Written question asked by David Laws (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 9 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 11 January 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 16 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Underachieving/Deprived Pupils

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the allocation of funding to schools in deprived areas of Somerset; and if she will make a statement.

Answer: Under the current Schools Formula Spending Share (SPSS) arrangements in 2005–06, Somerset's SPSS takes account of the incidence of Additional Educational Needs, in the form of the numbers of families found to be in receipt of income support and working families tax credits, and the level of primary and secondary ethnicity in schools in Somerset. The school funding regulations stipulate that authorities must have a factor within their local funding formulae which recognises the incidence of deprivation in distributing resources to local schools.From April 2006, the Department is introducing a new ring fenced Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in distributing resources directly to authorities based on authorities spending levels in 2005–06. Somerset will receive increases of 6.7 per cent. and 6.5 per cent. per pupil in the next two financial years. It will be for the local authority to decide how to distribute their resources to schools via the local funding formula.

Secondary information