Local Management Schemes (Hansard, 19 December 1989)

§ 27. Mr. Gill
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made in reviewing local management schemes submitted by London education authorities.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
The 20 outer London education authorities all submitted their schemes of local management by the due deadline of 30 September, and my right hon. Friend has to date announced his preparedness to approve six of them for implementation in April 1990, subject to certain modifications. The 13 inner London councils are not required to submit their schemes until 30 September 1991; but one—Westminster—had done so already, and my right hon. Friend has announced his intention to approve it for implementation in April 1990.

§ 68. Mr. Hind
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to recommend to education authorities reductions in the size of education departments and the numbers employed there in order to facilitate the release of resources for local management of schools; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
Under local management of schools, more decision-making and administration are being delegated to schools. There should accordingly be scope for economies in local authorities' central administration costs. The scale of these economies, and the speed at which they can be achieved, will vary. But my right hon. Friend expects authorities to secure the largest economies they can as soon as they can, in order to maximise the proportion of available resources which can be delegated to schools.

§ 65. Mr. Bellingham
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent reports he has received about the implementation of local management of schools in Norfolk.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My right hon. Friend has had a number of letters from schools in Norfolk about aspects of local management of schools. Norfolk LEA's scheme for local management of schools was the first to receive approval from my right hon. Friend, and I understand that the LEA is on course for the successful introduction of local management next April.

§ 51. Mr. Murphy
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from education authorities regarding local management of schools.

§ Mr. Yeo
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has received regarding local management of schools.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
I refer the hon. Members to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, South (Mr. Yeo) on 14 November at column215.

§ 52. Mrs. Ann Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had with local authority associations regarding local management of schools; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
I met representatives of the Association of County Councils and the Association of Metropolitan 207W Authorities on 13 September to discuss a wide range of local management of schools issues. Representatives expressed their support for the principles of local management. They also set out their concerns about the position of schools with high teaching staff costs when funding is determined mainly by pupil numbers. I made clear in response that it was open to LEAs through their formulae to enhance funding for small schools with above-average salary costs, and that we would also consider sympathetically proposals for an extended transitional period to pure LMS funding for larger schools with high salary costs.