§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the level of the central funds provided for education to each(a) local education authority and (b) self-governing school per pupil in each age group in each year since 1989.
§ Mr. ForthCentral Government support for local authorities is virtually entirely through general grant, which is not hypothecated to particular services such as education. Local authorities are thus free to determine their own spending priorities.
Grant-maintained schools receive the bulk of their recurrent funding through annual maintenance grants, which are recouped in full from the former maintaining education authority. None of the special purpose and capital grants which grant maintained schools receive from central Government are allocated on the basis of pupil age ranges.