§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment his Department has made of the savings from the abolition of the assisted places scheme and the reduction of primary class sizes to 30 pupils; and in each case what is the overall implication for public expenditure. [3542]
§ Mr. ByersThe previous Government's published expenditure plans for the assisted places scheme in England for the years 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–00 are £140 million, £160 million and £180 million respectively. The Education (Schools) Bill currently before Parliament provides for no new assisted places to be awarded after the start of academic year 1997£98 and savings will therefore begin to accrue in financial year 1998£99. The Government's spending plans for 1998–99 onwards will be announced in due course and will take account of the savings progressively released from phasing out the scheme. Those savings will amount to about £100 million in total by the year 2000. We will be discussing with LEAs and others the implementation of our policy on class sizes following publication of the forthcoming White Paper on education.