§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment she has made of the amount of headteachers' time spent preparing bids for her Department's special funding; [42138]
(2) if she will list, for each local education authority, the schemes through which (a) the authority, (b) some or all maintained schools and (c) both are eligible to bid for additional funding; and what the aggregate additional funding paid through such schemes was, in the most recent year for which information is available. [42139]
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§ Mr. TimmsNo such assessment has been made.
Most additional education funding is allocated and paid to local education authorities through the Standards Fund and Special Grants. In 2001–02 the Standards Fund is worth £2.9 billion of Government grant and Special Grant worth £1.1 billion.
Almost all Standard Fund grants are allocated to LEAs on a formula basis and the Government expects LEAs to devolve grants to schools by a fair formula, in which case schools should not have to apply for grant. All Special Grants are allocated to local education authorities via a specified formula by which they must pass grant on to their schools.