§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the grant-maintained schools which have applied for consent for the disposal of premises, in each case stating(a) the nature of the premises, (b) if the premises were previously transferred from a local authority, (c) if the premises were used also by other schools, (d) if consent was given, (e) the proceeds from disposal, (f) the attribution of proceeds and (g) the purpose for which proceeds were used by the school. [2896]
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information requested is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library. Table(a) contains the information for disposals by sale, including land exchanges, and table (b) contains disposals by lease and easement. The term "disposal" also covers compulsory purchase of school premises and payments "in kind". There have been no applications for the Secretary of State's consent involving either compulsory purchases or payments in kind.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what provision has been made in the 1996–97 budget for an increase in the number of grant-maintained schools, in terms of(a) capital and (b) current expenditure; [3712]
(2) what is the planned (a) current and (b) capital spending on grant-maintained schools in the years 1996–97 and 1997–98. [3734]
§ Mr. SquireRecurrent provision for grant-maintained schools takes the form of annual maintenance grant and special purpose grants. Provision in 1996–97 and 1997– 98 for annual maintenance grant—the bulk of recurrent funding for grant-maintained schools—will depend on school budget decisions yet to be taken by local authorities, and by the Department in respect of the common funding formula, and on the number of additional schools which become grant-maintained in these years. Within the overall provision of £103 million for GM recurrent in 1996–97, £86 million has been allocated to special purpose grants for grant-maintained schools. The planning figure for GM recurrent in 1997–98 is £125 million. This total, and within that the provision for special purpose grants, will be subject to review in the next public expenditure survey.
As regards capital, the Government have announced the allocation of £138 million to the Funding Agency for Schools for 1996–97. The planning figure for 1997–98 is now £134 million. These figures take into account the overall level of capital funds available for schools, the scope offered for work to be supported under the private finance initiative and, subject to parliamentary approval of the proposed legislation, the power which grant-maintained schools will in due course have to borrow on the commercial market. There is no separately identifiable provision for schools newly entering the grant-maintained sector.
117W
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate she has made of(a) the number and (b) proportion of (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools opting out of local authority control in the coming year. [3714]
§ Mr. SquireThe number of schools leaving local authority control in the coming year will depend on parental choices in ballots on grant-maintained status.
Pupils with statements of special educational need in mainstream schools 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Number 1,815 26,014 30,047 33,277 40,931 47,262 54,299 61,992 71,246 85,013 100,254 Percentage of all pupils with statements 9.8 20.3 22.2 24.7 29.7 34.1 38.9 40.1 43.2 48.1 52.1