To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of funding per head for pupils in (a) academies and (b) all secondary schools in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. (150699)

For the financial year 2007-08 the average revenue funding per pupil at academies is £5,966 excluding any payments made by or through local authorities. The budget share for an academy is calculated using the funding formula for the local authority in which it is situated. Sixth form funding is calculated using the Learning and Skills Council formula.

Since 2006-07 secondary schools have been funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The DSG is distributed through a single guaranteed unit of funding per pupil so a split between primary and secondary funding is not available.

In 2007-08 the national average DSG allocation was £3,888 per pupil for nursery, primary and secondary school aged pupils. Additional revenue grants were £571 per pupil, making a total of £4,459 per pupil.

The revenue grants figure is provisional and does not include grants allocated by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

The academies figure is not comparable with that for maintained schools because it includes 16+ funding; and most academy pupils are of secondary age whereas the DSG figure is for pupils aged three to 15. Furthermore, most academies have high levels of deprivation and this increases their funding level per pupil.