I share the concern expressed by many parents and organisations in relation to the high cost of school textbooks and the frequent rate of revisions made by book publishers. I have adopted a number of approaches to this issue. As the Deputy will be aware, I recently met with educational book publishers, representatives of parents' organisations and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul regarding the cost of school textbooks. Subsequently, the publishers devised a voluntary Code of Practice and, while I welcome the Code as a significant step in the right direction, I believe that more should be done to reduce the price of textbooks.
Accordingly. I have proposed to the representatives of the textbook publishers: that the cover price of the most popular textbooks should be reduced; that a significant discount should be given to schools which purchase textbooks in bulk, in line with the discounts given to retailers of textbooks; that the practice of combining a conventional textbook and workbook in a single volume should be ended to allow students to re-use a textbook; and that support materials should be provided to teachers online, to minimise ancillary printing costs.
I am also keen to examine if there are ways to encourage schools, via the book grant scheme, to establish or maintain book rental schemes as I believe this to be one of the most effective ways of lowering the burden of the cost of school books. I have invited the National Parents Councils at primary and post-primary levels to provide me with examples of good practice of book rental schemes. Drawing on these and other examples, I intend to publish advice to schools on how best to establish and maintain textbook rental schemes in schools well in advance of the beginning of the next school year.