§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science by how much each local authority under-spent on its education budget for 1978–79; and what shortfall is estimated for the current financial year in each case.
§ Mr. Mark CarlisleThe calculations of relevant expenditure on which rate support grant is paid are based on national aggregate assumptions about the pattern of local authority expenditure between and within the services: individual local authorities then make their own expenditure decisions in the light of local needs and circumstances.
Collectively, local education authorities spent about 2.5 per cent. less in 1978–79 than the rate support grant settlement of November 1977 had assumed, but only about 0.5 per cent. less than the forecast, based on more up-to-date information, that was embodied in the 1979 Public Expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 7439). Information is not yet available about the outturn of local authority expenditure in the current financial year.