§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to secure match funding for specialist schools in highly deprived former coalfield areas; and if he will make a statement. [147452]
§ Mr. MilibandWe acknowledge that for some schools in deprived former coalfield areas, raising the £50,000 sponsorship required to make a specialist school application can be difficult.
The Department grant-aids the Specialist Schools Trust (SST) and the Youth Sport Trust to assist schools with raising sponsorship. We have also introduced a 'Partnership Fund' to provide support to schools that can demonstrate that sustained efforts to raise the full amount of sponsorship have been unsuccessful. The fund is administered by the SST in accordance with the Department's criteria. In the October 2003 specialist school application round, 13 schools in coalfield areas received a contribution from this fund.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Lancashire schools have applied for specialist status; and how many were successful. [148226]
§ Mr. MilibandThere are 12 local education authorities (LEAs), which cover the county of Lancashire. The information requested is set out in the table by LEA.
910W
Local education authority Number of schools which have applied
for specialist status
Number of schools which applied
successfully
Blackburn with Darwen 5 4 Blackpool 5 4 Bolton 12 9 Bury 8 4 Lancashire 63 33 Manchester 18 11
Local education authority Number of schools which have applied
for specialist status
Number of schools which applied
successfully
Oldham 8 6 Rochdale 6 5 Salford 6 3 Tameside 13 5 Trafford 17 12 Wigan 19 12 Total 180 108 Applications from schools in the October 2003 specialist school application round are currently being assessed. A list of successful schools from this round will be not be announced until the end of January and have therefore not been included in the list of successful applications.