Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will set up a special section in his Department to monitor the expenditure proposals of local education authorities to ensure that money voted for education through the rate support grant is spent on maintaining educational services, in particular the pupil-teacher ratio; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MulleyNo part of the rate support grant paid to an authority is earmarked for any specified service, and a monitoring procedure, apart from the practical difficulties, could not lead to statutory compulsion. However, I hope that all the authorities will take heed of the advice given to them in the recent joint circular on the rate support grant settlement for 1976–77 (DES Circular 15/75).