§ 25. Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his Department's plans for the further education sector in East Sussex. [43781]
§ Mr. ByersFor the 1997–98 and 1998–99 financial years, East Sussex has received capital funding of some £23 million from Annual Capital rounds and the New Deal for Schools to support building improvements at its schools. Applications have been submitted in response to the Secretary of State's recent announcement of an extra £90 million to improve heating systems, remove outside toilets and reduce infant class sizes. We hope to announce decisions on this latest initiative later this month.
In England, the New Deal for Schools has enabled capital projects to proceed worth £115 million in 1997–98 and over £500 million in 1998–99. There are still three further phases of New Deal for Schools to come, by the end of which the Government expect that an extra £2 billion will have been spent on capital projects at schools.