§ Mr. RogersTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the funding for schools in Wales for 1999–2000. [66279]
§ Mr. HainWe have allocated an additional £70 million for education in 1999–2000 and I have made it clear that the bulk of this money should go into delegated school budgets to support teachers and promote higher standards in the classroom.
An extra £13 million for capital works at local authority schools is available in 1999–2000. This on top of capital provision for local authorities through Basic Credit Approvals (BCAs). The notional provision for education BCAs is £42.939m.
Further announcements covering the Grants for Education Support and Training (GEST) programme and for infant class size reduction will be made shortly.
In future this will become the responsibility of the National Assembly.