Local Management of Schools (Hansard, 27 March 1990)

§ 18. Mr. McWilliam
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made on local management of schools; and if he will make a statement.

§ 28. Mr. Cox
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made on local management of schools; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Ms. Primarolo
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made on local management of schools; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
Eighty-seven local education authorities' schemes for local management of schools have received formal approval to come into force on 1 April this year, and 10 authorities have been informed that their schemes cannot be approved in their current form for introduction this year.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the operation of the local financial management of schools; and if he has given guidance to local authorities on the assessment of school budgets.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. McWilliam). Decisions on total expenditure for school education are a matter for individual local education authorities. Under local management of schools those resources must be distributed by means of a formula which conforms to the guidelines set out in the Department's circular 7/88 and provides for the bulk of resources to be allocated according to pupil numbers and ages.

§ Mr. Bellingham
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has received from Norfolk local education authority in respect of preparations for local management of schools.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My right hon. Friend has received no letters in 1990 from Norfolk local education authority about the local management of schools.

§ 43. Mr. Haselhurst
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to introduce greater flexibility into schemes for local management of schools.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
There is ample flexibility for schemes for local management of schools to reflect local needs and priorities within the national criteria. In addition, there are simple arrangements which allow local education authorities to make changes to their approved schemes in the light of experience.

§ 36. Mr. Latham
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement on his decision to withhold approval of the scheme for local management of schools originally submitted by Leicestershire education authority; and what discussions his Department has since held with the authority.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
The scheme for the local management of schools submitted by Leicestershire LEA failed to meet a number of policy requirements, in particular in relation to its proposed funding formula. Officials from the Department will be visiting Leicestershire on 4 April to continue discussions with the authority, with the aim that an acceptable scheme can be designed and approved for introduction in April 1991.