HC Deb 14 October 1975 vol 897 cc1125-6
22. Mr. Tomlinson

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what effects the proposed levels of education expenditure will have on the school replacement programme in North Warwickshire.

Miss Joan Lestor

The Warwickshire Education Authority has just submitted its list of major school building starts intended for 1976–77; no replacement projects are included in the list for any part of the county.

Mr. Tomlinson

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is about time the Department was far stricter in controlling certain counties, particularly when one bears in mind that in Warwickshire the capital allocation in this year's programme discriminates between areas in the north of the county, where there is the greatest need, and southern areas in the county, such as those around Leamington and Warwick, where there is little basic need but to which the great mass of capital resources is being diverted?

Miss Lestor

We have always left it to the local authorities to decide how they deal with their programmes, but I hope that the authority in question will take note of the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mr. Tomlinson). We do not want to see in education an unfair distribution of resources, particularly to those areas which are already at an advantage.