§ Mrs. DeanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the total capital expenditure available for schools in(a) Staffordshire and (b) Burton constituency for each year from 1990–91 to 2000–01. [146985]
§ Jacqui SmithThe information showing the schools in the Burton constituency which have benefited from investment through the New Deal for Schools programme, which commenced in 1997–98, is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library. This is the only constituency level information which is readily available. These allocations formed part of the 589W £20.151 million investment made so far in schools in Staffordshire local education authority under the New Deal for Schools programme.
The New Deal for Schools was introduced as a new additional programme targeted specifically at addressing the backlog of urgent repairs in school buildings that had built up after 18 years of underfunding under the previous Administration. It has been in addition to other capital funds made available to Staffordshire local education authority.
In total, since 1996, Staffordshire local education authority has received some £90.985 million of funding for capital investment in school buildings, as shown in a table which has also been placed in the Library.
Nationally, investment in school buildings has tripled from £683 million a year in 1996–97 to over £2 billion in 2000–01. It will be £3.2 billion in 2003–04, including grant, credit approvals and Private Finance Initiative credits. There will be central Government investment of £7.8 billion in school buildings in total from 2001–02 to 2003–04.