Mr Major’s Written Question on the Burnham Committee – 21 April 1980

Below is the text of Mr Major’s Parliamentary written question on the Burnham Committee, published on 21st April 1980.

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Mr. Major Asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the present composition and responsibilities of the Burnham committee; when those were determined; whether he considers them to be satisfactory; and when these matters will next be reviewed.

Dr. Boyson The composition of the Burnham primary and secondary committee is as follows.

Committee Type | Number of Representatives

Management Panel

Association of County Councils | 13

Association of Metropolitan Authorities | 10

Welsh Joint Education Committee | 2

Department of Education and Science | 2

Teachers’ Panel

National Union of Teachers | 16

National Association of School-masters/Union of Women Teachers | 6

Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association | 4

National Association of Head Teachers | 2

Secondary Heads Association | 1

National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education | 1

The last determination of the composition of this committee was made on 1 March 1979, together with an order, Statutory Instrument 1979 No. 339, dated 21 March 1979.

The responsibility of this committee, last amended by a direction dated 18 May 1978, is that it should consider the remuneration payable to teachers in primary and secondary schools maintained by local education authorities and other persons employed by local education authorities as teachers in the provision of primary and secondary education, but not including teachers in an establishment maintained by a local authority in the exercise of a social service function.

The composition of the Burnham further education committee is as follows.

Committee Type | Number of Representatives

Management Panel

Association of County Councils | 8

Association of Metropolitan Authorities | 6

Welsh Joint Education Committee | 1

Department of Education and Science | 2

Teachers’ Panel

National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education | 12

Association of Principals of Colleges | 2

National Society for Art Education | 1

Association of Agricultural Education Staff | 1

The last determination of the composition of the committee was made on 17 February 1976.

The function of this committee, last amended on 17 February 1976, is to consider the remuneration payable to teachers in all establishments of further education – within the meaning of the Further Education Regulations 1975 – maintained by local education authorities and to other further education teachers on the staff of such authorities, except teachers seconded to bodies which reimburse the employing authorities the amount of their salaries.

The scope for revision of the machinery for reviewing the remuneration of teachers, covered at present by the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965, is under discussion between the Department and the local authorities’ associations.

Apart from that particular review, reviews are being undertaken of the appropriate composition of the teachers’ panels of the two Burnham committees, with the aim of introducing any necessary amendment in time for any resumption of pay negotiations from the start of the academic year 1980-81.