§ Ms. ArmstrongTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the amount allocated to each local education authority for expenditure on special educational needs provision for each year since 1985, at constant prices.
§ Mr. FallonThe schools component of standard spending assessments—SSAs—does not separately identify an element for special educational needs. However it does include an allowance, equivalent to about 20 per cent. of standard spending for schools, for the additional cost of educating pupils in areas of relative deprivation which is distributed according to an index of additional educational needs. Authorities are not bound by SSAs, but are free to make their own decisions about total spending on education and the distribution of funding between the schools sectors. The amount of spending on special educational needs provision within mainstream schools with delegated budgets is a matter for the governors of those schools.