HC Deb 04 April 1973 vol 854 cc425-6
9. Mr. James Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will announce his education allocation for the next grant period.

Mr. Monro

I shall notify education authorities of their school building allocations for 1974–75 as soon as possible.

Mr. Hamilton

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is a great deal of urgent expectation among local authorities on this matter? Cannot he tell us what will be the global figure for Scotland, particularly for school building? Is he aware that the much-vaunted primary school building programme is urgently required in Lanarkshire? When will he make it known to the local authority that it can build the primary schools which are still urgently required and the secondary schools which are urgently needed to carry out the comprehensive education programme?

Mr. Monro

When the Government are disbursing such a large sum as about £38.5 million for school building, including nursery school building, we must look very carefully at how we allocate the money to each authority. This is why it has taken a little longer than last year, but I shall announce the plan as soon as I can.

Mr. Ewing

May I draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to my remarks in the debate on the rate support grant on Tuesday of last week, when I described the serious difficulties encountered by Stirlingshire Education Committee in that the school population in the Falkirk/ Grangemouth area is increasingly rapidly and said that an extra allocation should be made to the committee for this purpose? Can he comment on this?

Mr. Monro

Certainly, the Scottish Education Department looks at population trends and the special requirements of special areas when we are making up the allocations. I am sure that this will be taken into consideration.