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Education Action Zones
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for the development of education action zones. [18708]
Mr. Byers: Education Action Zones are a radical and important element in our plans to raise standards in schools, especially those in challenging circumstances. They will provide new exciting ways for schools and LEAs, and parents, business and community organisations, to work together to raise standards.
Action Zones will be in urban and rural areas where schools are in need of additional focused support and will exist for at least three years, and often longer. Each will be run with the help of a Forum which will set challenging targets and put forward ambitious, innovative plans for meeting them. Local partnerships will need to bid to be in the programme. We expect to create at least 25 zones during this parliament. We shall very shortly be publishing the School Standards and Framework Bill which will provide the statutory basis for Education Action Zones.
Education Expenditure
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the estimated cost to local authorities of the enhanced role of local education authorities set out in the White Paper "Excellence in Schools". [17960]
Mr. Byers:
The main requirement on local education
28 Nov 1997 : Column: 698
authorities flowing from the White Paper is to refocus their existing resources towards the delivery of higher standards of pupil achievement. The extent of the net costs or net savings will vary between authorities according to the extent that a given authority has already adjusted the balance of its support for schools in this direction in recent years. In accordance with the White Paper principle of intervention in inverse proportion to success, LEAs' plans should include a review of all existing activity to ensure that its work in support of raising standards is well targeted. The Government will ensure through the regular process of approving LEAs' Education Development Plans that the resources an LEA plans to commit are appropriate for the task.
Mr. Tredinnick:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will ascertain the number of classrooms of wooden construction currently in use in Leicestershire, indicating their location, the number of pupils currently educated in them and the date their safety was last checked. [18203]
Mr. Byers:
It is for LEAs to determine how they provide the school places for pupils in their own area. I recognise that many LEAs do currently have to rely on classrooms of wooden construction which are at the end of, or beyond, their design life. The New Deal for Schools (NDS) will help LEAs to redress such problems. It provides for bids covering a variety of school building needs. Over 2,000 schools will benefit from the £115 million which the Prime Minster announced would be spent in the current financial year. By the end of this Parliament we expect an additional £2 billion to be spent as a result of the NDS.