§ Mr McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total number of children placed for 65W the assisted places scheme in non-maintained and independent schools as a percentage of the total number of children in each year since the scheme's introduction.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe information is as follows:
School Year Number1 of Assisted Pupils as a Percentage of Total Pupils in Independent and Grant Aided Schools2 (per cent.) 1981–82 2.43 1982–83 4.6 1983–84 5.86 1984–85 6.92 1985–86 8.21 1986–87 8.15 1987–881 8.21 1 Provisional figure 2 Grant-aided Schools included in years 1981–82 to 1984–85 only
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give an estimate of expenditure on assisted places scheme and of the number of children likely to benefit from the scheme in each of the years 1988–89, 1989–90 and 1990–91.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe estimate for expenditure on the scheme in the school year 1988–89 is £5.9 million covering about 2,670 pupils. It is planned that spending on the scheme will rise to £6.8 million and to £7.7 million in the respective school years 1989–90 and 1990–91 and that the number of children benefiting should rise to over 3,000 by the school year 1991–92.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what was the total amount of expenditure given under the assisted places scheme in each year since its introduction;
(2) what was the total number of children in non-maintained independent schools financed by the assisted places scheme in each year since its introduction.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe information is as follows:
School year Total expenditure £'000s Number of assisted pupils 1981–82 799 790 1982–83 1,718 1,450 1983–84 2,454 1,900 1984–85 3,299 2,270 1985–86 4,217 2,620 1986–87 4,861 2,626 1987–881 5,360 2,672 1 Provisional figures.