§ Sir Neil MacfarlaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are his Department's latest proposals for the rebuilding of St. Dunstan's Church of England school in Cheam; what discussions his officials have had with officials from the London borough of Sutton; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthIt is not for the DES to make proposals for the rebuilding of a school. In June 1988 the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education published proposals under section 13 of the Education Act 1980 to establish in September 1989 a new Church of England voluntary-aided primary school in substitution for Cheam Church of England junior boys' school and St. Dunstan's Church of England primary school. The explanatory notes published with the proposal said that the new school would be accommodated in the existing premises of Cheam junior boys' school and St. Dunstan's primary school pending the construction of new school buildings. The previous Secretary of State for Education and Science approved those proposals in December 1988 and it is for the promoters and the local education authority to implement them. The Department indicated that the Secretary of State was prepared in principle to pay grant of 85 per cent, on the promoters' share of the cost of building the new school premises.
9WI understand that the promoters have since had difficulty in obtaining planning permission from the London borough of Sutton. Officials from the Department have attended a number of meetings, at the request of the promoters, at which representatives of both the diocesan board and the borough have been present. The most recent meeting was on 3 January. This has allowed officials to be kept informed of the reasons for the delay in providing the new school building and of the potential cost implications of alterations to the building project which might be required by the planning authorities.
Until the promoters are able to submit to my right hon. Friend a finalised version of their building project for which they have obtained planning permission, he cannot decide whether to give detailed approval to it under the Education Acts or whether to make grant payments on it. The promoters have, however, been warned that the offer of a grant is not unlimited and that if the scheme eventually presented to the Department is much more expensive than that originally envisaged, it may not be possible to fund a full 85 per cent, of it through grant.