§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has on the current physical condition of school buildings in the various districts of greater Manchester; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DunnThe Department does not possess a systematic record in respect of individual schools since these are the responsibility of the local education authorities concerned. For the purposes of allocation of capital expenditure, however, the Department has information (last collected from LEAs, including those in greater Manchester, in 1982) on the numbers of places in unremodelled primary schools wholly or partially in premises built before 1903, and in unremodelled secondary schools whose oldest teaching accommodation was built before 1919 and with less than one-third of their teaching accommodation in premises built since 1945.
In so far as an individual school is concerned information is also often available where it has recently been the subject of a formal inspection by HM Inspectorate, where it has been included in proposals published under Section 12–16 of the Education Act 1980, where particulars are provided in respect of proposals for new premises or alterations, or for voluntary schools where the governors have recently sought grant aid from the Department for repairs to the premises.