HC Deb 22 November 1999 vol 339 cc38-41W
Mr. Peter Bradley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what grants have been made by his Department in addition to revenue support grant for each of the years 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000 to date to(a) Telford and Wrekin Council and (b) Shropshire County Council. [99058]

Ms Estelle Morris

Details of the grants, in addition to revenue support grant, made available by the Department for Education and Employment in 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000 to Shropshire County Council and Telford and Wrekin Council are shown in the tables. For the Standards Fund, the figures shown include the grant made by the Department and the contribution made by the local education authority.

Grants made available to Shropshire County Council in 1997–98
£
Shropshire
Standards Fund
School Effectiveness 1,255,500
School Improvement Initiatives 50,000
National Curriculum Assessment—Verification KS1 74,300
National Curriculum Assessment—Supply Cover KS1 111,500
Training for KS2 Teacher Assessment 59,500
KS3 Non-core Teacher Assessment 18,600
Primary Teachers' Subject Knowledge 160,700

Grants made available to Shrophsire County Council in 1997–98
£
Shropshire
Special Educational Needs 123,300
Qualifications—GNVQ Provision 95,900
Qualifications—Part One GNVQ Pilot 46,000
Pupil Behaviour and Discipline Centres 54,500
Bilingual Pupils 27,900
Drug Prevention and Schools 44,200
Training for Careers Teachers 36,700
Youth Service 12,700
National Professional Qualification for Headship 41,500
School Security 195,300
Child Protection 26,000
Specialist Schools 115,600
Baseline Assessment 86,500
Primary Performance Tables 5,600
Books for Schools 232,996
New Deal for Schools
New Deal for Schools 185,000
Total 3,059,796

Grants made available in 1998–99 to Shropshire County Council and Telford and Wrekin Council
£
Grant title Shropshire Telford and Wrekin
Standards Fund
School Effectiveness 922,707 473,347
School Leadership: NPQH 60,307 29,250
School Leadership: Serving Heads 20,102 9,750
Induction for Newly-Qualified Teachers 32,150 16,493
Early Years Training and Development 80,150 25,025
Reduction of Infant Class Sizes 291,000
Baseline Assessment 63,632 32,044
Assessment: Verification KS1 26,194 23,088
Assessment: Supply Cover 69,059 45,732
Training fro KS2 Teacher Assessment 38,516 21,398
Effective use of National Curriculum Results 40,786 19,902
National Literacy Strategy— Primary 303,225 181,723
Summer Literacy Schools 18,000 20,000
Family Literacy 28,000 28,000
Special Educational Needs 122,720
Qualifications: GNVQ, AS/A Level, Key Skills etc. 92,141 24,701
Qualifications: Part One GNVQ Pilot 10,000
Work Related Learning at KS4 50,000
Improving Attendance 99,250
Improving Behaviour 117,000
Improving Attendance and Behaviour 36,100
Behaviour and Discipline Projects 54,600
Drug Prevention 40,080 21,098
Youth Service 12,807 5,000
School Security 128,600 65,972
Specialist Schools 116,900
National Grid for Learning 672,000 322,792
Books for Schools 152,911 81,739
Children's Parliament 190 110
Year 6 Literacy and Numeracy Booster Classes 94,449 46,980
Numeracy Consultants and Leading Maths Teachers 3,740 1,870
SEN Portable CD-ROM Systems 24,000 24,000
Study Support and School Travel 2,215

Grants made available in 1998–99 to Shropshire County Council and Telford and Wrekin Council
£
Grant title Shropshire Telford and Wrekin
Capital Work to reduce class sizes 342,328 320,760
Removal of Outside Toilets 329,725
Energy Management 70,693 40,025
New Deal for Schools
New Deal for Schools 823,348 442,200
Total 4,777,775 2,934,849

Grants made available in 1999–2000 to Shropshire County Council and Telford and Wrekin Council
£
Grant title Shropshire Telford and Wrekin
Standards Fund
School Improvement 1,450,020 818,988
School Leadership: NPQH 124,794 63,504
School Leadership: Serving Heads 53,483 27,216
Advanced Skill Teachers 58,500 10,500
Early Years Training and Development 81,170 26,010
National Literacy Strategy—Primary 263,470 180,516
Summer Literacy Schools 33,000 33,000
Summer Literacy Schools—Conferences 12,000 9,000
National Numeracy Strategy—Primary 340,265 173,125
Summer Numeracy Schools 20,000 20,000
Family Literacy 28,000 28,000
Lifelong Learning Development Plans 55,880 42,824
Qualifications 88,986 33,951
Work Related Learning at Key Stage 4 0 37,500
Special Educational Needs 218,916 248,152
Social Inclusion: Pupil Support 260,884 255,790
Drug Prevention 40,715 23,879
Youth Service 10,765 6,313
National Grid for Learning 622,035 1,950,000
School Security 135,149 76,335
Specialist Schools 109,040 160,440
Protecting LEA Music Services 110,000 67,000
Ethnic Minority Achievement 216,498
Access Fund for Post 16 Pupils in Schools 11,566 9,949
Year 6 Booster Classes 308,189 171,420
Asset Management Plans 49,760 25,540
PCs for Chairs of Education 2,000 2,000
Education Action Zones 20,000 20,000
Support for Parent Governor Representatives 1,000 1,000
Working Environment Fund 124,657 68,727
Administrative Support in Small Schools 248,887 73,068
Books for Schools 305,821 163,477
Class Sizes
Reducing Infant Class Sizes (Revenue) 540,000 468,000
Reducing Infant Class Sizes (Capital) 493,653 110,000
New Deal for Schools
New Deal for Schools 1,902,287 217,000
Total 8,124,892 5,838,722

Mr. Peter Bradley

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will provide estimates for(a) Shropshire County Council, (b) Telford and Wrekin Council and (c) the Wrekin constituency in respect of the impact of additional Government funding since 1997–98 on the number of (i) additional teachers appointed, (ii) infant school class sizes reduced to 30 pupils or fewer, (iii) children who have benefited from smaller class sizes, (iv) schools which have benefited from new buildings or major repairs and (v) extra books for schools. [99109]

Ms Estelle Morris

The Government have pledged to reduce infant class sizes for all children aged 5, 6 and 7 to 30 or below by September 2001 at the latest. Recent figures show that the number of children in large infant classes has halved since September 1998 from 354,000 (22 per cent.) to 181,000 (11 per cent.) in September 1999 and that over 300,000 children have benefited since January 1998. A total of £620 million has been made available to implement the pledge early in virtually all schools by September 2000.

Table One sets out the information requested by local education authority.

Table One
Total funding to reduce infant class sizes (£) Extra teachers Extra classrooms Children in large classes in September 1998 (%) Children in large classes in September 1999 (%)
Shropshire 1.3 million 42 10 1,105 (15) 62 (1)
Telford and Wrekin 934,000 45 3 719 (15) 251 (5)

Table Two shows the number of schools benefiting from new buildings and major repairs under the New Deal for Schools. All Shropshire schools have benefited from a risk assessment for asbestos.

Table Two
Number of schools Amount of expenditure supported (£ million)
Shropshire 158 2,380
The Wrekin 6 0.821

Since 1997–98, Shropshire LEA has received £691,733 for books for all maintained schools and Telford and Wrekin LEA has received £245,217. A further allocation of £128,725 for Shropshire LEA and £63,223 for Telford and Wrekin LEA was made in 1998–99 to support the National Literacy Strategy in primary schools. In total, the allocation for books for schools to the two authorities was enough to buy around 225,780 books.

It should be noted that Telford and Wrekin Council has been in existence as a unitary authority only since April 1998, and that the figures for Shropshire include sums allocated before that date. It is not possible to provide figures for the Wrekin constituency.