§ Lord Selkirk of Douglasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to increase or decrease Scotland's education capital budgets in real terms for the next financial year in comparison to this financial year; and what percentage change this represents.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office (Lord Sewel)Local authorities receive most of their capital allocations in the form of a single block consent to cover capital expenditure on education, roads and transport, social work, flood prevention, general services and housing other than council housing. Provision for individual programmes is not separately identified within the single allocation total and local authorities are free to determine their own priorities for capital expenditure on individual programmes. Her Majesty's Government announced on 2 July, as part of the Budget, that an additional £8.9 million this year and £26.7 million in each of the next four years would be made available for capital expenditure on improving the condition of schools in Scotland. It has been made clear to authorities that this should be additional to what they would otherwise have spent on schools. Payment will be under special grant arrangements separate from the usual capital allocation arrangements.