Cost of national curriculum

The Department for Education has spent pounds 469m since 1988 on the national curriculum and testing, Robin Squire, Under-Secretary of State for Education, told Ann Taylor, Labour's education spokeswoman, in a parliamentary written reply yesterday. Mrs Taylor said that together with the pounds 35m spent on tests boycotted by teachers last year, more than pounds 500m had been spent on a curriculum which was being re-written.