To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of maintained schools carrying forward a budget deficit into the current financial year; and if he will list such schools which are known to his Department. [109424]

Information on the balances carried forward by maintained schools at the end of the financial year 2002–03 will be contained in the outturn statements for that year produced by local education authorities under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. The deadline for production of these statements is 10 October 2003, and until then we do not know the number of schools in deficit at the start of 2003–04.