§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the allocated expenditure for local authority capital expenditure on education in England in each year since 1979, in real terms.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 31 January 1991]: Capital allocations for education at 1990–91 prices were as follows:
£ million 1981–82 592.1 1982–83 526.9 1983–84 438.9 1984–85 426.8 1985–86 423.4 1986–87 386.7 1987–88 377.6 1988–89 444.3 1989–90 388.1 Under the new capital finance system, introduced on 1 April 1990, there is no precise equivalent to capital allocations. Annual capital guidelines, which are a measure of the government's assessment of the need for local authorities to finance capital expenditure on a particular service, were £457.9 million for education for 1990–91. Local authorities are not bound to spend at that level but the extent to which they can finance this expenditure from borrowing is regulated by the issue of credit approvals. Information for earlier years is not readily available.