§ Ms. ArmstrongTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether grant maintained schools will be allocated the same amount of money per pupil as locally financially managed schools within the same authority;
(2) whether a grant maintained school will have its annual year-on-year budget altered in line with other schools which have local financial management in the same local education authority.
§ Mr. ButcherThe Department's circular 10/88 made clear that the maintenance grant for a grant-maintained school would be based on the funding which my right hon. Friend is satisfied fairly represents what the LEA would have been likely to have provided for the school had it continued to maintain it, including expenditure on services provided centrally by the LEA. Once formula funding is in operation for the authority as part of an approved scheme of local management, the formula will be applied to grant-maintained schools in the area in the same way as to LEA-maintained schools. The amounts will reflect the authority's decisions on funding of its schools, but will also include an allowance for centrally provided services which in the case of LEA-maintained schools will be excluded from the delegated budget determined by the formula.