§ 80. Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further steps he plans to take to encourage small village schools.
§ Mr. ButcherResponsibility for educational provision in maintained schools in rural as well as in other areas rests with local education authorities. My right hon. Friend is continuing to support through education support grant some £1.5 million expenditure per annum on pilot projects in a number of LEAs with a view to improving the quality and range of the curriculum in small rural primary schools. My right hon. Friend is also proposing to support a research project by the university of Leicester to evaluate the pilot projects with a view to making recommendations on practices which could successfully be replicated in other LEAs.