HC Deb 10 February 1988 vol 127 cc218-9W
Mr. Spearing

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will indicate in respect of his policy to require reductions in the net expenditure of the Inner London education authority for the financial year 1988–89, the approximate percentage reduction he expects under each of(a) staff, (b) premises, (c) transport, (d) supplies and services, (e) transfer payments, (f) finance and debt charges and (g) other expenses;

(2) over which academic terms in the financial year 1988–89 he expects the Inner London education authority to implement his required reduction in expenditure; and if he will indicate the percentage reduction of expenditure this indicates for the respective terms.

Mrs. Rumbold

Subject to the House's approval, the Secretary of State intends to prescribe a maximum precept for the ILEA for 1988–89 of 81.8p, enabling the authority to raise £985 million. The ILEA will need to make substantial reductions to manage its expenditure within this level of precept income. It is for the ILEA to determine how best to achieve these reductions.

Mr. Spearing

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will tabulate in theOfficial Report the net expenditure of the Inner London education authority for each of the financial years 1983–84 to that determined for 1988–89, in current values, together with the authorised precept in pence per pound on inner London local authorities, in both actual and current values, indicating which were subject to maximum rate limits, together with the approximate percentage increase or reduction in net real expenditure compared to the previous financial year, and the overall reduction in percentage of real terms from 1983–84 to 1988.

Mrs. Rumbold

The information available is set out in the following table. The ILEA has been subject to precept limitation since 1985–86.

1These figures are consistent with the definition of "total expenditure" used for block grant purposes. They exclude the capitalisation of repairs and contributions from special funds.
2The cash figures have been repriced to 1987–88 real terms using the gross domestic product (market prices) deflator.
3 The figure for 1985–86 includes £31.4 million of additional income arising from an adjustment in the calculation of pooling contributions.
4 Revenue expenditure recorded in ILEA's published statement of accounts for 1986–87 before adjustment for capitalised repairs and including expenditure met by contributions from special funds was £970 million.
5 ILEA's budgeted revenue spending as recorded in its published estimates before adjustment for capitalised repairs was £1,025 million.
6 The figure given is the re-determined expenditure level for the ILEA in 1988–89. The precept maximum of 81.8p (see note 7) would enable the ILEA to raise £985 million on the latest available information.
7 Subject to approval by the House of the draft Precept Limitation (Prescribed Maximum) (Inner London Education Authority) Order 1988 laid before the House on 29 January.

Mr. Straw

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what inquiries or reports into the administration of educational standards in the Inner London education authority he has asked Her Majesty's inspectorate of education to undertake, or has received from it since 1979; and with what result.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

The last comprehensive HMI report on educational provision in ILEA was made public in 1980. Since then, HMI has continued to inspect on a wide basis and has reported to the holder of my office accordingly; all institutional reports and surveys have been published and are available in the Library of the House.