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National Strategies Field Force

Volume 495: debated on Tuesday 7 July 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2009, Official Report, column 996W, on schools: standards, how many field forces there are; what the remit of the National Strategies Field Force is; and what expenditure his Department incurred on each of the 10 largest field forces in the latest period for which figures are available. (283238)

We do not hold a definitive list of field forces focused on school standards. One of the principal field forces in this area is the national strategies, which has a wide remit for raising standards of achievement and rates of progression for children and young people in all phases of schools and early years settings. Its principal remit is to support both schools and local authorities to improve teaching and learning, and to develop strategies for whole school improvement. The cost of this field force is given within our answer of 24 June.

In our answer of 21 April we estimated a figure of around £90 milliom in 2008-09 to cover all field force advisers that work directly with LAs and Children's Trust partners. It is difficult to provide a precise breakdown of expenditure on each of these, since they are delivered through a range of mechanisms—some are directly contracted (so the cost of advisors is incorporated within a larger contract), some are located in Government Offices as secondees, and some are employed directly by DCSF or its NDPBs. However, based on the information available, our estimate of the largest (in terms of 2008-09 expenditure) 10 field forces working directly with LAs and Children's Trust partners are listed as follows:

National Strategies Regional and Local Advisers, £30 million

Partnership for Schools Employed and Contracted Advisers c£10 million

Sure Start Children's Centres Advisers, c£8 million

Extended Services Support Advisers, c£6 million

TDA Regional Advisers, c£5 million

Children's Services Advisers (in Government Offices), c£4 million

Together for Disabled Children, advising on short-breaks and parent forums for disabled children and their families, c£3 million

14-19 Regional Field Workers, c£3 million

Academies Advisers, c£2 million

14-19 Regional Advisers c£2 million

Further information on the role of every field force is set out in the National Prospectus for Children's Services Improvement Support, a copy of which will be available in both Libraries.