§ Ms. Janet AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take into account the severe weather conditions in the Rossendale Valley in future capital allocations for school buildings.
§ Mr. ForthCapital resources for local authority maintained schools are distributed on the basis of national priority criteria. These criteria—which were agreed with local authority associations—give priority to the second and third year costs of work approved under earlier allocations, new school places needed in areas of population growth, and projects to remove surplus places. The remaining resources are then largely distributed to contribute towards the cost of all other capital work including improvement and replacement projects. Local authorities are responsible for the state of their school buildings, and for deciding expenditure levels and priorities from the resources available to them.
For voluntary aided schools, governors are responsible for effecting repairs to school buildings and the Secretary 444W of State is under a duty to provide grant of 85 per cent. towards the cost of such. Applications for approval to carry out repairs are dealt with throughout the year as the need arises and are not covered by the annual capital allocations system.
Bids for capital grant from grant-maintained schools are looked at on their individual merits in direct competition with those received from the other grant-maintained schools. Priority in making allocations is given to work required on urgent health and safety grounds.