Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Thursday, 18 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 May 2006. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 June 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Limavady Learning Partnership

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) when the Department for Education will make available (a) resources and (b) guidance to Limavady Learning Partnership to enable it to implement a strategic plan to deal with widening public choice and tackling social disadvantage;

Answer: The details of schools to be offered funding for Extended School activities through Theme 1 of the Children and Young People’s Funding Package was announced on 6 June 2006. I have no plans through Extended Schools to fund organisations other than schools, though schools may, if they wish, pool their resources to form clusters or partnerships. A toolkit containing guidance for Extended Schools is also being made available. Not all the schools in the Limavady Partnership will benefit from the announcement, but I would encourage those schools not selected to consider using some of their allocation from the £10 million additional funding package for schools that I announced on 5 June 2006 to support collaborative working.

Secondary information