HC Deb 13 March 2003 vol 401 cc401-2W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of his Departmental budget was spent on(a) pre-school education, (b) school age education up to sixth form level, (c) sixth form school and college education, (d) further education and (e) higher education in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement [99819]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The amount spent by the Department on various functions is set out in table 4.2 of the 2002 Departmental Report for the Department for Education and Skills (Command Number 5402).

Mr. McLoughlin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the grants funded by his Department for which(a) LEAs, (b) primary and secondary schools, (c) further education institutions, (d) higher education institutions, (e) individual teachers and (f) students may apply; how much funding was made available in the last financial year; how many awards were made; and what their administrative costs were in each case. [99946]

Mr. Charles Clarke

My Department makes grant payments to a wide range of education, voluntary and private organisations. Organisations and individuals can also apply to and receive grants from our NDPBs and other agencies, for which we hold no central records. Therefore this question could be answered only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 24 February 2003,Official Report, columns 164–65W, on pupil funding, for what reasons Havering receives lower funding than other London Boroughs for pupils aged (a) five to 10 and (b) 11 to 15; and what plans he has to increase funding for schools in Havering. [102049]

Mr. Miliband

In 2003–04, Havering's Education Formula Spending Share is increasing by 3.2 per cent. per pupil. In addition we will continue to provide Standards Fund grant funding for priority programmes to support improvements as in previous years: for 2003–04 Havering's Standards Fund allocation so far is

(ii) middle and (iii) upper schools in (A) the latest period for which figures are available and (B) each of the past four years. [100799]

Mr. Miliband

The available information is shown in the table.

£4.2 million not including the LEA contribution. Havering's schools will also continue to benefit from significant increases in the School Standards Grant.

In 2003–04 Havering's average level of funding per primary pupil is £2,237. Its average level of funding per secondary pupil is £2,956.

Overall, the per pupil funding in Havering is lower than in London authorities because it benefits less than other London authorities from those aspects in the funding formula which reflect the additional costs of recruiting and retaining staff in high-cost areas (the Area Cost Adjustment—ACA) and the additional costs of educating deprived pupils.

The ACA for London has three values: 1.2624 (inner); 1.1447 (outer London west); and 1.0912 (outer London east). Havering receives the ACA for those in outer London east: its lower value reflects the lower general wage rates in outer London east compared with those in outer London west. On the measures of deprivation in EFSS, Havering is 10th out of the 13 outer London east authorities for both income support and the working families tax credit and has the lowest proportion of pupils with English as an additional language and low achieving ethnic groups.

We recognise that the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body will place an additional burden on schools in Havering. Consequently our response to the STRB report proposes an additional grant for those London authorities with a low increase in their education formula spending share or a floor increase in their Revenue Support Grant. Havering's share will be £475,000: we intend to pay this grant in May; and the LEA will be required to pass it on to school budgets.