HC Deb 20 May 2004 vol 421 cc1154-5W
Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost per pupil of education in(a) primary school, (b) secondary school and (c) sixth form in the Borough of Havering was in the last academic year for which figures are available. [169948]

Mr. Miliband

My Department collects financial data according to the financial year. The available information is provided in the following table for the financial year 2002–03:

Net current expenditure per pupil—2002–03
£
Primary education 2,740
Secondary education 3,810

Notes:

1. The financial data are taken from Havering LEA's section 52 Outturn Statement submitted to the DfES. Section 52 is collected on a financial year basis and not an academic year basis. 2002–03 data are subject to change by the LEA. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.

2. 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. 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.

3. Net current expenditure (NCE) includes expenditure within schools and also that incurred centrally by the LEA.

4. The NCE per pupil figures for primary relate the net current expenditure (after recharges) in maintained primary schools to the total number of financial year pupils who are educated in the maintained primary schools sector.

5. 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 and includes those secondary schools with sixth forms. Separate figures cannot be calculated for costs of sixth forms.

6. Pupil data are drawn from the Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis.

Sarah Teather

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistant posts there have been in(a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Brent in each year since 1997; and what the average figures for (i) English borough councils and (ii) London boroughs were in each year. [172812]

Mr. Miliband

Teacher assistants are not available at borough council level. The following table gives the numbers of full-time equivalent teaching assistants in maintained schools in Brent local LEA, the average number in London LEAs and in all LEAs in England. The figures are as at January of each year between 1997 and 2003, the latest year for which data are available.

Brent London

average

England

average

Nursery and Primary
1997 160 170 270
1998 200 180 280
1999 230 200 300
2000 250 240 340
2001 300 310 420
2002 330 320 460
2003 350 370 530
Secondary
1997 10 20 50
1998 10 20 60
1999 30 20 70
2000 30 30 80
2001 40 50 100
2002 60 60 130
2003 60 70 150

Source:

Annual School Census.