Mr. John-Mark McCafferty:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to participate in this discussion. The detail of that proposal needs to be fleshed out. Clearly resources are a key issue. It depends on the local structures and the objectives in terms of literacy and numeracy. In our general discussions we are talking mostly about the cost of education. We cannot lose sight of the clear outcomes required in maintaining and building literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in school. We do not have a fixed opinion as to the manifestation of that but it is trying to improve the outcomes in literacy and numeracy.