asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money has been allocated to the assisted places scheme in Scotland each year for the last five years (a) in total and (b) for each educational authority.

Total expenditure on the scheme in the four years it has been operating is as follows

	£ million
1981–82	0·512
1982–83	1·393
1983–84	2·225
1984–85	3·069

These figures, which relate to fiscal years, cannot readily be attributed to education authority areas. The grants are paid direct to the participating schools, and they submit their claims in relation to the academic year, not the financial year.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many pupils have benefited from the assisted places scheme in Scotland each year for the last five years (a) in total and (b) for each educational authority.

Pupils at participating schools may come from outwith the area of the education authority in which the schools are located but the number of places taken up in schools in each local authority area since the scheme began is as follows:

Area	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	*1984–85
Borders	—	—	—	—
Central	22	30	35	41
Dumfries & Galloway	—	7	11	13
Fife	2	6	14	21
Grampian	23	38	68	97