out any research into the possible effects of a loans system on disabled students and prospective students with disabilities.

Mr. Jackson : The top-up loans scheme is designed to provide an additional source of support for all students.

School Buildings, Derbyshire

Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he will announce his decision on the revised bid for capital spending on school buildings submitted by Derbyshire county council in connection with its post-primary reorganisation plans for the Chesterfield and north-east Derbyshire areas.

Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. Friend hopes to announce his decisions on the distribution of annual capital guidelines to LEAs before Christmas. Derbyshire county council's capital expenditure plans for 1990- 91 are currently under consideration and it is impossible to say what Derbyshire's annual capital guideline for education is likely to be. I should, however, point out that annual capital guidelines are unhypothecated and therefore it is for the individual authority to determine, in the light of local needs and circumstances, which projects it should undertake.

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Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many (a) oral and (b) written questions were asked of his Department in 1988-89.

Mrs. Rumbold : To date, the Department has received 742 oral and 1, 579 written questions.

Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many written parliamentary questions he refused to answer in the parliamentary Session 1988-89.

Mrs. Rumbold : It is the Department's policy to answer all written parliamentary questions tabled to my right hon. Friend, unless the information can be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Fisher : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what was the cost to his Department of answering parliamentary (a) oral and (b) written questions in the parliamentary Session 1988-89 ;

(2) how many written parliamentary questions to him in session 1988-89 received answers that the information (a) was not available, (b) was not separately recorded, (c) was not centrally recorded, (d) was not recorded in Government statistics or (e) could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Rumbold : The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate expense.

Teachers' Pay

58. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had with the interim advisory committee on teachers' pay ; and whether he will make a statement.

102. Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had with the interim advisory committee on teachers' pay ; and whether he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend has had no discussions with the IAC. Officials from the Department gave oral evidence to the committee on 9 November.

62. Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received on current procedure for the settlement of salaries and conditions for teachers ; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend is currently engaged in a series of meetings with the teacher unions and the employers at which a range of possibilities for new permanent pay determination arrangements is being discussed.

88. Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether his Department has had any correspondence with Cheshire county council concerning the pay of home tutors and supply teachers.

Mrs. Rumbold : No. Local education authorities have certain discretions under the school teachers' pay and conditions document 1989 to pay teachers on short-notice contracts at rates they consider appropriate in order to recruit and retain sufficient teachers of the right quality.

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92. Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make it his policy that the element within rate support grant for school teachers' pay within any new pay determination machinery be determined solely on the merits of the case for teachers' pay.

Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend is at present discussing with unions and employers what form the new pay determination machinery should take. The implications for annual local authority spending settlements will be considered during those discussions.

93. Mr. Geraint Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the progress of his plans to introduce a new teachers' pay negotiating body.

108. Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what in real terms, was headteachers' pay in 1979 and in the latest year for which figures are available.

Mrs. Rumbold : The average pay of a headteacher in April 1989 was £18,883 in the primary sector and £26,185 in the secondary sector. The equivalent figures for 1979 (in real terms) were £14,841 and £19, 875 respectively.

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Tuition Fees

Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what detailed arrangements he now proposes for implementing increased tuition fees in higher education in 1990-91.

Mr. MacGregor : We have already announced that the maximum tuition fee for most first degree and designated comparable courses in publicly- funded institutions which will be reimbursed through mandatory student awards will be £1,675 from September 1990. In order to ensure that public funds are not provided in advance of need, I have decided that this tuition fee should be paid in termly instalments rather than in a single annual payment as at present. The funding councils will also adjust the profile of their recurrent grant instalments to institutions so that the combined flow of fee and grant income more closely matches institutions' spending patterns during the year. The changes have been discussed with representatives of the local authorities and the institutions, and we shall now consult further about the detailed arrangements for the termly fee payments.

I have also considered what fee levels would be appropriate for reimbursement through mandatory awards for courses where a student spends at least a year away from an institution--for example students on thick sandwich courses or spending a year as foreign language assistants. In these cases, the costs to the institution are usually less during the year away than for the main part of the course. I have decided that the maximum fee reimbursed in such cases should be half the standard tuition fee.

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