§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment by what means each school will receive the additional direct funding announced in the Budget; and what conditions will be applied as to how the resources are to be spent. [119199]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 14 April 2000]: My right hon. Friend laid a special report, under section 88B of the Local Government Act 1988, before the House on 6 April. Once it has been approved, it will empower him to make payments to local authorities on condition that they pass those payments to schools, within a specified time period. The additional funding will be part of schools' delegated budgets, so they will be free to decide what to spend it on. It will give extra support to secondary schools in raising standards as part of the new Key Stage 3 programme, which will include: the setting of challenging school-level targets, and development of strategies to meet them, by all secondary schools with Key Stage 3 pupils for performance in the Key stage 3 350W tests in 2002; and new Year 7 tests for pupils who have not yet achieved level 4 in English and maths. The tests will be available free in 2001 so that all secondary and middle schools can test all eligible pupils. The additional funding will help primary schools to meet the challenging literacy and numeracy targets they have set for both 2001 and 2002.