§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will describe his Department's procedures for dealing with(a) bids by local authorities for section 11 funding with respect to education and (b) claims by local authorities for approved section 11 expenditure with respect to education, stating the average time taken by these procedures in each case; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John Patten[holding answer 12 July 1988]: Applications from local authorities for section 11 grant are considered by officials to establish whether they meet the criteria set out in Home Office circular 72/1986. Particular attention is paid to whether the proposed posts address clearly identified special needs of communities of Commonwealth origin; the specification of duties; consultation with relevant communities; and whether the authority has devised satisfactory objectives, performance indicators and monitoring arrangements so that effectiveness in meeting special needs can be assessed. Where specialist education advice is required, the views of the Department of Education and Science will be sought. Where necessary local authorities are asked for further information. All recommedations for approval of new applications are considered by Ministers.
In respect of all applications decided during the first six months of 1988, the average period between receipt of the application and notification of the decision has been between six and seven months. Separate information on the average time taken to decide education applications is not readily available.
Claims for grant for approved posts are submitted by authorities between July and September each year. The claim form gives the actual expenditure in the preceding financial year, and estimates for the following two years. The claims are checked against lists of approved posts. Grant is paid in quarterly instalments during the year to which it relates. Adjustments are made in the final quarter in the light of the latest estimate, and further adjustments may be made after the actual expenditure figure is received. All claims submitted in 1987 were cleared by the end of May 1988; the average time taken to clear each claim is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what delays have occurred in his Department's consideration of(a) recent bids for section 11 funding with respect to education and (b) recent claims for such approved expenditure by Oxfordshire county council; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John Patten[holding answer 12 July 1988]: There has been correspondence since June 1987 about Oxfordshire county council's applications in respect of approximately 70 education posts. A continuing misunderstanding about whether most of these were in respect of new posts or unnecessary applications by Oxfordshire county council in respect of posts already approved has now been discovered, and officials will be meeting the council to clear up any remaining problems.
The grant claim sent in by Oxfordshire in October 1987 was dealt with in May 1988. The authority was told that a recovery of grant paid in respect of 1986–87 and 1987–88 was required. The authority has now been informed that 640W the demand for grant repayment was based on a misunderstanding by them of the 1986 guidance on section 11 procedures. A problem of this kind has never happened before with any other local authority: officials are taking action to prevent a recurrence.
§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish a table showing the number and approximate value of(a) outstanding bids by local authorities for section 11 funding with respect to education and (b) outstanding claims for approved section 11 expenditure with respect to education, stating the age of the oldest bid and the oldest claim; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will publish a list showing the name of each local authority for which a bid for section 11 funding with respect to education is currently outstanding, stating the number of staff posts involved and the period of time covered by the relevant bid; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John Patten[holding answer 12 July 1988]: Bids for section 11 funding for education currently under consideration are of two types: applications for continued funding of existing posts arising from a review initiated in 1983, and applications for new posts under the current arrangements introduced in 1986.
At 30 June 1988 applications from the following education authorities were outstanding. Grant to most posts in education is not time limited, so the applications do not cover particular periods:
641W
Authority Number of posts Review applications (4 authorities) Inner London Education Authority 348 Haringey 122 Brent 53 Rochdale 6 529 Applications under 1986 circular (34 authorities) Bedfordshire 11 Birmingham 7 Bolton 3 Bradford 6 Cambridgeshire 58 Cleveland 3 Coventry 2 Dudley 11 Hertfordshire 4 Hounslow 13 ILEA 34 Kent 31 Kirklees 4.5 Leeds 29 Leicester 133 Merton 1 Newham 126 Northamptonshire 15.5 Nottinghamshire 4 Oldham 2 Oxfordshire 9 Redbridge 4 Rochdale 1 Rotherham 11 Sheffield 51 South Glamorgan 10.5 Staffordshire 46.5 Stockport 2 Sutton 2 Tameside 12
Authority Number of posts Wakefield 2 Waltham Forest 6 Wiltshire 4 Wolverhampton 7 666 In addition, Oxfordshire had submitted review applications for some 70 posts, but it has now been established that these posts were not subject to review.
Information on the value of outstanding bids by authority is not easily available and the cost of extracting it from all relevant sources would be disproportionate. Our estimate of the total potential amount of grant involved in the above applications is approximately £10 million.
The oldest of the education applications under the 1986 circular was submitted in February 1987; this is a large application which has required advice from the Department of Education and Science and further information from the local authority concerned.
There are no outstanding claims for grant in respect of approved posts.