Written question asked by Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 8 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 March 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Schools: Standards

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department has taken to reduce the (a) administrative burden on teachers and (b) number of national performance standards for schools in the last 12 months.

Answer: The Department works closely with the Implementation Review Unit (IRU), an independent group of front-line practitioners, to ensure that the bureaucratic and work load implications of both new and existing policies are kept under review, and to a minimum. Most recently, the IRU have been remitted to conduct a review of obstacles to effective delivery of government policies which is due to report late spring. We have also made a number of commitments to the Merits Committee and are managing better the impact of new policies on schools.In answer to the second part of the question, since the removal of the key stage 3 national tests the national performance standards for schools have remained constant in the last 12 months.

Secondary information