HC Deb 27 November 1990 vol 181 cc731-2
9. Ms. Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to announce his response to the bids from local education authorities for capital expenditure; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Fallon

My right hon. and learned Friend expects to be able to announce the annual capital guidelines for capital expenditure on education in 1991–92 to local education authorities shortly before the Christmas recess.

Ms. Walley

Does the announcement in October that there would be extra money for education mean that there really will be extra money to spend on the repair of buildings? Will the Minister give all parents throughout the country, and especially those in Staffordshire, an assurance that the quality of children's work will no longer be affected by outside toilets, leaking roofs and mobile homes which have long outlived their useful life?

Mr. Fallon

The annual capital guidelines for local authority schools next year will be increased by 15 per cent. above the guidelines for this year. A total of some £472 million will be available. The criteria for applications under the guidelines are well known to local authorities. It is up to the authorities to rank their projects in order of need.

Mr. Dunn

Does my hon. Friend agree that many local authorities suffer from poor physical stock, largely due to the political motivations and actions of the Opposition, who starved local authorities that refused to go comprehensive at the time of the last Labour Government? Should not the Labour party take a large share of the blame in the light of its responsibilities at that time?

Mr. Fallon

My hon. Friend, who knows a lot about these matters, is certainly right in that respect. Annual capital guidelines have been increased substantially for next year over this year and it is open to local councils to top up the guidelines from receipts, from income and by greater flexibility in the disposal of land.

Mr. Straw

Is the Secretary of State aware that Her Majesty's inspectors reported that a third of children were learning in accommodation so substandard that it was badly affecting the quality of their education, that at least a £4 billion backlog of repairs has built up in the past 11 years and that it is a sign of the Government's complacency and neglect that in every year of their Administration, including next year, less will be spent in real terms on improving schools than in the last year of the Labour Government?

Mr. Fallon

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman was able to do his homework for this question. The increase in gross capital expenditure per pupil in maintained schools was about 16 per cent. in real terms between 1978–79 and 1988–89, and I have announced a substantial increase for next year.