HC Deb 09 December 1996 vol 287 cc11-2W
Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much money her Department provided for schools in each year since 1992(a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what was the percentage change from the previous year in each case; [7697]

(2) how much money will be provided to schools for the years 1996 and 1997 (a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what is the percentage change from the previous year in each case; [7700]

Mr. Robin Squire

The great bulk of money is provided by local education authorities. Since central Government support to local authorities is not hypothecated, it is not possible to say how much of this

(a) Education SSAs
SSA £ million
1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–981
Coventry 122.987 111.417 113.295 115.727 119.872 119.759
West Midlands 1,132.269 1,023.929 1,019.255 1,024.585 1,072.402 1,065.994
England 18,352.700 16,530.700 16,826.000 17,024.100 17,764.24 17,838.306
1 1997–98 figures are provisional.

(b) Underlying percentage changes over the previous year
1992–93 1993–94 Percentage change 1994–95 Percentage change 1995–96 Percentage change 1996–97 Percentage change 1997–981 Percentage change
Coventry 7.4 1.7 2.6 2.0 3.6 3.3
West 6.2 2.7 0.4 0.4 4.7 3.0
Midlands England 7.1 2.9 2.7 1.2 4.4 3.4
1 1997–98 figures are provisional.

council taxes raised by the authority itself, or by the relevant billing authorities in the case of county councils; and any revenue raised from sales, fees and charges, which in turn depend on the range of functions carried out by the authority. The table shows the council taxes calculated by local education authorities to support their revenue expenditure each year from 1993–94.

It is not possible to provide a comparable figure for 1992–93, as arrangements for raising taxes were different under the community charge system. The figures for English local education authorities are not comparable with those for west midlands and Coventry city council because the England figures include shire counties and inner-London boroughs, which are responsible for a different range of services from other education authorities. Figures for 1997–98 will not be available until authorities have set their budgets in 1997.

support has been deployed for schools. Central Government plan financial provision for local authorities on the basis of standard spending assessments. The table sets out the education standard spending assessments between 1992–93 and 1997–98, but local education authorities are free to decide how much to spend on schools and other services in allocating their overall budgets. Because of changes in local authority functions, such as the loss of responsibility for most further education in 1993–94, the reform of inter-authority recoupment in 1995–96, and the arrangements for nursery vouchers in 1997–98, the cash figures are not comparable year-by-year. The tables therefore show (a) the unadjusted education SSAs for Coventry, the west midlands and England from 1992–93 to 1997–98 and (b) the underlying percentage changes after local authority changes of function have been taken into account.