§ Mr. Damian GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on projects and initiatives to(a) improve behaviour in schools and (b) increase standards in rural schools since 1997. [110095]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisFunding for both behaviour improvement and to increase standards in rural schools comes from a wide variety of sources and to varying degrees of aggregation with funding to support other areas of activity. It is not therefore possible in either case to give discrete total figures. Key contributions on behaviour-related initiatives have been the around £560 million (including Government grant and LEA contributions) allocated through the Standards Fund between 1997–2003 and the £50 million provided to targeted LEAs since September 2002 to improve behaviour and attendance. Specific contributions on rural schools have included some £56 million of funding for rural Excellence Clusters and rural EAZs. Many rural schools are also small schools and benefit from the Small Schools Fund, which was set up in 2001 by the merging of two previous grants (the Administrative Support Fund for Small Schools and the Small School Support Fund). The Small Schools Fund is worth a total of £80 million a year.