Written question asked by David Laws (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 19 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 February 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 8 April 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Devolved Schools Grant

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for what purposes the retained element of the devolved schools grant will be used; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: In accordance with the school finance (England) regulations, local authorities in England are permitted to deduct funding from their schools budget for the purposes of central expenditure. Schedule 2 of the school finance (England) regulations sets out the areas of expenditure that local authorities can retain centrally such as: special educational needs provision, pupil referral units, behaviour support services, education out of school, expenditure on the provision of nursery education other than in maintained schools, threshold and performance pay for teachers' salaries, expenditure on the administration of the local authority's admissions and appeals system for their schools, and school contingencies.

Secondary information