§ Baroness Blatchasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much of the savings from the abolition of the assisted places scheme is set aside each year to meet the costs of the additional school places that will be required in the maintained sector.
§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone)All the savings from the phasing out of the assisted places scheme will be used to reduce infant class sizes in the maintained sector. Pupils who might otherwise have taken up assisted places will not necessarily enter the maintained sector instead: some may take up independent school places with funding from private sources. Any net increase in maintained pupil numbers and costs which might result from the phasing out of the scheme would, of course, be one of the many factors taken into account in local authority settlements.