§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to encourage local education authorities to take up education support grants when they are required to take over full fundings of all education support grant initiatives.
§ Mrs. RumboldOne of the main purposes of education support grants is to encourage local education authorities to undertake expenditure in areas which the Government consider to be of particular importance. In some cases, particularly, for example, those which involve supporting the purchase of specialised equipment, the objectives of the activity will be achieved during the lifetime of the project. In others the intention is that initiatives should be continued as part of mainstream funding after a few years of specific grant support. There seems to be little reluctance on the part of local education authorities to take up these grants: in 1988–89 bids totalling almost £84 million were received for a total of £50 million of new expenditure available.