§ Dr. George TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what account he takes of expenditure by local education authorities on the cost of home-to-school transport in determining the standard spending assessment for those authorities; [33492]
(2) what account he takes of expenditure by local authorities on the additional costs of educating pupils in village schools with below average pupil numbers in determining the standard spending assessment for those authorities. [33493]
§ Mr. RaynsfordIn determining the total amount of education standard spending assessments, account is taken of the national costs of schooling including those costs related to home-to-school transport.
In setting the weight to be given to the sparsity factor in allocating the total of education standard spending assessments between authorities, account is taken of small schools with below average numbers of pupils for each teacher and of the costs of transport between home and school.