§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his oral statement of 9 November,Official Report, column 63, if he will give the arithmetical basis for his estimate that £300 million of public expenditure can be saved by the elimination of surplus school places, distinguishing between (a) once for all capital receipts for sale of surplus premises and (b) annual revenue savings; and if he will give the period to which the estimated savings refer and the appropriate number of primary and secondary places concerned.
§ Mr. ForthMy right hon. Friend was referring to the annual cost of maintaining surplus places. The figure of £300 million given in my right hon. Friend's oral statement of 9th November is based on an average figure for the premises-related cost of maintaining a school place, based on returns from local education authorities, of approximately £150 a year for a primary school place and £250 a year for a secondary school place at 1991–92 prices. It is based on an estimate of some 800,000 surplus primary places and 700,000 surplus secondary school places. The figure does not include one-off savings that may accrue from the sale of surplus premises.