Written question asked by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Thursday, 24 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 March 2005. It was answered by Stephen Twigg (Labour) on Monday, 7 March 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the cost was to her Department of (a) the 2003 PISA survey and (b) the 2003 TIMSS survey. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was to her Department of (a) the 2003 PISA survey and (b) the 2003 TIMSS survey. [219319] Mr. Stephen Twigg: The release of information related to contract costs for PISA and TIMSS would prejudice commercial interests during the current procurement exercises for PISA 2006 and TIMSS 2007. I am therefore withholding this information until contracts for both of these studies are in place. This is envisaged to be the end of April 2005 for PISA 2006 and the end of the current calendar year for TIMSS 2007, at which time the information can be disclosed. However, the participation costs between 2002 and 2005 payable to the international co-ordinating bodies, OECD in the case of PISA and IEA in the case of TIMSS, were: £372,755.18 for PISA; £114,214.56 for TIMSS.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 219319; 431 c1532W;431 c1526W
Session: 2004-05
Subjects: Costs Education Science Surveys Mathematics Programme for International Student Assessment
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk