§ Mr. NorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will itemise, with costings, those elements of the education budgets of (separately) Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, which constitute, in the most recent year for which information is available(a) each LEA's general schools budget, (b) each LEA's potential schools budget, (c) each LEA's real schools budget (as proposed by the Association of County Councils), (d) each LEA's aggregate schools budget and (e) that part of each LEA's budget which is attributable to services provided from the annual maintenance grant of a grant-maintained school.
§ Mr. FallonThe information we have is as follows, taken from the LEAs' section 42 budget statements for 1991–92: 115W
116W
Norfolk LEA Suffolk LEA Essex LEA £000s £000s £000s General schools budget1 206,948 185,231 431,033 Potential schools budget2 177,015 152,305 372,734 Aggregated schools budget3 149,344 133,358 317,119 GM-relevant costs4 182,665 151,542 369,221 1 The general schools budget (GSB) of a local education authority is the amount appropriated by the authority for meeting expenditure in respect of all schools covered by a scheme for the local management of schools (LMS), ie all county and voluntary schools. 2 The potential schools budget (PSB) consists of a part of the general schools budget (GSB)—ie the GSB less expenditure on certain excepted items: capital expenditure; expenditure supported by central government grants; and expenditure on school meals, home to school transport and transitional exceptions (eg cleaning and grounds maintenance).
3 The aggregated schools budget (ASB) is that part of an authority's GSB which is allocated according to a formula to individual LEA schools, ie the amount which the schools themselves decide how to spend, once they have delegated powers and responsibilities under LMS.
4The GM-relevant costs constitute the total budget in respect of the LEA's maintained schools which corresponds to the total annual maintenance grant AMG) of grant-maintained (GM) schools, ie the GSB less expenditure on items for which provision is made outside the AMG of GM schools, those items being: central Government specific grants; capital expenditure; and expenditure on home to school transport, education welfare officers and psychologists, pupil support, statemented pupils and special units.
The "real schools budget" is a construct suggested in a report by Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte for the Association of County Councils. The Department does not have the information to calculate it.