§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what effect he estimates specialist schools have had on the increase in secondary school students receiving five GCSE passes or more over the last five years. [106511]
§ Mr. MilibandResearch carried out by Professor David Jesson (University of York) shows that the performance of each cohort of specialist schools and City Technology Colleges (from 1994–2001) has improved more than non-specialist schools at the time, with the exception of the 1996 and 1997 cohorts, as in the following table. This research excluded grammar schools, which, however, form a very similar percentage of both specialist schools and non-specialist schools.
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 4 April 2003]: The Standards Fund is a programme of Government grants to local education authorities to support a range of national education priorities, such as the national literacy and numeracy strategies, support for Specialist Schools, measures to raise the level of achievement of pupils from ethnic minorities, the Excellence in Cities initiative and capital projects. The grant is paid to local education authorities and most is then devolved to schools. Funding is distributed according to the requirements of each grant and there is no maximum entitlement. A local education authority will not necessarily receive an allocation for every Standards Fund priority. For example, not all authorities are part of the Excellence in Cities initiative, which is designed to raise performance through a targeted programme addressing the educational problems of our major cities.
The following table gives the total grant allocated to the London education authorities for the 2002–03 Standards Fund programme, showing the split between recurrent and capital grant.
79W
2002–03 standards fund grant allocated to London education authorities £ Local education authority Revenue grant Capital grant Total grant Barking 9,139,219 11,320,167 20,459,386 Barnet 9,831,950 6,364,646 16,196,596 Bexley 6,548,557 5,478,844 12,027,401 Brent 12,254,901 5,297,419 17,552,320 Bromley 7,970,161 6,288,876 14,259,037 Camden 11,769,858 3,366,083 15,135,941 Corporation of London 232,638 140,495 373,132 Croydon 11,031,930 6,064,810 17,096,740 Baling 12,836,244 6,432,633 19,268,877 Enfield 13,355,641 9,230,884 22,586,526 Greenwich 15,794,953 9,663,911 25,458,865 Hackney 14,427,947 7,860,657 22,288,604 Hammersmith and Fulham 9,697,678 2,866,870 12,564,548 Haringey 15,745,570 6,815,522 22,561,093 Harrow 5,715,266 4,130,761 9,846,028 Havering 6,109.974 5,692,216 11,802,190 Hillingdon 8,218,097 7,255,036 15,473,133 Hounslow 11,152,515 5,923,770 17,076,285 Islington 13,058,206 3,751,636 16,809,841 Kensington and Chelsea 6,797,691 1,670,060 8,467,751 Kingston Upon Thames 4,375,605 5,614,948 9,990,553 Lambeth 13,553,014 5,366,334 18,919,348 Lewisham 15,825,426 7,361,924 23,187,349 Merton 5,263,909 3,703,518 8,967,428 Newham 20,916,362 7,799,005 28,715,367 Redbridge 8,351,069 5,623,887 13,974,956 Richmond Upon Thames 3,688,102 2,872,799 6,560,901 Southwark 16,514,403 5,101,928 21,616,331 Sutton 5,100,801 4,418,675 9,519,476 Tower Hamlets 22,441.941 7,394,838 29,836,779 Waltham Forest 14,274,858 7,977,398 22,252,256 Wandsworth 11,198,485 5,374,328 16,572,812 Westminster 8,835,215 2,560,950 11,396,165
§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to review the proposed changes to the Standards Fund for 2004–05 in the light of this year's experience. [107220]
§ Mr. Miliband[holding answer 4 April 2003]: The Government have announced that over the spending review period the proportion of funding provided to local education authorities and schools through ring-fenced grants will be reduced. The particular arrangements for Standards Fund are reviewed annually in the light of experience.