§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what plans she has to ensure that 829W the costs associated with high pupil turnover in schools in London are compensated for (a) in the education service block in formula grant and (b) by specific grant. [67813]
(2) what plans she has to reflect the costs associated with educating children in areas of high ethnicity in (a) the education service block in formula grant and (b) by specific grant. [67814]
(3) what estimate she has made of the financial effect of changing the measure of ethnicity within the education formula grant from a country of birth indicator to an English as a second language indicator, broken down by local authority. [67815]
(4) what plans she has to redirect education funding to ensure that the Government's national child poverty targets are met. [67816]
(5) what plans she has to reflect problems associated with the recruitment and retention of teachers in London (a) in the education service block in formula grant and (b) by specific grant. [67817]
(6) what plans she has to reflect the costs of high population density in relation to school transport. [67818]
(7) what estimate she has made of the financial effect of changing the measure of ethnicity within the education formula grant from a country of birth indicator to school census data indicator, broken down by local authority. [67819]
(8) what plans she has to reflect the costs associated with educating children in areas of high social exclusion and deprivation (a) in the education service block in formula grant and (b) by specific grant. [67820]
(9) if she will make a statement concerning the impact of her proposed changes to the area cost adjustment on schools in London. [67825]
§ Mr. MilibandMy right hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government announced today the issue of a consultation paper on options for reform of the distribution of grant to local authorities: copies have been placed in the Libraries. Within the consultation paper there are four options for reform of the education SSA formula. All these options have a common structure consisting of an amount per pupil together with top ups for areas of significant deprivation and areas where it costs more to recruit and retain staff. The options exemplify different measures of deprivation including children in families on income support or working families credit, children with English as an Additional Language, and children from ethnic minorities. The options do not include factors for high population density or high pupil turnover. The paper contains exemplifications of the changes to total SSA for 2002–03 that would result from each of the four options. It does not separately identify the contribution to change of each element of the formula, because it would not be meaningful to do so: nor does it identify the contribution of each element of the formula to the total. We will be making the data underlying the options available to interested parties, so that they may make a full contribution to the consultation. Decisions on specific grants will be announced following the spending review outcome.