Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Friday, 5 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 June 2009. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Schools: Merseyside

Question: (2) how much funding his Department has allocated to reducing class sizes in schools in (a) Crosby and (b) Merseyside in each year since 1997.

Answer: Local authorities are responsible for the distribution of funding (including funding provided through the dedicated schools grant (DSG)) to schools in their area. Each local authority in consultation with their Schools Forum can choose to include a factor in their funding formula to direct resources to schools with infant classes to enable them to meet the class size duty. The Department does not collect information on how much funding was allocated to employing more teachers for Crosby and Merseyside schools. In 2008-09 the final DSG amount for Sefton local authority was £157.65 million. The 2009-10 final DSG amount for Sefton is yet to be published.

Secondary information