Written question asked by Tony Cunningham (Labour) on Monday, 2 December 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 December 2002. It was answered by David Miliband (Labour) on Monday, 16 December 2002 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 plans he has to harmonise pay scales between teachers in schools and further education colleges.

Answer: Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to harmonise pay scales between teachers in schools and further education colleges. [85463] Mr. Miliband: Unlike schools, colleges in the further education (FE) sector are independent corporations with their own pay arrangements. Colleges agree annual pay rises and conditions of employment with their staff in the context of local priorities and the overall resources available to them. Pay arrangements in the sector are diverse, reflecting colleges' local flexibility. Government have no plans to change this arrangement. On 19 November the Secretary of State announced that the total funding for FE is set to rise by £1.2 billion between 2002-03 and 2005-06, a real terms increase of 19 per cent. From next year, colleges which have demonstrated their effectiveness will have three year funding deals allowing them to plan on a longer-term basis, with increases linked to performance. We will also consolidate the funds provided for the Teaching Pay Initiative into core funding. These measures should enable colleges to address structural pay issues and to use the additional resources to narrow substantially the pay gap with schools by 2005-06.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 396 c559W;396 c575W; 85463
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Conditions of employment Finance Further education Pay Schools Teachers Pay differentials Pay comparability
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk