Specialist Schools (Hansard, 1 November 2000)

§ Mr. Boswell
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the moratorium on specialist schools in cases where local education authorities are projected to have reached508W a level of 30 per cent. of pupils in such schools, with particular reference to its duration and conditions attached. [135924]

§ Ms Estelle Morris
We want as many pupils as possible to benefit from the network of technology, language, sports and arts colleges around the country and that is why we are expanding the programme to 1,000 schools by 2004. To ensure that all parts of the country, particularly where there are few specialist schools, get a fair distribution of specialist school resources, we do not at present want to receive further applications from schools in local education authorities where 30 per cent. or more of their pupils attend specialist schools. This is not a permanent measure. It will apply only until we achieve a fairer spread of specialist schools in other parts of the country and shall be reviewed after the spring 2001 specialist school competition. We have also said that we shall look sympathetically at exceptional circumstances where a school's application plans are already well advanced and where it has raised the required sponsorship. In two such cases, we have agreed to receive applications from Chenderit and Kingsbrook Schools in Northamptonshire. We will consider these applications in the same way as all other applications received against the published criteria, which include location factors such as distance to the nearest existing specialist school.

§ Mr. Boswell
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many specialist schools have been designated in each year since the inception of the scheme; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of those years. [135936]

§ Ms Estelle Morris
The number of schools designated from each September since the specialist schools programme was introduced and the related cost in each of those years is given in the table:

Year Number of designations Financial year Programme cost (£ million)

1994 49 1994–95 8

1995 58 1995–96 16

1996 74 1996–97 23

1997 78 1997–98 33

1998 85 1998–99 41

1999 77 1999–2000 47

2000 137 2000–01 ¹76

¹Estimated outturn

Year	Number of designations	Financial year	Programme cost (£ million)
1994	49	1994–95	8
1995	58	1995–96	16
1996	74	1996–97	23
1997	78	1997–98	33
1998	85	1998–99	41
1999	77	1999–2000	47
2000	137	2000–01	¹76
¹Estimated outturn