§ Mr. Baldryasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the allocation in real terms for educational capital projects for Oxfordshire in 1986 and for the past five years.
§ Mr. DunnThe following are the allocations of prescribed expenditure made by my right hon. Friend under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 to the Oxfordshire education authority, expressed in 1984–85 real terms:
Year Allocation £000's 1981–82 3,714 1982–83 4,656 1983–84 4,186 1984–85 3,245 1985–86 3,476 1986–87 1,873 The following are the allocations for capital expenditure by the governors of voluntary aided and special agreement schools in the area of the Oxfordshire education authority on which my right hon. Friend was prepared to pay grant, expressed in 1984–85 real terms:
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Year *Allocation £000's 1981–82 † 1982–83 51 1983–84 58 1984–85 15 1985–86 108 1986–87 428 Notes:
* The allocations shown are those announced just before the start of the financial year in question and do not include possible later revisions.
† Allocations for 1981–82 were made on a different basis from those for later years and have therefore been excluded.
§ Mr. Baldryasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) by what criteria Oxfordshire county council was allocated money to be spent in 1986 on school capital projects;
(2) why he has made a reduction of 43 per cent. in the amount that Oxfordshire is allowed to spend on capital projects on education in 1986.
§ Mr. DunnThe allocations made by my right hon. Friend under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 are not money grants but represent limits on the capital spending which local education authorities may undertake. The allocations are unhypothecated sums to cover all LEA capital expenditure but LEAs are notified of the notional elements for schools and for further education as an indication of how the allocation was calculated. However, LEAs are free to apply their allocations as they wish and may supplement or vary them by using the flexibilities available to them under the Act.
In calculating the schools element of the allocations for 1986–87, my right hon. Friend made allowance for authorities' expenditure on projects already under way (to the extent that he had allowed for such expenditure when setting provisional indications for 1986–87 in January 1985); took account of authorities' statutory need to undertake new work to provide school places required as a result of local increases or shifts in population; sought, in accordance with his stated policies on falling rolls, to take into account authorities' priorities for new improvement projects in connection with the removal of surplus school places; and, so far as resources permitted, made allowance for modest progress to be made in the provision of nursery and special education and the improvement of the school building stock. These criteria were applied to all LEAs' plans and the schools element of the allocation set for Oxfordshire education authority reflects the extent to which that LEA's capital expenditure plans were in accord with my right hon. Friend's priorities.
In calculating the allocations for capital expenditure by the governors of voluntary aided and special agreement schools on which he was prepared to pay grant in 1986–87, my right hon. Friend took into account, within the resources available to him, governors' estimates of expenditure to which they were committed on projects already under way; the need for new or expanded aided schools in areas of population growth; the duty upon governors to implement statutory proposals which he had approved; and the need for work to make good the serious dilapidation of buildings.