§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the value of the assets transferred from the public to the private sector incurred in the process of the privatisation of the Grant-Maintained Schools Centre.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe Grant-Maintained Schools Centre Ltd. has always been a private company, limited by guarantee. Until March 1994 it received grant from the Department for specific purposes. From 1 April 1994 the Grant Maintained Schools Foundation Ltd., a non-profit making company limited by guarantee, has taken over from the centre the activities relating to the provision of478W factual information and advice to schools considering grant-maintained status; and the foundation is now grant-aided by the Department. The Centre, as a private sector company, will be continuing its other activities on a purely commercial basis. No assets were transferred from the public to the private sector as a consequence of these changes.
Conditions attached to previous grant aid to the GMSC Ltd., and to current grants to the GMSF Ltd., require that the proceeds from the disposal of any assets which were purchased from public funds should be surrendered to the Exchequer.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how much money was spent by his Department and the Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation(a) on literature designed to provide information on grant-maintained status, (b) on advertisements promoting the availability of such information and (c) on conferences for head teachers and governors in each month since May 1993.
§ Mr. Robin SquireFigures for expenditure by the Department on these three areas of activity are not readily available on a month-by-month basis. Nor would they provide a reliable indication of activity in any particular month, because of time lags in the receipt of invoices and in payments.
The available data on the Department's spending on information about grant-maintained status is:
1993–94 £ 11994–95 £ Publications 297,913 38,495 Advertising 207,000 — Conferences 309,492 34,532 1 To end May. The Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation started operations on 1 April. By the end of May it had not incurred any expenditure on publications, advertising or conferences.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how many opt-out ballots were held in each month since May 1993; how many schools voted to become grant-maintained; and how many voted to remain with the local education authority in each month.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information requested is set out below.
479W
Parental ballots on grant-maintained status Number of schools balloting Number of 'Yes' ballots Number of 'No' ballots 1993 May 77 56 21 June 80 55 25 July 46 33 13 August 11 9 2 September 9 3 6 October 16 13 3 November 36 22 14 December 40 28 12 1994 January 18 16 2 February 30 16 14 March 39 23 16
Number of schools balloting Number of 'Yes' ballots Number of 'No' ballots April 26 12 14 May 23 9 14