§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) pursuant to his reply of 10 January,Official Report, column 483, to the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey, how late claims for 1987–88 expenditure by local education authorities are treated in relation to the allocations of grant expenditure between local education authorities for the current year; whether the allocations for the current year were set in the light of expected late claims by some authorities; and if he will make a statement;
(2) pursuant to his reply of 10 January, Official Report, column 483, to the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey, if he will publish a list of the late claims for 1987–88 made to date by local education authorities, showing the amount claimed by each authority; what further information is available to his Department about any other outstanding claims for that year; and if he will make a statement;
(3) when 1988–89 allocations under the local education authority training grants scheme were determined; what steps were taken to provide carry forward arrangements to compensate individual authorities for any failure to claim money under the scheme in 1987–88; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldClaims submitted to date in the current financial year, which were due in the 1987–88 financial year, are as follows:
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Local Education Authority Amount £ Claim for Quarter1 Barnet 358,880 2 Barnsley 66,134 2 Barnsley 205,430 3 Croydon 159,675 3 Ealing 120,400 1 Ealing 121,800 2 Ealing 176,900 3 Hertfordshire 658,466 3 Salford 250,537 3 Waltham Forest 134,670 3 Wiltshire 222,940 2 Wiltshire 359,805 3 1 Claims to cover estimated expenditure were due on the following dates:
- Quarter 1 1 June 1987
- Quarter 2 1 September 1987
- Quarter 3 1 December 1987
In addition, Barnet, Harrow and Hillingdon LEAs did not submit separate claims for one or more of these quarters and Liverpool LEA has not yet submitted a claim for the third quarter.
Authorities were asked to make provisional end of year claims for expenditure incurred in 1987–88 as soon as possible after the end of the financial year. The following authorities have not yet done so:
Dorset, Liverpool, Sunderland and Waltham Forest.The maximum amounts of expenditure in 1988–89 which would be grant-aided under the local education authority training grants scheme were notified provisionally to authorities in August 1987 and confirmed in December 1987. These amounts were based on proposals made by authorities and relative pupil and student numbers. They took no account of lateness of claims as eligible claims for 1987–88 will continue to be met from authorities' allocations for that year even when submitted late.