§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what has been the total cost to public funds to date of education action zones. [154151]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 16 March 2001]: The total amount spent so far on the 73 large zones since the first Education Action Zones began operation in September 1998 is £89.7 million. This works out to approximately £100 per pupil per year for every full year a zone has been in operation.
This funding has led to improvements in the standards of education. In the 25 first round zones which have been running the longest, the proportion of 7-year-olds reaching level 2 in reading, writing and maths has increased by 7, 6 and 8 percentage points respectively since 1998, compared with national increases of 4, 4 and 6 percentage points over the same period. The proportion of 11-year-olds achieving level 4 in English. maths and science has increased by 12, 16 and 20 percentage points respectively, compared with 10, 14 and 16 percentage points nationally.