HC Deb 15 January 1990 vol 165 cc10-2W
Mr. Straw

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table giving the amounts for England of capital allocations for(a) county and voluntary-controlled schools, (b) voluntary-aided schools and (c) the total of (a) for each financial year from and including 1978–79 to 1990–91, expressed in (i) current prices, (ii) constant prices and (iii) an index of (ii) where 1978–79=100.

Mr. MacGregor

[holding answer 13 December 1989]Not all the information is available in the form requested. Table A shows figures from 1981–82. Prior to 1981–82, local education authorities did not receive block allocations, but were notified annually, in the context of a rolling programme, of a limit on the value of building starts in the following year. From 1981–82 to 1989–90 allocations for spending on capital works have been made to local education authorities for schools and colleges of further and higher education, in accordance with the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. It has been for each local education authority to decide how to use its allocation, including apportionment as between schools and colleges, and the extent to which it wishes to supplement it through the use of capital receipts and other sources of revenue. The availability of capital receipts for this purpose has increased substantially over the period. Table B shows the resulting actual outturn gross expenditure by LEAs from 1978–79 in cash, constant and index terms.

Figures for 1990–91 (in Table A) are not strictly comparable with previous years. With the introduction of

Table A
Total allocations and annual capital guidelines for England in cash and constant terms
Local authority schools and colleges Voluntary aided and special agreement schools Local authority schools and colleges and voluntary aided and special agreement schools
Cash Constant 1981–82 prices Index 1981–82 prices Cash Constant 1981–82 prices Index 1981–82 prices Cash Constant 1981–82 prices Index 1981–82 prices
1981–82 355 355 100 24 24 100 379 379 100
1982–83 338 315 89 22 21 87 360 336 89
1983–84 295 263 74 19 17 71 314 280 74
1984–85 300 255 72 25 21 87 325 276 73
1985–86 315 254 72 31 25 104 346 279 74
1986–87 297 231 65 28 22 92 325 253 67
1987–88 306 227 64 32 23 97 338 250 66
1988–89 387 267 75 43 30 123 430 296 78
1989–90 352 227 64 56 36 149 408 263 69
1990–91 485 298 84 71 44 182 556 342 90

Notes to table A

  1. 1. All figures are in £ million.
  2. 2. Constant prices are calculated at 1981–82 prices using the GDP deflator. The index for 1981–82 is set at 100.
  3. 3. The Department provides grant-aid at a rate of 85 per cent, on governors capital expenditure at voluntary aided and special agreement schools.
  4. 4. Capital grant figures for the voluntary aided sector for the year 1981–82 are not separately indentified from a single building grant figure which included repairs and maintenance. The capital figures shown for this year are based on an apportionment of the building grant figure using the average ratio between capital and repairs during 1982–83 and 1985–86.
  5. 5. Prior to 1981–82 local authorities did not receive block allocations, but were notified annually in the context of a rolling programme of a limit on the value of building starts in the following year.
  6. 6. From 1981–82 to 1989–90 allocations have been made to LEAs for spending on schools and colleges of further and higher education.
  7. 7. Figures for 1990–91 are Annual Capital Guidelines and cover other educational services as well as schools and colleges. They are not directly comparable with the allocations given in earlier years.
  8. 8. Local authority allocations for 1989–90 and ACGs for 1990–91 exclude institutions which were transferred to the PCFC sector in 1989–90.
  9. 9. Figures are rounded.

Table B
Gross capital expenditure for England in cash and constant terms
Local authority schools and colleges Voluntary aided and special agreement schools Local authority schools and colleges and voluntary aided and special agreement schools
Cash Constant 1978–79 prices Index 1978–79 prices Cash Constant 1978–79 prices Index 1978–79 prices Cash Constant 1978–79 prices Index 1978–79 prices
1978–79 338 338 100 19 19 100 358 358 100
1979–80 379 324 96 24 20 106 403 345 96
1980–81 532 385 114 26 19 97 558 403 113
1981–82 385 254 75 28 19 96 413 272 76
1982–83 425 261 77 26 16 83 451 277 78
1983–84 444 261 77 22 13 68 466 274 77
1984–85 473 265 78 29 16 84 502 281 79
1985–86 503 267 79 37 19 100 539 286 80
1986–87 544 279 82 33 17 89 577 296 83
1987–88 556 271 80 37 18 94 593 289 81
1988–89 668 304 90 50 23 119 719 327 91
1989–90 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
1990–91 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Notes:

  1. 1. For Voluntary Aided and Special Agreement schools capital grant figures for 1978–79 to 1981–82 not separately identified from a single building grant figure which included repairs and maintenance. The capital figures shown for this period are based on an apportionment of the building grant figure using the average ration between capital and repairs during 1982–83 and 1985–86.
  2. 2. For the Voluntary sector, gross expenditure includes Governing Bodies' 15 per cent, contribution.

the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the Department has issued an annual capital guideline to each local education authority for 1990–91, which is one element in the calculation of each local authority's basic credit approval for 1990–91 announced by the Department of the Environment.