HC Deb 10 February 1993 vol 218 cc639-44W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish a table showing for each education authority the percentage cash increase between education standard spending assessments for 1992–93 and 1993–94; how much of this increase is due to changes in student numbers; how much this increase is in standard 1992–93 price terms, using the inflation estimate in the autumn statement; and what is the percentage relationship of the 1993–94 standard spending assessment with the 1992–93 budget.

Mr. Boswell

Local education authorities' standard spending assessments—SSAs—for 1993–94 are not directly comparable with those for 1992–93: they will be lower in cash terms, mainly because local authorities will from this April hand over responsibility for most further education to the Further Education Funding Council, and will begin to relinquish responsibility for school inspections. When

Adjusted 1992–93 total education SSA 1993–94 total education SSA Actual change Percentage change
Name £ million £ million £ million
City 0.315 0.425 0.110 34.9
Camden 57.937 63.990 6.053 10.4
Greenwich 98.375 100.437 2.062 2.1
Hackney 99.671 108.349 8.678 8.7
Hammersmith 48.660 52.782 4.122 8.5
Islington 72.477 76.064 3.587 4.9
Kensington 32.571 33.301 0.730 2.2
Lambeth 115.784 124.033 8.249 7.1
Lewisham 99.806 104.392 4.586 4.6
Southwark 99.082 99.952 0.871 0.9
Tower Hamlet 111.165 115.580 4.414 4.0
Wandsworth 86.281 88.261 1.980 2.3
Westminster 47.438 50.212 2.774 5.8
Barking 57.580 58.783 1.203 2.1
Barnet 99.224 101.703 2.479 2.5
Bexley 78.775 81.653 2.877 3.7
Brent 113.885 118.569 4.684 4.1
Bromley 87.346 89.805 2.459 2.8
Croydon 107.014 109.660 2.646 2.5
Ealing 112.300 117.801 5.501 4.9
Enfield 101.415 104.134 2.719 2.7
Haringey 88.659 95.091 6.433 7.3
Harrow 65.716 67.112 1.397 2.1
Havering 78.761 80.056 1.294 1.6
Hillingdon 80.024 82.943 2.920 3.6
Hounslow 80.439 81.775 1.337 1.7
Kingston 40.174 41.367 1.193 3.0
Merton 50.246 52.909 2.663 5.3
Newham 114.679 120.318 5.640 4.9
Redbridge 83.824 87.990 4.166 5.0

these changes of functions are taken into account, there is an underlying percentage cash increase in the national total of education SSAs of 2.9 per cent. This reflects falling inflation and the Government's policy that in the coming year public sector pay increases should be held to between nil and 1.5 per cent. It also acknowledges differing spending pressures on LEAs including demographic changes, and their general scope for obtaining further improvements in value for money.

The table sets out for each local education authority the education component of the SSA for 1992–93, adjusted on an estimated basis, to remove the element relating to functions that the LEA will relinquish from next year; and compares this with the education component of the SSA for 1993–94.

Local authorities' education SSAs for 1993–94 were not calculated by reference to further education student numbers because of the transfer of responsibility for most of further education to the new funding council. The differences in the percentage change in individual LEAs' education SSAs reflect differences between LEAs in the relative rate of growth or decrease of school pupil or client group numbers and changes in LEAs' relative positions on the indices for additional educational needs, sparsity of population, free school meals and area costs.

The aggregate total of authorities' education budgets for 1992–93 is £19,013 million. The aggregate total of authorities' education SSAs for 1993–94 is £16,530.7 million, which is 13 per cent. less than this total budget figure. However the two figures are not comparable. LEAs' 1992–93 education budgets take account of expenditure on further education, for which local authorities will not be responsible in 1993–94, and expenditure supported by specific grant, which is excluded from the 1993–94 aggregate total of education SSAs.

