§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will provide additional finance to enable education and library boards to make special provision for small isolated rural schools and small secondary-community schools, particularly in border areas, when the boards are determining future funding for these schools under local management of schools.
§ Mr. NeedhamIt is envisaged that local management in schools (LMS) schemes will be able to take account of the needs of small schools—including small isolated rural schools—where there is agreement that such schools must be retained. It is not possible to anticipate at this stage the implications of this for the block grant allocations to boards which are based on relative needs.