To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to reduce the amount of paperwork in schools as a result of the introduction of the national curriculum.

The Government have already acted to cut schools' paperwork. I recently announced that we had agreed with the National Curriculum Council and the School Examinations and Assessment Council to restrict the amount of non-essential guidance and other material sent to schools. We hope that other bodies, including LEAs' will follow our example.