§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, (1) pursuant to his answer of 8 March 1999,Official Report, column 77, if he will place in the Library a copy of his letter to the Leader of Cumbria county council; [76189]
(2) if his Department has received written communications from Cumbria county council informing it that they intend to spend their full standard spending assessment on education. [76190]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 12 March 1999]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote in January to the leader of the county council to urge Cumbria to use all of the cash increase in the education of SSA to support education and I repeated that message in February. Copies of all the letters which have been sent by Ministers to Cumbria county council on this issue have been placed in the Library.
The Department has received written communications from the county council indicating that the increase in the education directorate's budget will match the £9.4 million cash increase in Cumbria's education SSA. We will monitor Cumbria's formal budget returns to confirm that all of the cash increase has been used to support education services.