§ Gillian MerronTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much additional funding for education was(a) allocated and (b) received by Lincolnshire County Council in (i) 1997–98 and (ii) 1998–99; and what future projections his Department has made of the education funding requirements for Lincolnshire County Council; [44961]
(2) what are the intended uses of the additional education funding provided by the Government to Lincolnshire County Council for (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99 and (c) future years; and what information his Department has obtained from Lincolnshire County Council with regard to its actual use of additional education funding provided by the Government for each of these years. [44962]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 15 June 1998]: The Government provided for an increase in Lincolnshire's education standard spending assessment for 1998–99 of some £14.7 million or 6.6 per cent. The Government believe that all of the education SSA increase for this year should be used to raise standards in schools. The County Council has increased its support to schools by some £3.4 million. Decisions on central government support for education funding in Lincolnshire in future years will be taken in the autumn. The table sets out details of the year-on-year changes in education SSA, education budgets and schools' budgets.
1997–98 £ million 1998–99 £ million £ million increase Percentage increase Ed. SSA 221.4 236.2 14.7 6.6 Ed. Budget 234.4 241.9 7.5 3.2 Schools' budgets 211.7 215.1 3.4 1.6 Notes:
- 1. The year-on-year changes have been calculated so as to take account of the ending of the nursery voucher scheme
- 2. The education budget figures have been derived from the authority's General Fund Revenue Account return
- 3. The schools' budgets consists of all the General Schools Budget minus capital, as derived from Section 122, plus all AMG recouped from the authority