§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local education authorities that have not passported 100 per cent. of 783W allocated resources to schools for 2003–04 and have failed to give him an explanation for withholding resources that he deems adequate. [120970]
§ Mr. MilibandIn the analysis of local education authorities' (LEA) budget returns, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State published on 2 May 2003, 19 LEAs were shown as failing to pass on, or passport, the full increase in their schools formula spending share to their schools budgets. The non-passporting LEAs set out their reasons for not doing so in their responses to my Department's letter to them of 2 May 2003. My Department is in discussion with a number of LEAs about the passporting situation.
I have made clear that I expect LEAs that are not passporting this year to make every effort to passport in full next year and over the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06 taken together.