Education, Dyfed (Hansard, 13 March 1995)

§ 3. Mr. Dafis
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning funding for education in Dyfed.

§ Mr. Richards
My right hon. Friend and I have received many representations on the issue of education funding in Dyfed. It is, however, for individual local authorities to determine how much of their available resources to direct towards each service, including education, in the light of their statutory duties and their perception of local needs and priorities.

§ Mr. Dafis
This year in Dyfed, all services have to be cut. When will the Welsh Office stop undermining the school system in Wales in pursuit of its aim of making all schools in Wales grant maintained? I want the Welsh Office to understand that its twin strategy of encouraging that through cuts for local education authorities and inducements for grant-maintained schools is well understood in Wales and is opposed. It is irresponsible at this time, as we approach local government reorganisation. Will the Minister agree to meet a deputation from governing bodies in Dyfed and elsewhere in Wales and listen to what they have to say, and to their discussion of solidarity with local authorities? Will the Welsh Office please desist from its current irresponsible strategy?

§ Mr. Richards
My right hon. Friend is not trying to force schools in Wales to become grant maintained. What he and I want to ensure is that parents in Wales have a choice. The hon. Gentleman talks about cuts in education, but perhaps he would do well to remember the following statistics. Between 1979–80 and 1992–93, the net funding per pupil in primary schools in his county of Dyfed increased by some 63.8 per cent. The corresponding figure for secondary schools was 53.7 per cent. Indeed, over the same period, spending per pupil on books and equipment in Dyfed increased by 36.8 per cent. in primary schools and by 66.1 per cent. in secondary schools. Those are the figures after allowing for inflation.

§ Lady Olga Maitland
Will my hon. Friend confirm that there is a surplus in the reserves of both local authorities and schools' own funds and that they are quite capable of paying for teachers' pay increases?

§ Madam Speaker
Order. The question concerns a particular area—Dyfed. Is the hon. Lady relating her question to that?

§ Lady Olga Maitland
Madam Speaker, I am relating it—

§ Madam Speaker
If it is a specific question, it should relate to what is on the Order Paper.

§ Lady Olga Maitland
I stand corrected. I am relating the question to Dyfed.

§ Mr. Richards
The hon. Lady is absolutely correct. In fact, in the 1993–94 fiscal year, primary school balances in Dyfed were some £2.3 million; the figure for secondary schools was some £1.6 million; and the education authority had a balance of £7.4 million, which aggregates to £11.3 million. On top of that, the figure for education and other administrations amounted to some £3.5 million. On top of all that, the Audit Commission report in January this year, "Paying the Piper, Calling the Tune", said that, throughout England and Wales, efficiency savings of some £500 million could have been made. In Wales, the figure is £30 million—all to be saved if education authorities and county councils go for efficiency cuts.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
For the record, Dyfed has raided its balances and now has one of the lowest in Wales. On top of that, it is faced with £4.5 million-worth of education cuts. I am not surprised that there is widespread concern: the public now see a Government making money available to suit their own political needs through the popular schools initiative, while denying the remaining schools funds that they need to meet the educational needs of their own programmes.
Is this not just another case of privilege for the few, at the expense of the choice and opportunity of everyone else? Does the Minister not realise that, just as he had to make a public apology recently for his ill-considered statements, he will shortly have to make a public apology for these ill-considered policies?

§ Mr. Richards
It is interesting that the hon. Gentleman should make such remarks about education spending in Dyfed. As I recall, the leader of the Labour group on Dyfed county council opposed the education authority's proposal for cuts. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman should build up links outside the valleys of south Wales, in the rural parts that he never seems to visit.
As for the popular schools initiative, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has set aside an additional £20 million to be spent on schools that are popular and therefore oversubscribed for the next four years. He wants to ensure that parents can choose to send their children to the good schools—the oversubscribed schools, the popular schools. That is why this is called the popular schools initiative.