§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the level of education underspend for the Birmingham local education authority for each of the past three years.
§ Mr. ForthIt is for the Birmingham local authority to determine its spending on education in the light of local circumstances and priorities. The Government do not set targets for spending on individual services. The Government do, however, calculate for each service what an authority would need to spend to provide a standard level of service—its standard spending assessment (SAA).
The latest available figures showing the difference between Birmingham's estimated spending on education and the education component of its standard spending assessment are given in the table.
Education SSA Estimated spending on education Difference Year £ million (rounded) £ million (rounded) £million (rounded) 1990–91 399 352 48 1991–92 457 392 64 1992–93 485 428 57 Note: Information on estimated expenditure is taken from the authority's returns to the Department of the Environment on forms RA90/91–92/93 and RA(SG)90/91–92/93, repriced to outturn.