§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, pursuant to the answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Battersea (Mr. Dubs) on 15 May, Official Report, column 140, he will list the ways in which savings can be made, without detriment to education services in the area of the Inner London education authority, with his estimate of the approximate annual saving for each respective method.
§ Mr. DunnIt is for local authorities to draw up their budgets and it would not be appropriate for the Government to specify particular savings which should be made. In examining their costs, and areas of potential savings, local authorities might reasonably have regard to comparisons with the costs of other authorities. For example, the ILEA's charge for school meals is now the lowest in the country. Its charges for adult education are scarcely more than half the average. Its administration costs per pupil or student are more than twice the average. It employs more than twice as many non-teaching staff in schools, relative to pupil numbers, as the average. It spends almost one and a half times the average per pupil on fuel and light.
The ILEA's budget for 1984–85 shows an increase of 7.5 per cent. over 1983–84. This is markedly greater than the percentage increase in expenditure on education by all authorities in aggregate between 1983–84 and 1984–85. It must be for the authority to examine its costs critically in the light of such facts as these.