HC Deb 21 June 1996 vol 279 cc635-6W
Mr. Blunkett

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what additional resources her Department has made available under the headings of school improvement and school effectiveness in recent years to(a) local education authorities and (b) grant-maintained schools; and, in each case, under what headings resources have been reduced to meet the additional costs. [33747]

Mr. Robin Squire

Support for school improvement and effectiveness is available to LEA-maintained schools through the grant for education support and training programme. With this programme, total expenditure on school effectiveness grants supported in 1995–96 was £121.5 million; this has risen to £134 million in the current financial year.

Support for the same purposes is available to grant-maintained schools through special purpose grants (development). It is for the schools themselves, as self-governing institutions, to decide how best to target these and other resources. The grants are paid by the Funding Agency for Schools, and I have asked the chairman of the Funding Agency for Schools to write to the hon. Member.

Resources for school effectiveness and improvement for publicly funded schools are provided within the totals provided by Parliament for education, and not at the expense of other headings.

Mr. Blunkett

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what funding is provided by her Department specifically for governor training and support to enhance school effectiveness in(a) local education authority schools and (b) grant-maintained schools. [33745]

Mr. Squire

As regards local education authority schools, the school effectiveness grant within the grant for education support and training programme includes governor training and support to enhance effectiveness. It is for individual local education authorities and schools to determine how to apportion expenditure between the eligible categories defined in regulations (No. 734) and described in the Department's circular 8/95, in the light of local priorities.

As regards grant-maintained schools, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier. These schools may use special purpose grants (development) to support governor training as well as school effectiveness.