§ Mr. Dribergasked the Minister of Education whether the five school building projects submitted by the Essex Local Education authority as most urgently necessary were listed in what the Authority considers the correct order of priority; and what considerations led him to select only the first and third of these projects for inclusion in the 1964–65 programme.
§ Sir E. BoyleThe projects were not listed in order of priority but the deputation from the Essex local educa-188W tion authority which I received on 24th June made a special plea for the addition of the Halstead project to their programme, The Canvey Island project was added because it was needed to keep pace with new housing and was therefore in a category to which I always give priority. The resources at my disposal did not allow the inclusion of any other Essex projects.
§ Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Education if he will list the local education authorities which have been given no major building project in the 1964–65 school building programme, together with the value of the projects each authority asked to be allowed to build in that year.
§ Sir E. BoyleThe following are the local education authorities in whose areas no major project has been included in the 1964–65 school building programme:
Local Education Authority Estimated cost of projects proposed £000s. Isle of Wight … … 217 Isles of Scilly … … — Lincolnshire—Holland … … 189 Rutland … … 169 Westmorland … … 130 Bath … … 258 Bournemouth … … 965 Brighton … … 533 Burnley … … 75 Burton-on-Trent … … 295 Canterbury … … 114 Carlisle … … 800 Dewsbury … … 245 Eastbourne … … 44 Exeter … … 42 Gateshead … … 340 Great Yarmouth … … 181 Halifax … … 120 Hastings … … 488 Huddersfield … … 910 Norwich … … — Portsmouth … … 689 Reading … … 325 Smethwick … … 436 Southampton … … 489 Southport … … 278 Wakefield … … 305 West Ham … … 536 Worcester … … 400 York … … 245 Anglesey … … 424 Brecon … … 374 Cardiganshire … … 137 Flintshire … … 403 Montgomeryshire … … 179 Radnorshire … … 73
§ Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Education if he will list the local education authorities whose building programme submission for 1964–65 has been 189W reduced by half or more, and give both the value of the authority's submission and the amount he has approved; and how many of them were incapable of building the number of schools they asked for in 1964–65.
§ Sir E. BoyleThe information asked for in the first part of the Question is given in the fallowing table. Experience of previous programmes shows that authorities are frequently unable to start within the normal period those projects included in their programmes. I would refer the hon. Member to my answer of 28th February, 1963, to the hon. Member for Wigan (Mr. Fitch) in connection with the 1961–62 programme; and I will let the hon. Member have the equivalent figures for 1962–63 as soon as they are available. It is of course not possible to predict with accuracy which authorities will frail to start projects in 1964–65.
190W
Local Education Authority Estimated cost of projects proposed £'000 Estimated cost of projects approved £'000 Bedfordshire 3,277 832 Berkshire 3,763 549 Buckinghamshire 3,522 875 Cambridgeshire 577 71 Cheshire 8,000 1,592 Cornwall 724 129 Cumberland 1,000 360 Derbyshire 2,474 446 Devon 902 63 Dorset 841 372 Durham 9,350 2,356 Essex 3,683 1,478 Gloucestershire 1,789 549 Hampshire 4,844 1,788 Herefordshire 846 156 Huntingdonshire 846 300 Isle of Wight 217 — Isles of Scilly — — Kent 4,634 1,595 Leicestershire 1,824 431 Lincolnshire— Holland 189 — Kesteven 547 225 Lindsey 808 357 Middlesex 3,050 682 Norfolk 4,054 332 Northamptonshire 1,205 241 Northumberland 4,400 1,009 Nottinghamshire 3,168 468 Oxfordshire 549 212 Peterborough Joint Education Board 456 203 Rutland 169 — Shropshire 1,459 328 Somerset 969 204 Staffordshire 6,294 1,473 Suffolk, East 746 148 Suffolk, West 686 226 Surrey 6,168 774 Sussex, East 587 196 Sussex, West 680 63 Warwickshire 2,337 954 191W
