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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional resources he has made available to local education authorities to prevent the loss of (a) teaching and (b) non-teaching staff as a result of this year's budget settlement to schools. [120968] Mr. Miliband: The funding of schools is a shared responsibility of central and local Government. In 2003-04, there have been a number of very significant pressures on LEA and school spending. Nationally, the additional resources provided for education more than match those pressures. However, changes to the distribution formula for Education Formula Spending, together with the ending of a substantial body of ring- fenced grants from my Department's Standards Fund, have meant that different LEAs and schools have received a wide range of year-on-year increases in overall support for education. The Department has taken steps through an additional grant of £28 million to ensure that all LEAs have at least a minimum increase of 3.2 per cent. per pupil, in addition to taking account of the effect of the Standards Fund and teachers' pension changes. We have also provided a special grant costing £11 million to 18 London LEAs to help them fund this year's increases in London weighting. In addition, LEAs and schools will be given the additional flexibility to use their devolved formula capital funding from the Department to support revenue expenditure. The decision to use a school's capital funding in this way will need to be made jointly by the school and its LEA, and should only be taken in those circumstances where failure to do so would lead to excessive instability within that school.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

120968; 407 c788-9W;407 c792-3W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Finance Education Local education authorities Non-teaching staff Schools Teachers

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk