§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will express, in real terms, the SSA per student in respect of post-16 education in each local education authority in(a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02; and what her estimate is of SSA per student transferred to the Learning and Skills Council in 2002–03. [37043]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Post-16 SSA cannot be expressed meaningfully as a per pupil amount because education for this group is not compulsory and a large part of the post-16 SSA is determined on the basis of population aged 11 to 15. For local education authorities without school sixth forms, and consequently with very small numbers of post-16 pupils, this would produce disproportionately high figures. Participation rates in schools post-16 can also vary significantly in authorities with sixth forms, which would make the figures for post-16 SSA per pupil vary significantly from year to year.