HC Deb 16 October 2001 vol 372 c1179W
Angela Watkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding per pupil was provided to grant maintained schools in the London borough of Havering in the year immediately prior to the end of grant maintained status; and what funding per pupil these schools have received in the current financial year. [6549]

Mr. Timms

In the financial year 1998–99, the grant-maintained (GM) schools in the London borough of Havering, all of which were secondary schools, received recurrent funding from the former Funding Agency for Schools (FAS) amounting on average to £2,690 per pupil. For the financial year 2001–02, the most closely comparable figure currently available in respect of these schools is £3,120 per pupil. The figures have been calculated to the nearest £10 on the basis of pupil numbers from the annual schools' census for January 1998 and January 2001.

The calculations for 1998–99 are based on financial information supplied to the Department by FAS. The figures include annual maintenance grant together with special purpose grants for development, GNVQ, premises insurance, and the purchase of books, but not other special purpose grants or capital grants. Where the schools' annual maintenance grant included an element to compensate the schools for their inability to reclaim VAT, appropriate adjustments have been made to reflect this.

The calculations for 2001–02 are based on information from the budget statement published by the local education authority under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, supplemented and updated (in the case of specific grants) by information separately provided by the LEA. The figures include the schools' budget shares (including school standards grant), and standards fund resources devolved to the schools (but excluding capital grants, and other grants relating to school security and the National Grid for Learning).

In 1998–99, under arrangements specific to the GM sector, the GM schools in Havering received formula capital allocations from FAS amounting on average to £32 per pupil. Under the NDS devolved formula capital arrangements which apply to all schools, the Havering ex-GM schools' allocations for 2001–02 amount on average to £29 per pupil; these figures are rounded to the nearest pound.