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Education Bill

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what powers (a) will be removed from local government and (b) she will gain under the Education Bill. [25928]

Mr. Timms: Our key aim in legislating through the Education Bill is to remove barriers to innovation and free providers to adopt new approaches to the delivery of education. An important part of this is the creation of a legislative framework that can be adapted more easily to changing circumstances so that we can be more responsive to schools and LEAs delivering services. The Bill does not signal any change in our view of the role of local government. We know that LEAs have an important role to play in school improvement and are committed to working with them.

All the measures in the Bill are consistent with our principle of intervention in inverse proportion to success. Where schools and LEAs are delivering good quality services, we will support them to do so. If services should fail the children and young people involved, then intervention will be swift and decisive, so that they receive the quality of education which is their right.

It is not, therefore, our intention to change the balance of powers between central and local government through the Education Bill.

Specialist Schools (South Tyneside)

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how specialist schools in South Tyneside have performed compared with other schools in South Tyneside. [26039]

14 Jan 2002 : Column 22W

Mr. Timms: As shown in the table the two specialist schools in South Tyneside are performing above the LEA's average in relation to the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C.

Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs grades A*-C in 2001

	Percentage
Harton School	40
St. Joseph's RC Voluntary Aided Comprehensive School	52
LEA average	39

Education Standard Spending

Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the education standard spending per pupil in Swindon was in each of the last three years; and what the average was for all authorities was in those years. [26055]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is shown in the following table:

