§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list for each local education authority in England the number of surplus places and the money allocated to removing them using the latest available data. [4728]
§ Mr. Robin SquireFor the number of surplus places in each local education authority, I refer the hon. Member to the reply the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan), gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) on Tuesday 19 March 1996,Official Report, columns 113–18.
One of our priorities for capital allocations is supporting cost-effective surplus place removal projects. The following table shows the amount allocated in 1995–96 and 1996–97, in response to local education authority bids, for the first year costs of new surplus place removal projects.
417W
Allocations for new surplus place removal projects £000 1995–96 1996–97 Avon 4,929 — Barnsley 2,725 671 Bedfordshire 243 495 Berkshire 0 461 Bexley 175 0 Birmingham 1,077 1,290 Bolton 0 574 1996–97 allocations for Bristol and Cheshire are currently held in reserve pending decisions on statutory proposals.
Allocations for new surplus place removal projects £000 1995–96 1996–97 Bradford 346 750 Brent 14 0 Bristol — 108 Buckinghamshire 57 467 Calderdale 0 115 Cambridgeshire 127 469 Cheshire 443 20 Cleveland 275 — Cornwall 656 0 Coventry 120 379 Cumbria 1,180 870 Derbyshire 610 0 Devon 2 0 Doncaster 7,472 355 Durham 133 802 Ealing 0 241 East Sussex 300 1,335 Essex 1,278 1,601 Gateshead 2,500 530 Greenwich 61 741 Hackney 100 750 Hampshire 1,457 3,167 Havering 15 0 Hereford and Worcester 0 116 Hertfordshire 0 173 Humberside 1,477 — Kent 2,663 0 Kirklees 165 398 Knowsley 50 110 Lambeth 50 0 Lancashire 35 40 Leeds 0 3,590 Liverpool 505 990 Manchester 400 240 Norfolk 387 376 Northamptonshire 340 50 North Tyneside 280 198 Northumberland 528 151 North Yorkshire 425 0 Nottinghamshire 638 805 Oxfordshire 336 495 Rochdale 0 73 Rotherham 25 281 St. Helens 0 366 Salford 435 630 Sandwell 0 610 Sefton 78 88 Sheffield 63 737 Shropshire 168 62 South Tyneside 665 400 Stockport 225 0 Sunderland 1,420 569 Trafford 0 50 Wakefield 168 120 Warwickshire 7,925 0 Wigan 1,704 50 Wiltshire 0 92 Wirral 0 665 Wolverhampton 269 1,065 York — 25 Total 47,719 29,806