asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether he will take steps to ensure that proper conditions of service for teachers are negotiated at the same time, and in the same form, as are their salaries;(2) if he will seek to ensure that the salaries of teachers are more clearly related to the duties they perform and should take into account their contractural responsibilities, including any for taking on extra work in emergency situations such as the absence of other official members of staff.

The remuneration of school teachers is decided in the Burnham committee established under the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965. Conditions of service are the responsibility of the local education authorities who are the actual employers of teachers. There must, of course, be a very close relation between what people are paid and what they do for that pay and discussions are proceeding on how present negotiating arrangements might be improved. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State has expressed his belief that it would be to the benefit of teachers, their employers and the children in our schools if there were a rather more precise definition of a teacher's rights and responsibilities. We hope that the negotiations on conditions of service which have been proceeding between the Council of Local Education Authorities and teacher associations will be successful.