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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, SPORT AND CULTURE BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 15th MAY 2007
Question
- Will the Minister explain whatis meant by calculating staff vacancy factors and reallocating' contained in his answerof1stMay2007relatingto cuts required to meet the £698,000costofstaffpayawards?
- Will he informmembers what non staff costs have been reduced in eachprimary and secondary schooland whichareas had already been subject tothe£350,000 efficiency savings?
- Can the Minister inform membersof the average life of a paperback compared to hardback book in library use andadvise the Assemblywhetherthereplacementofhardbackbooks with paperbacks will increase replacement costs in the future?
Answer
- The full sentence from whichthequotationistaken reads: "Thiswasachievedbyreducingnon staff costs, calculating staff vacancy factors and reallocating to meet thepayawardshortfall". To achieve savings,staff changes were reviewed and the effect of keeping someposts vacant for a longerperiod than would normally be the casewas calculated. Where it waspossible to keep posts unoccupied,budgetswerereducedtoreflect the savingand the associated funding used to reducethe shortfall in the budget resulting from the pay award. "Reallocating" refers tothetransferofbudgets between budgetheadingsinorder to meet the expected costs of the pay award.
- The Departmentdoesnot yet have a breakdownofwhat measures schools will adopt to minimise the impact of the pay awardson their year end position. Schools operate under a Delegated FinancialManagement whichallows them tocarryforwardsurplusesand deficits from oneyear to the next and some are using this facility to managethe shortfall over a longerperiodoftime.
The efficiency savings have primarily been met by withholding non-staff inflation and have affected all areas of the service. Some areas have also taken specific cuts as reported in the response to the question tabled for
Tuesday 1st May.
- In recent years, it has been the library policy toadjust the balance ofpaperback to hardback purchases. T approachwas approved as part of the Library Improvement Plan published in 2005.
This trend is in response to a range of factors:
• Customer demand: paperbacks are very popular with many readers; they are attractive, light and easy to carry.
• Some titles are published in paperback only.
• Paperbacks are cheaper.
However, bestselling titles continue to be purchased in hardback and additional copies are purchased when the paperback edition is published.
The main change in the last two years has been the purchase of a greater proportion of adult fiction in paperback format. This allows the Library Service to offer a wide range of titles, including multiple copies of very popular titles, and constantly to refresh the shelf stock.
• The average price of hardback fiction purchases in the last 12 months was £12.62 compared to the average paperback price of £5.23.
• The average price of hardback non fiction purchases in the last 12 months was £20.45 compared to the average paperback price of £10.04.
Average life of library books
The average life of each library book depends on a range of factors and, for the bulk of expenditure, is most usefully measured in terms of number of loans, rather than years:
• The minimum expectation for all titles purchased for the library is between 20 – 30 loans. Many popular titles, both fiction and non fiction, exceed this.
• Examination of a random sample of popular paperbacks indicates that a paperback novel can easily achieve in excess of 20 loans. At an average price of £5.23, this represents very good for value for
money.
• Some very popular fiction titles achieve many loans in a short time and are replaced within 18 months, whether paperback or hardback.
• Some non fiction titles will be removed from the shelves after two or three years with fewer loans because a new edition has been published.
• Key works, classics and local material are purchased with the intention of them being retained in stock and permanently available. This may be in hardback or paperback format depending on
availability and the anticipated number of loans. For these purposes rebinding is possible for both paperback and hardback editions and represents good value.
Replacement costs.
Book stock for the library largely consists of the purchase of new titles rather than replacement of existing titles. It is not expected that the move towards the purchase of a greater number of paperbacks will increase the replacement costs in future years.
Replacement titles are purchased as required but these do not form a significant proportion of annual expenditure.
The Library Service aims to maintain a current, clean, and attractive stock on the open shelves.
Books are withdrawn from the shelves as part of a regular programme of stock maintenance according to criteria set out in the library stock management procedures.
In addition to the condition, criteria for withdrawal from the open shelves include the currency of information for non fiction titles and popularity of the author/title for fiction titles.
Some material withdrawn from the open shelves is retained in a reserve stock' area. These titles can be identified on the library catalogue and are available on request.