HC Deb 16 January 2003 vol 397 cc719-20W
Mr. Damian Green

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the additional costs of achieving the targets contained in his Department's report, "Time for Standards", on recruiting(a) extra teachers and (b) extra support staff. [89294]

Copies of tables giving a breakdown of the funding allocated for the above grants to each LEA in England since 1997–98 have been placed in the House of Commons Library. 2002–03 figures are to date and provisional. There are some gaps in 1997–98 as some LEAs only came into being the following year. For Standards Fund Grant in 1997–98 the allocations are shown against the 'successor' LEAs. Capital funding does not include Basic Need, when this has been allocated via Basic Credit Approvals which are unhypothecated.

As part of the Government's commitment to reducing the proportion of support for local authorities provided as ring-fenced grants, we have ensured all of the growth in schools spending announced in the Spending Review will go direct to schools. DfES support will in future increasingly be provided through local authorities' Education Formula Spending Shares, which, following the outcome of the Spending Review and transfers of funding from DfES grant budgets, will be £5.6 billion higher in 2005–06, compared to 2002–03. The number of ring-fenced grants, and the level of support provided through ring-fenced grants, will fall over the next three years from 13 per cent. of the total school spending to 11 per cent.