Local Education Authority Estimated cost of projects proposed £'000 Estimated cost of projects approved £'000 Westmorland 130 — Wiltshire 1,484 35 Worcestershire 791 333 Yorkshire— East Riding 700 184 West Riding 14,000 1,109 London 3,101 1,084 Barnsley 360 59 Barrow-in-Furness 275 127 Bath 258 — Birkenhead 402 56 Birmingham 2,920 1,068 Blackburn 741 181 Blackpool 1,324 112 Bournemouth 965 — Bradford 1,100 333 Brighton 533 — Bristol 919 444 Burnley 75 — Burton-upon-Trent 295 — Bury 412 63 Canterbury 114 — Carlisle 800 — Chester 482 240 Coventry 1,067 435 Croydon 1,023 35 Darlington 710 290 Derby 811 133 Dewsbury 245 — Doncaster 970 184 Dudley 436 33 Eastbourne 44 — East Ham 350 53 Exeter 42 — Gateshead 340 — Gloucester 378 27 Great Yarmouth 181 — Grimsby 1,030 220 Halifax 120 — Hastings 488 — Huddersfleld 910 — Ipswich 871 268 Leeds 1,400 582 Leicester 485 224 Lincoln 1,068 250 Manchester 3,700 1,001 Middlesbrough 960 254 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1,120 228 Northampton 251 33 Norwich — — Nottingham 974 80 Oxford 286 33 Plymouth 327 56 Portsmouth 689 — Preston 488 50 Reading 325 — Rotherham 460 49 St. Helens 1,000 108 Salford 407 221 Sheffield 1,000 383 Smethwick 436 — Southampton 489 — Southend-on-Sea 469 182 Southport 278 — Stockport 447 125 Stoke-on-Trent 2,082 104 Sunderland 2,270 320 Tynemouth 305 145 Wakefield 305 —
Local Education Authority Estimated cost of projects proposed £'000 Estimated cost of projects approved £'000 Wallasey 375 50 Walsall 631 50 Warrington 207 38 West Bromwich 312 35 West Ham 536 — West Hartlepool 430 189 Wolverhampton 850 91 Worcester 400 — York 245 — Anglesey 424 — Breconshire 374 — Cardiganshire 137 — Carmarthenshire 909 241 Denbighshire 641 211 Flintshire 403 — Glamorgan 2,176 677 Merioneth 177 36 Montgomeryshire 179 — Pembrokeshire 140 27 Radnorshire 73 — Merthyr Tydfil 830 152 Newport (Mon.) 348 112
§ Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Education how many deputations to his Department were requested by local education authorities during 1962 on the subject of cuts in their building programmes.
§ Sir E. BoyleDiscussions about building programmes and other matters frequently take place, with varying degrees of formality, between representatives of local education authorities and of my Department. I keep no record of the number of such meetings.
§ Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Education how many protests he has so far received from local education authorities over their building allocations for 1964–65.
§ Sir E. BoyleI would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave to the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Swingler) on 2nd May.
§ Mr. Montgomeryasked the Minister of Education whether he has been able to authorise additional starts for further education, special schools and the youth service in the 1964–65 major building programme.
§ Sir E. BoyleYes. I have authorised additions to the further education building programme amounting to £1.2 million for technical colleges other than colleges of advanced technology. Taken together with the programmes already announced,192W including £4 million for C.A.T.S., this will mean a total programme of £20 million for further education.
I have also increased the building programme for special schools from £2.6 million to £3 million, and have made an allocation for Youth Service projects of £4.5 million in 1964–65, representing an increase of £0.5 million over the total for 1963–64. Details of projects will be sent to local education authorities and other organisations concerned as soon as possible. The Youth Service will also benefit substantially from the allocation for sports projects announced by my noble Friend the Lord President of the Council on 22nd May, which is to be trebled from £½ million in 1963–64 to £1½ million in 1965–66.