§ Mr. WaldenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what checks are made between his Department and the Department of the Environment to establish how much a local education authority's gross expenditure is validly recorded as spent on its schools.
§ Mr. Robin SquireIt is the responsibility of the district auditor, appointed by the local education authority, to check that the authority validly records its expenditure on schools and on other areas.
The Department for Education and, I understand, the Department of the Environment, carry out validity checks on authorities' revenue outturn returns. Any figure on the return which varies significantly from the previous year's return is queried with the authority concerned.