§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the(a) actual spending and (b) budgeted provision on the assisted places scheme in the academic year 1995–96; how many schools participated; how many assisted places were available; how many were taken up; and what percentage of the pupils in the schools involved were on assisted places. [40544]
§ Mrs. GillanExpenditure information is not available on an academic year basis. In the last financial year 1995–96, actual spending on the assisted places scheme in England was £104.762 million. Provision in the original Supply estimates was £104.413 million. There were 293 participating schools offering 33,906 assisted places, fo which 29,917 were taken up. Just over 14 per cent. of all pupils in the participating schools held assisted places in academic year 1995–96.