§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on how he estimates the granting of additional transitional funds to a local education authority will affect its obligations under the licensed deficit arrangements. [136888]
§ Mr. MilibandLocal education authorities which allow licensed deficits for schools have various obligations specified in their schemes, including the maintenance of limits on the repayment periods and adherence to a maximum proportion of total school balances used to underwrite the deficits. None of these obligations will be directly affected by transitional support grant announced on 29 October, except insofar as use of such grant is likely to produce less pressure on local resources since the transitional grant is to be targeted specifically at those schools facing the greatest difficulty in bringing their budgets back into balance, on the basis of costed plans produced by those schools.