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Primary Schools (Rutland)
Mr. Duncan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will estimate the total available funding for the financial year 1997-98 for all of Rutland's primary schools if they all chose grant-maintained status. [16842]
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Mr. Robin Squire:
I cannot make such an estimate. Any GM primary school in Rutland in 1997-98 would receive as annual maintenance grant an amount determined by reference to the local education authority's local management of schools--LMS--scheme, with additional money to reflect its additional responsibilities. The precise amounts also depend on the overall budget decisions which the authority makes.
In addition, GM schools receive special purpose grants and capital grant. Responsibility for determining the amounts of these grants paid to individual schools rests with the Funding Agency for Schools.
Mr. Duncan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much was spent, and how much is available under the SSA to be spent for each of the primary schools in Rutland for (i) 1994-95, (ii) 1995-96, (iii) 1996-97 and (iv) 1997-98; [16838]
(3) what research her Department has conducted into the formula for the education SSA for primary schools in the newly unitary Rutland compared with the pattern of actual spending there in each of the three previous years; what factors have been taken into account for sparsity and special needs; and if she will make a statement. [16840]
Mr. Squire:
The information is not available in the form in which it has been requested. Neither the total of Leicestershire county council's spending on primary schools nor the education component of the authority's standard spending assessment for the financial years in question can be accurately broken down to the level of individual primary schools in Rutland, primarily due to difficulties in apportioning central spending in support of these schools. I shall write to the hon. Member.
For 1997-98, the new unitary authority for Rutland is free to decide whether to increase funding for primary schools within the overall increase in its budget requirement permitted by the provisional capping rules. There is no allowance within the education standard spending assessment that is comparable with spending on primary schools.
The calculation of education standard spending assessments for Rutland and other authorities is based on an objective formula largely driven by pupil numbers. The cost adjustments for sparsity and additional education needs are defined in the "Local Government Finance Report (England) 1997-98", a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The formula is, and will continue to be, specifically designed not to reflect actual levels of local authority spending on particular areas and all the factors in the formula are independent of the decisions taken by individual authorities. The formula is kept under annual review, in consultation with the local authority associations.
Miss Lestor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many names of
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individuals were placed on list 99 in (a) 1994, (b) 1995 and (c) 1996; and how many of these names were submitted by the independent education sector. [17115]
Mrs. Gillan:
The following table shows the number of names added to list 99 in each of the last three years for which statistics are available. The table also shows the type of establishment in which these individuals were most recently employed. The Department's statistical record does not distinguish between cases reported by the employer and those reported by the police, or other agency.
(2) what was the standard spending assessment for education spending on primary schools in Rutland; what was the total actual spending on Rutland's primary schools for (i) 1994-95, (ii) 1995-96 and (iii) 1996-97; and how much is available under the SSA for 1997-98;[16839]
| Period | Number of names added to list 99 | Status of last employer Independent schoolMaintained schoolFurther education establishment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 1993 to 31 March 1994 | 59 | 21 | 37 | 1 |
| 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995 | 98 | 24 | 60 | 14 |
| 1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996 | 81 | 26 | 55 | 0 |
Teachers (Early Retirement)
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers took early retirement under the premature retirement arrangements for teachers in each year since 1990. [17120]
Mrs. Gillan:
The number of teachers granted premature retirement for each year from 1990-91 to 1995-96 is given in the following table.
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Sir Irvine Patnick:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects to receive the report from the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority on values in education and the community; and if she will make a statement. [16959]
Mrs. Gillan:
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, expects to receive advice on the final recommendations of the national forum for values in education and the community once the authority has finalised its consultations.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment who had (a) trusteeship duties and (b) fiduciary duties for the teachers' pension scheme before and after the setting up of the Teachers Pensions Agency. [16918]
Mrs. Gillan:
The teachers' superannuation scheme is an unfunded statutory scheme, which does not have trustees. The Secretary of State is accountable to Parliament for the running of the TSS.
Fiduciary duties for the moneys coming into and out of the scheme rest with the permanent secretary of the relevant Department. During the existence of the Teachers Pensions Agency from 1992 to 1996, the chief executive of the agency was appointed as an additional accounting officer to support the permanent secretary in his role as principal accounting officer for the Department.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many early pensions or redundancies were financed by the teachers' pension scheme in (a) schools, (b) further education and sixth form colleges and (c) higher education institutions in each of the past five complete years. [16921]
Mrs. Gillan:
The following table shows the number of premature retirements from the teachers' superannuation scheme for each of the years 1991-92 to 1995-96, for schools--maintained and independent--further education and sixth form colleges, and higher education institutions. Redundancy payments are made by teachers' employers.
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1990-91: 11,692
1991-92: 10,287
1992-93: 12,214
1993-94: 12,233
1994-95: 10,608
1995-96: 13,055.
| 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schools | 6,908 | 7,494 | 8,299 | 7,725 | 9,204 |
| FE and Sixth Form Colleges | 1,882 | 3,018 | 1,822 | 1,894 | 2,571 |
| HE Institutions | 617 | 591 | 745 | 336 | 579 |
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Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place in the Library the actuarial basis referred to in her Department's letter about changes to entitlement on redundancy within the teachers pension scheme to the secretary of the teachers panel; and if she will estimate (a) the savings to the scheme costs and (b) the extra social security expenditure implied by the changes she proposes. [16944]
Mrs. Gillan:
I have placed in the Library a note by the Government Actuary, setting out the method of calculation of the actuarial factors which were referred to in the Department's letter of 17 December 1996 to the secretary of the teachers' panel. The Government Actuary
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recommends that the employers' contribution rate will be 7.2 per cent., if, as my right hon. Friend has decided, the cost of premature retirement is no longer borne by the scheme, and 8.8 per cent. if it continues to be borne by the scheme. The savings to teachers' employers arising from this difference will be £220 million per annum. It is not possible to say whether there will be extra expenditure on social security as a result of the changes. That will depend on the decisions reached by each individual employer, and the personal circumstances of each teacher who leaves employment. The Government intend premature retirement to continue to be available as a management tool, and has provided funding for that purpose.
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Mr. Byers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will introduce transitional arrangements to dampen the effect of the introduction of the new funding formula on the budget allocation to the Milton Keynes and North Buckinghamshire training and enterprise council; and if she will make a statement.[16978]
Mr. Paice:
Initial budget proposals have been modified to some degree in Milton Keynes chamber of commerce, training and enterprise's favour during contract negotiations between the relevant Government office and the eight TECs in the south-east region.
Mr. Byers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which Government regional offices have not introduced transitional arrangements to dampen the effect on budgets the implementation of the new funding formula for training and enterprise councils; and who is responsible for making such a decision. [16979]
Mr. Paice:
Government offices are responsible for negotiating contracts with TECs within their allocated regional budgets, and are not required to use a particular funding formula.
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