§ 9. Mr. Michael Clapham (Barnsley, West and Penistone)If he will make a statement on the small schools support fund. [127928]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Ms Margaret Hodge)We are spending £40 million on the small schools support fund from September 2000 to 31 March 2001. We want to encourage schools to pilot new ways of working with others. I hope that the pilots will benefit schools in two ways: first, to help them to identify more efficient and cost-effective ways of working, through sharing and collaborating with others; and secondly, to raise their standards even further.
§ Mr. ClaphamI thank my hon. Friend for that answer. She will be aware that between 1993 and 1997, during the Tory Administration, 450 schools closed. In my constituency, that affected the four villages of Hood Green, Hazel Head, Crane Moor and Crow Edge. Can she say how the new support system for small schools will halt the Tory trend of closing rural schools, and what types of benefits that support will bring back to the rural community?
§ Ms HodgeThis Government have reduced the closure rate for rural schools from 30 to four each year. We have done that by investing in and deliberately supporting rural schools in their efforts to stay open. In my hon. Friend's local education authority, if not in his constituency, 37 nursery, primary, special and secondary schools and referral units will be supported by the small schools budget. It is up to them to find the most appropriate way of maintaining themselves, whether that is through information technology, additional staff development or the sharing of facilities.