To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the purpose of the local management of schools scheme; and if he will make a statement.

The key aims of the local management of schools are to ensure that resources are allocated to schools in a fair and open way, based mainly on the number of pupils they have to educate; and that as much as is reasonably possible of local authorities' potential schools budget is delegated to schools, to manage as they see fit.I expect the introduction of the local management of schools to benefit all schools. Many schools are already experiencing those benefits; many more will do so when formula funding and delegated management have been fully implemented in every local education authority.