§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what studies his Department has made on the effect on small schools of the new funding arrangements for swimming lessons; and if he will make a statement; [85141]
(2) what representations he has received from within the County of Lancashire about the effect on small schools of his Departments' new proposals for the funding of swimming lessons. [85142]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeUnder the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations 1999, the cost of providing swimming lessons must be met from schools' delegated budgets. The Regulations allow local education authorities to include factors in their funding formulae to compensate schools for the cost of hiring "off-site" facilities (including swimming pools); formulae may also take account of the need for transport to and from such facilities. LEAs may also compensate small schools more generally for their diseconomies of scale. Within this framework, LEAs can enable small schools to maintain the provision of swimming lessons, at least on a scale sufficient to meet the needs of the National Curriculum.
Representations on the funding of swimming were made by Lancashire LEA in its response to the May 1998 consultation paper, "Fair Funding" and, subsequently, in the course of consultation on the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations. The Department has been unable to trace any more recent representations on the subject from within Lancashire, with the exception of a letter from the hon. Member, a letter from my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Miss Smith) about the future of certain specific swimming pools in her constituency, and a letter on the same subject from a member of the public in Heysham.