§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what he estimates will be the budget for a school board with(a) up to 500 pupils, (b) up to 1,000 pupils and (c) more than 1,000 pupils.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythUnder the terms of the School Boards (Scotland) Bill it will be for education authorities, after discussion with the school boards concerned, to set budgets for their school boards. The size of the school may have some effect on the budget for a school board; a more significant variable would be the range of additional delegated functions, if any, which the board concerned had taken on.
§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will specify, in detail, how his estimate of £5 million for the cost of running school boards was arrived at.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe Government's estimate of the net additional cost to education authorities of the initial implementation of the school boards system was made on a national basis. It was based on information about the existing school councils system and on the cost of governing bodies under the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 in England and Wales.