Adjusted 1992–93 total education SSA 1993–94 total education SSA Actual change Percentage change
Name £ million £ million £ million
Richmond 36.276 36.953 0.677 1.9
Sutton 55.265 57.953 2.687 4.9
Waltham Forest 88.723 92.901 4.178 4.7
Birmingham 429.989 446.733 16.745 3.9
Coventry 109.556 111.417 1.861 1.7
Dudley 92.276 93.914 1.638 1.8
Sandwell 107.961 111.180 3.219 3.0
Solihull 60.981 61.901 0.920 1.5
Walsall 96.959 98.193 1.234 1.3
Wolverhampton 99.013 100.591 1.578 1.6
Knowsley 69.951 71.195 1.245 1.8
Liverpool 191.778 198.796 7.018 3.7
St. Helens 61.859 61.756 -.103 -0.2
Sefton 94.835 95.630 0.795 0.8
Wirral 120.691 121.804 1.113 0.9
Bolton 92.563 95.090 2.527 2.7
Bury 52.885 53.490 0.605 1.1
Manchester 174.399 181.953 7.554 4.3
Oldham 83.168 82.989 -0.179 -0.2
Rochdale 76.266 78.519 2.253 3.0
Salford 72.810 75.472 2.662 3.7
Stockport 84.014 84.761 0.747 0.9
Tameside 72.331 72.772 0.441 0.6
Trafford 66.897 68.493 1.595 2.4
Wigan 98.254 100.128 1.874 1.9
Barnsley 70.390 71.339 0.950 1.3
Doncaster 109.416 113.091 3.675 3.4
Rotherham 90.403 91.171 0.768 0.8
Sheffield 154.546 160.606 6.061 3.9
Bradford 205.863 212.346 6.483 3.1
Calderdale 69.407 71.397 1.990 2.9
Kirklees 135.726 140.873 5.147 3.8
Leeds 233.570 238.354 4.783 2.0
Wakefield 101.202 101.798 0.596 0.6
Gateshead 66.353 68.218 1.866 2.8
Newcastle 89.701 92.166 2.465 2.7
North Tyne 64.449 63.514 -0.935 -1.5
South Tyne 52.150 52.248 0.098 0.2
Sunderland 104.697 106.298 1.601 1.5
Isle of Scilly 1.174 1.194 0.020 1.7
Avon 280.449 290.419 9.970 3.6
Bedfordshire 197.921 208.117 10.196 5.2
Berkshire 254.440 261.858 7.418 2.9
Buckinghamshire 234.337 242.179 7.842 3.3
Cambridge 212.245 217.752 5.507 2.6
Cheshire 312.294 319.277 6.983 2.2
Cleveland 214.700 216.411 1.712 0.8
Cornwall 150.271 152.770 2.499 1.7
Cumbria 155.855 160.123 4.269 2.7
Derbyshire 290.215 296.017 5.801 2.0
Devon 302.349 314.363 12.014 4.0
Dorset 177.658 185.549 7.891 4.4
Durham 199.555 201.760 2.205 1.1
East Sussex 187.054 202.200 15.146 8.1
Essex 512.144 530.727 18.614 3.6
Gloucestershire 161.639 166.832 5.193 3.2
Hampshire 466.023 488.477 22.454 4.8
Hereford and Worcestershire 208.978 211.588 2.610 1.2
Hertfordshire 331.486 340.153 8.667 2.6
Humberside 299.924 305.451 5.528 1.8
Isle of Wight 41.293 42.695 1.401 3.4
Kent 514.163 537.360 23.197 4.5
Lancashire 468.602 473.160 4.558 1.0
Leicester 304.348 311.210 6.862 2.3
Lincolnshire 194.521 199.004 4.483 2.3
Norfolk 229.490 233.013 3.523 1.5
North Yorkshire 209.175 211.142 1.967 0.9
Northamptonshire 202.203 206.165 3.961 2.0
Northumberland 103.897 106.388 2.491 2.4
Nottinghamshire 336.427 342.430 6.003 1.8
Oxfordshire 167.394 175.758 8.364 5.0
Shropshire 131.831 133.995 2.164 1.6
Somerset 135.244 139.024 3.780 2.8
Adjusted 1992–93 total education SSA 1993–94 total education SSA Actual change Percentage change
Name £ million £ million £ million
Staffordshire 331.243 339.638 8.395 2.5
Suffolk 195.386 199.679 4.293 2.2
Surrey 273.254 277.550 4.296 1.6
Warwickshire 149.024 151.414 2.390 1.6
West Sussex 202.639 209.127 6.487 3.2
Wiltshire 177.191 181.284 4.093 2.3
Total 16,065.200 16,530.700 465.500 2.9

Mr. Ancram

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the per capita standard spending assessment for 1993–94 for(a) Wiltshire and (b) English education authorities on average.

Mr. Forth

For the purpose of determining standard spending assessments, the education component of standard spending, net of specific grants, is divided into five sub-blocks—under-fives, primary, secondary, 16 plus, and other education. Within each sub-block, the money available is distributed on the basis of the relevant pupil or other client group numbers. The per capita figures for each sub-block for 1993–94 are set out in the table.

Some care must be taken in drawing conclusions from the figures. First, the figures are only notional allocations. The standard spending assessment system is a mechanism for distributing grant between authorities. Because authorities have discretion to decide their own spending priorities, the sub-blocks and the per capita figures in them have no meaning outside the framework of the distribution mechanism.

Second, the per capita figures for primary, secondary and 16 plus pupils include provision for children in special schools, related central services and related functions such as home-to-school transport. Therefore they are not comparable with age weighted pupil units in LEAs' schemes of local management.

Third, the control total for the 16 plus sub-block notionally reflects LEAs' residual responsibilities for 16 plus students in sixth form colleges, such as home to college transport, as well as their continuing responsibilities for pupils in school sixth forms. The main client group for this sub-block is the number of pupils aged 16 and over but part of the control total is distributed by reference to the number of pupils aged 11 to 15.

The Other Education block is based on the population aged over 11 years, with an additional weighting for those aged 16 to 24 years to reflect LEAs' continuing responsibilities for some further education students after the transfer of responsibility for most further education to the Further Education Funding Council this April.

Subject to these qualifications the figures in pounds are:

Wiltshire England
Under 5 224 279 per head of under 5 population
Primary 1,787 1,921 per pupil aged 5 to 10
Secondary 2,590 2,775 per pupil aged 11 to 15
16+ Other 3,644 3,864 per pupil aged 16+

Wiltshire England
(a) 11+ 13 15 per head of 11+ population
(b) 16–24 39 43 per head of 16–24 population