§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what additional funds have been made available to Northamptonshire under the recently announced rate support grant settlement for 1978–79 in pursuance of her statement about availability of funds to pay for employment of more teachers and to finance an expansion of nursery education.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe expenditure forecasts underlying the 1978–79 rate support grant settlement provide a basis nationally to enable local authorities, if they so choose (a) to employ additional teachers for pupils who need remedial education or are otherwise disadvantaged and (b) to increase the number of pupils in nursery schools and in nursery classes in line with an increased nursery building programme for 1978–79. The rate support grant is a block grant in aid of local government expenditure as a whole and it will be a matter for each local authority to examine the implications of the settlement for its own plans and decisions. Authorities will be informed of their grant entitlements for 1978–79 shortly.