SSA per pupil (primary and secondary unit cost)£

LEA Name	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Barking and Dagenham	3,021	3,152	3,331
Barnet	2,857	2,987	3,156
Barnsley	2,559	2,683	2,800
Bath and North East Somerset	2,428	2,528	2,618
Bedfordshire	2,566	2,693	2,841
Bexley	2,750	2,861	3,017
Birmingham	2,820	2,959	3,082
Blackburn	2,734	2,865	2,974
Blackpool	2,568	2,708	2,820
Bolton	2,560	2,674	2,782
Bournemouth	2,560	2,672	2,773
Bracknell Forest	2,608	2,722	2,869
Bradford	2,702	2,840	2,958
Brent	3,314	3,431	3,627
Brighton and Hove	2,703	2,839	2,999
Bromley	2,705	2,806	2,966
Buckinghamshire	2,575	2,701	2,844
Bury	2,465	2,589	2,701
Calderdale	2,567	2,688	2,803
Cambridgeshire	2,485	2,591	2,697
Camden	3,721	3,913	4,095
Cheshire	2,443	2,547	2,650
City of Bristol	2,599	2,723	2,845
City of Kingston-upon-Hull	2,694	2,844	2,970
City of London	3,459	3,514	3,470
Cornwall	2,574	2,682	2,799
Coventry	2,665	2,788	2,894
Croydon	2,933	3,061	3,231
Cumbria	2,538	2,660	2,771
Darlington	2,546	2,683	2,785
Derby	2,602	2,733	2,849
Derbyshire	2,440	2,553	2,665
Devon	2,540	2,649	2,753
Doncaster	2,659	2,775	2,872
Dorset	2,464	2,577	2,678
Dudley	2,448	2,550	2,662
Durham	2,574	2,704	2,820
Ealing	3,097	3,241	3,431
East Riding of Yorkshire	2,466	2,582	2,684
East Sussex	2,625	2,761	2,910
Enfield	2,976	3,098	3,292
Essex	2,631	2,757	2,904
Gateshead	2,597	2,721	2,832
Gloucestershire	2,474	2,576	2,679
Greenwich	3,518	3,688	3,862
Hackney	3,941	4,118	4,295
Halton	2,675	2,812	2,941
Hammersmith and Fulham	3,715	3,899	4,095
Hampshire	2,503	2,624	2,765
Haringey	3,395	3,545	3,752
Harrow	2,823	2,955	3,138
Hartlepool	2,627	2,767	2,888
Havering	2,713	2,824	2,982
Herefordshire	2,546	2,664	2,768
Hertfordshire	2,659	2,785	2,933
Hillingdon	2,817	2,943	3,104
Hounslow	3,038	3,170	3,361
Isle of Wight Council	2,706	2,862	3,019
Isles of Scilly	4,660	4,846	5,040
Islington	3,760	3,971	4,172
Kensington and Chelsea	3,616	3,854	4,112
Kent	2,627	2,757	2,905
Kingston upon Thames	2,699	2,805	2,963
Kirklees	2,589	2,706	2,822
Knowsley	2,965	3,129	3,240
Lambeth	3,956	4,148	4,340
Lancashire	2,540	2,666	2,778
Leeds	2,558	2,681	2,794
Leicester	2,768	2,900	3,031
Leicestershire	2,385	2,490	2,591
Lewisham	3,667	3,815	3,984
Lincolnshire	2,560	2,671	2,781
Liverpool	2,907	3,082	3,202
Luton	2,798	2,929	3,081
Manchester	2,996	3,162	3,292
Merton	2,881	3,004	3,178
Middlesbrough	2,758	2,903	3,043
Milton Keynes	2,658	2,776	2,926
Newbury	2,502	2,625	2,777
Newcastle upon Tyne	2,736	2,878	2,999
Newham	3,434	3,582	3,774
Norfolk	2,558	2,681	2,793
North East Lincolnshire	2,604	2,748	2,876
North Lincolnshire	2,577	2,700	2,806
North Somerset	2,454	2,559	2,660
North Tyneside	2,529	2,653	2,766
North Yorkshire	2,513	2,633	2,741
Northamptonshire	2,490	2,597	2,702
Northumberland	2,531	2,645	2,759
Nottingham City	2,800	2,928	3,054
Nottinghamshire	2,477	2,597	2,703
Oldham	2,636	2,758	2,879
Oxfordshire	2,559	2,687	2,838
Peterborough	2,656	2,784	2,903
Plymouth	2,558	2,695	2,802
Poole	2,431	2,524	2,636
Portsmouth	2,689	2,809	2,958
Reading	2,662	2,796	2,956
Redbridge	2,895	3,017	3,184
Redcar and Cleveland	2,641	2,758	2,880
Richmond upon Thames	2,643	2,747	2,909
Rochdale	2,650	2,788	2,900
Rochester and Gillingham	2,597	2,725	2,874
Rotherham	2,561	2,670	2,779
Rutland	2,442	2,536	2,628
Salford	2,676	2,799	2,921
Sandwell	2,689	2,797	2,926
Sefton	2,559	2,692	2,789
Sheffield	2,593	2,714	2,828
Shropshire	2,497	2,602	2,716
Slough	3,098	3,235	3,422
Solihull	2,437	2,537	2,636
Somerset	2,497	2,602	2,711
South Gloucestershire	2,370	2,463	2,556
South Tyneside	2,662	2,800	2,925
Southampton	2,730	2,867	3,033
Southend	2,678	2,811	2,959
Southwark	3,744	3,894	4,083
St. Helens	2,571	2,694	2,807
Staffordshire	2,422	2,530	2,637
Stockport	2,422	2,536	2,639
Stockton-on-Tees	2,592	2,712	2,826
Stoke on Trent	2,560	2,703	2,845
Suffolk	2,487	2,600	2,704
Sunderland	2,625	2,743	2,867
Surrey	2,615	2,735	2,892
Sutton	2,765	2,865	3,018
Swindon	2,465	2,577	2,675
Tameside	2,537	2,667	2,782
The Wrekin	2,571	2,695	2,806
Thurrock	2,779	2,909	3,054
Torbay	2,587	2,712	2,814
Tower Hamlets	4,035	4,191	4,406
Trafford	2,519	2,628	2,728
Wakefield	2,493	2,612	2,725
Walsall	2,591	2,706	2,809
Waltham Forest	3,173	3,289	3,485
Wandsworth	3,425	3,551	3,704
Warrington	2,424	2,529	2,632
Warwickshire	2,451	2,558	2,663
West Sussex	2,545	2,666	2,818
Westminster	3,536	3,721	3,891
Wigan	2,469	2,580	2,683
Wiltshire	2,480	2,585	2,686
Windsor and Maidenhead	2,639	2,774	2,922
Wirral	2,647	2,784	2,896
Wokingham	2,398	2,510	2,646
Wolverhampton	2,693	2,808	2,932
Worcestershire	2,434	2,541	2,644
York	2,442	2,555	2,654
Average for England	2,658	2,782	2,911

14 Jan 2002 : Column 24W

Education Funding (Sunderland)

Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the real terms increase has been in (a) capital and (b) revenue budgets for the Sunderland education authority in each year from 1997 inclusive; and what the projected increase is in each of the next three years. [26123]

Mr. Timms: The information requested from 1997–98 to 2001–02 is in the following table. Allocations for subsequent years have not yet been finalised so comparable figures for 2002–03 to 2004–05 are not available.

Sunderland's recurrent and capital allocations in real terms£ million

	Recurrent	Increase	Capital	Increase
1997–98	118.76	—	8.48	—
1998–99	125.47	+ 6.71	7.18	- 1.30
1999–2000	132.60	+ 7.13	8.43	+ 1.24
2000–01	145.23	+ 12.63	14.19	+ 5.77
2001–02	158.90	+ 13.68	27.83	+ 13.64

⁽⁷⁾ SSA + grants

Note:

Figures rounded to two decimal places

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