§ Mr. Joseph Deanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science which education authorities have underspent or not taken up their financial allocations for 1975–76; and if he will list them.
§ Mr. MulleyI do not allocate finance to local education authorities. However, lump-sum allocations are made for school building starts which represent ceiling figures for loan sanction. It is too early to say which authorities will not have taken up these allocations in full for the current year but I would refer to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Moss Side (Mr. Hatton) on 3rd December last. Since then498W the authorities of Lancashire, Northumberland and Trafford have also given notice that they do not intend to take up all of their allocations. In respect of nursery education building, the authorities are as listed in the reply given to the hon. Member for Banbury (Mr. Marten) on 25th November, with the addition of the following: Barnet, Barnsley, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kingston, Lincolnshire, Sutton and Wirral.—[Vol. 901, c. 633–4; Vol. 901, c. 121.]