§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the proportion of sums allocated for capital projects to individual schools which is retained by local authorities to cover administrative expenses; what amounts were allocated in 1987–88 to each school in the Devon local education authority area under the headings(a) special education, (b) maintenance and repair and (c) administrative and other; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DunnThis information is not available.
The administrative expenses of authorities are not capital expenditure, and do not figure in the allocations made by this Department. These are block allocations which are not earmarked to specific projects.
Local authorities are free to apply their allocations as they wish. They may move resources between services and to a limited extent between years. They may supplement the total of their allocations for all services in 1988–89 by the application of 30 per cent. of their accumulated capital receipts.
Devon local education authority's education capital expenditure allocation for the 1987–88 financial year was £4,734,000, and for 1988–89 is £6,262,000. It is the authority's responsibility to decide on its priorities for using these resources.