§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding was spent per pupil in Blackpool, North and Fleetwood in each of the last seven years. [176206]
§ Mr. MilibandThe information requested is submitted to the Department according to local education authority areas rather than constituency level and as such the figures provided are for Blackpool LEA.
Net current expenditure £ Pre- primary
education
primary education
Pre- primary
and
primary
Secondary Education Special 1996–97 n/a n/a 1,800 2,590 15,990 1997–98 n/a n/a 1,820 2,630 17,320 1998–99 n/a n/a 1,900 2,510 15,270 1999–2000 0 2,160 2,240 2,810 13,810 2000–01 0 2,310 2,320 3,030 20,700 2001–02 0 2,670 2,900 3,320 16,280 2002–03 — 2,840 — 3,430 — Notes:
1. The financial data are taken from local education authorities' section 52 Outturn Statement submitted to the DfES from 1999–2000 onwards and the ODPM's ROI statement previously. 2002–03 data subject to change by the LEA. Expenditure was not distinguished between pre-primary and primary sectors until the inception of the section 52 outturn statement in 1999–2000. Hence, for consistency, the combined unit cost is provided since 1996–97 but due to problems outlined below (in footnote 4) the unit cost for primary education is a more robust measure.
2. Prior to local government reorganisation (LGR) in 1998–99 Blackpool LEA was part of Lancashire LEA. Consequently figures for 1996–97 and 1997–98 are for pre-LGR Lancashire LEA and figures for 1998–99 onwards are for Blackpool LEA.
3. Spending in 1997–98 reflects the transfer of monies from local government to central Government for the nursery vouchers scheme. These were returned to local government from 1998–99. 1999–2000 figures reflect the return of GM schools to local authority maintenance.
4. The outturn 2002–03 tables captured the data in a fundamentally different way to the previous years. Categories were aligned with the Consistent Financial Reporting framework and the spending by LEAs was no longer split by school sector. 785W Consequently the unit costs per pupil in 2002–03 are not strictly comparable with earlier years as they include an apportionment of LEA expenditure based on pupil numbers. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.
5. Net current expenditure (NCE) includes expenditure within schools and also that incurred centrally by the LEA.
6. The NCE per pupil figures for pre-primary and primary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in the pre-primary sector and maintained primary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained nursery and primary schools sector. Blackpool LEA has no maintained nursery schools but does spend a significant amount of money on the pre-primary sector (around £2.8 million in 2001–02). This additional expenditure on the pre-primary sector has the effect of inflating the combined pre-primary/primary unit cost as it includes expenditure on both pre-primary and primary education divided only by the pupils in maintained primary schools.
7. The NCE per pupil figures for secondary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in maintained secondary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained secondary schools sector.
8. The NCE per pupil figures for special schools relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in maintained special schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained special schools sector.
9. Pupil data are drawn from the Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis.