Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 15 November 2007
Transport
Aviation: Terrorism
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is currently working to revise the 1952 Rome Convention on third party liability. The next step is for the ICAO legal committee to consider the latest draft of a convention on unlawful interference. The UK expects to participate in these discussions when they take place next year, but any conclusions remain some way off.
Daedalus Airfield
The Secretary of State has made no response to the Joint Planning Statement for Daedalus, produced by the Fareham and Gosport borough councils in April last year.
Departmental Consultants
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Manpower
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Angela Eagle) on 13 November 2007, Official Report, columns 203-07W.
Railways: Tickets
The Government welcomes the initiative announced in July by Eurostar, as part of Railteam, to give travellers seamless high-speed train travel across international borders. From 2009 their new distribution system will allow international travellers to purchase, make a reservation and receive tickets for Railteam members’ services from any distributor of European rail tickets in one transaction.
The Government have been participating in European initiatives such as the recently adopted Regulation on Rail Passenger Rights, and is monitoring the early development of European technical standards on through ticketing and passenger information systems for travel between European railway destinations.
The Government believe that the development of rail booking systems throughout Europe is best taken forward as a commercial matter by the operators.
Repairs and Maintenance: A1
The inspector’s report on the A1 Dishforth to Barton scheme is currently being considered. We expect to announce our decision in early 2008 together with publication of the inspectors report. Subject to the scheme orders being confirmed, it is currently anticipated that works would start on site in late summer 2008.
Walking and Cycling
Walking and cycling policies do not fall into neat boxes which enable us to identify exactly how many people deal with each area. The Department’s walking and cycling team currently consists of six people. Another team, the sustainable travel team, promotes all forms of sustainable travel which clearly has a strong emphasis on walking and cycling. This includes the Department for Transport (DFT) half of the DFT/Department for Children, Schools and Families School Travel Project: 14,000 schools have school travel plans and for “Walking to school” grants in which 3,200 primary schools are receiving grants for increasing walking through walking buses and other walking initiatives. In addition, colleagues in other teams including traffic management, road safety and communications for example also work on policies to encourage and promote walking and cycling. We also created an independent body, Cycling England, in 2005 which has a budget of £10 million per annum to promote cycling.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Birds of Prey
Birds of prey enjoy high levels of protection from killing and taking. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is an offence to kill, take or possess wild birds, including all birds of prey and their eggs. It is also an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb any wild bird listed on Schedule 1 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Most species of birds of prey are listed on Schedule 1.
British Waterways
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee published the Government’s response (HC1059) on 17 October 2007.
Departmental Assets
For reasons of commercial sensitivity it is not possible to itemise the net book value and expected sale revenue of each asset currently planned for disposal. However the Department is taking professional advice to ensure value for money and to maximise the return on these disposals.
The Department currently anticipates total receipts from the sale of assets of approximately £9 million in 2007-08; £36 million in 2008-09; £10 million in 2009-10 and £5 million in 2010-11. The disposals planned for the latter three years will form part of the Department's asset management strategy to be published in December this year.
Estimates of sale proceeds are subject to fluctuations in the property market and cannot be guaranteed, nor can it be stated with certainty exactly when these sales will take place.
It should also be noted that the figures apply to the wider DEFRA network, not just to the core Department. The assets in question are surplus or under-utilised land and property. The largest anticipated sale is that of DEFRA-owned land and buildings at Guildford, and we expect this to account for approximately one third of the income from asset disposals over the period 2007-08 to 2010-11.
Departmental Consultations
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 22 October 2007, Official Report, columns 78-79W.
Departmental Contracts
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 22 October 2006, Official Report, columns 78-79W.
Departmental Pay
The rates paid to consultants reflect the scope and duration of the work; the grade and experience of the consultant(s) chosen for the work; and supply market conditions.
The Department does not hold information centrally on the average hourly rate paid to consultants hired by the Department in each of the last five years. The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Procurement
There are two companies supplying the core Department with fish. Baxter Storey who already promote the use of MSC fish on DEFRA sites and Aramark. The Baxter Storey contract is due to finish in January 2010 and the Aramark contract in June 2009 unless extensions are granted. Both organisations are committed to the use of sustainable fish supplies.
Aramark for the month of November, will be running a Sustainable Fish promotional campaign on DEFRA sites. On a particular day, not Friday, they will offer their customers the opportunity to sample sustainable white fish alternatives to Cod and Haddock, products such as MSC Hake, Coley, Pollock, Pangasius and Hoki. They will ask customers for feedback on the products and once the feedback has been collated they hope to be in a position to remove Cod and Haddock completely. They have already run this campaign at other customer sites, where customers voted overwhelmingly to remove Cod and Haddock completely from the menu, having enjoyed the alternatives.
Guidance has been made available to all government procurers on the inclusion of a clause, for catering contracts, that addresses the issue of sourcing sustainable seafood. Advice on how to do this is given in the model specification clauses included in DEFRA’s “Catering Services and Food Procurement Toolkit”—see section 2(A) and appendix E. URL:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/pdf/psfpi-clauses.pdf
DEFRA’s own catering contract includes this model clause.
Information supplied by the catering service providers to the core Department shows that “approximately 2.5 kilos per week of cod is used”. There is only one supplier currently serving cod on one site. The company, Aramark, are proposing to substitute it with alternatives such as MSC Hake, Coley, Pollock, Pangasius and Hoki if a campaign to promote these species of fish from sustainable sources is well received by customers. Trials elsewhere have proved successful.
Direct Mail: Finance
(2) what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the potential impact on the income of the charitable sector of the introduction of an opt-in system for direct mail.
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: The Waste Strategy for England 2007 commits the Government to exploring with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) whether an opt-in system would be an appropriate mechanism to further reduce unnecessary direct mail. My officials have recently begun discussions on this with the DMA but it is too early for any conclusions to have been reached. My officials also plan to hold discussions with the Royal Mail and with other interested parties on this issue.
If discussions with the DMA and others suggest that an opt-in system for direct mail would be a practicable and effective way of reducing unwanted direct mail, the Government would put forward draft proposals and hold a full and open consultation on them with all interested parties, including of course the Royal Mail and the charitable sector. Before introducing any new system, and as part of these consultations, an impact assessment would be prepared setting out the anticipated costs and benefits for those affected.
Dogs: Animal Welfare
There are no plans at present to ban the sale and use of ‘electric shock collars’.
DEFRA has recognised that further research into these types of collars is a priority and a study, based on observation of collars already in use, has been commissioned. This is due to be completed in 2010.
DEFRA has also asked the Companion Animal Welfare Council, a key advisory body for government on companion animal welfare matters, to undertake an independent study of the available evidence on the use of these electronic training aids. This will help to inform policy development and complement the DEFRA-funded study.
All research into these areas commissioned by government will be put into the public domain after the study is complete.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides powers to prohibit or ban the use of any equipment in England and Wales in relation to animals. This can be done through secondary legislation, if considered necessary.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 July 2007, Official Report, column 1088W.
Dolphins: Japan
There have been no recent discussions between DEFRA Ministers and Japanese ministers on this issue.
The UK recognises with deep concern that these actions still occur in Japanese coastal waters and regularly raise the matter with Japan at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
The UK will continue to be extremely critical of these small cetacean (dolphin and porpoise) hunts because of the limited regulation, cruelty and unsustainable numbers taken.
Ducks
[holding answer 12 November 2007]: The Animal Welfare Act 2006 protects the welfare of animals on-farm and makes it an offence to cause suffering to any animal. The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 lay down requirements in respect of general welfare, inspection, housing and feeding for all farm animals. The welfare of ducks is also covered by a specific code of recommendations. Flock-keepers are required by law to have access to and be familiar with this code, which encourages high standards of husbandry.
Animal Health (AH) enforces the welfare legislation and carries out regular inspections at farm premises to check the welfare of livestock. AH also investigates all complaints and allegations about poor welfare on-farm.
DEFRA has funded a three-year research project to assess the welfare of ducks. The work involved a comprehensive assessment of different commercial systems currently in use in this country. The project is due to report back soon.
Environment Protection: EC action
The second consultation on the Environmental Liability Directive, accompanied by draft regulations, draft guidance and a revised impact assessment will be launched early in the new year.
Inland Waterways
As can be seen from the following table, the number of boats using our inland waterways owned or managed by British Waterways, the Environment Agency and the Broads Authority over the last five years has risen and reflects the increasing popularity of boating. DEFRA does not keep records of boat numbers on waterways managed by other navigation bodies.
British Waterways Environment Agency Broads Authority Total 2002 26,426 33,127 12,782 72,335 2003 26,240 32,187 12,923 71,350 2004 27,078 31,342 12,917 71,337 2005 29,000 31,535 12,770 73,305 2006 30,905 31,864 12,841 75,610
Inland Waterways: Fees and Charges
These are operational matters for British Waterways. However, I have received various representations, in the form of letters, emails and parliamentary questions from hon. Members.
British Waterways is currently out to consultation on its proposals to increase its licence fees. On mooring fees, British Waterways has assured me that it is committed to a full formal consultation on its moorings trial after completion of a six month trial period. The results of this consultation, as well as the practical experience gained from the trial, will inform its decision as to whether it continues the trial and whether it makes it a permanent arrangement or not.
I have written to the chairman of British Waterways asking to be kept informed of progress and have his assurance that British Waterways is committed to engaging with its stakeholders on this and other issues. I plan to meet with a cross-section of waterway stakeholders in December to discuss a range of issues of concern to them.
Ivory
My Department part funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) which this year has, for the first time, produced an overarching UK intelligence survey of wildlife crime. This is an important step forward in our efforts to eradicate illegal wildlife trade and ivory is one of the key elements in this study. I am confident that this joint agency approach with the NWCU bringing all elements of intelligence collection together will pay real dividends in the fight against this illegal trade.
In addition we have spent considerable time raising awareness of controls and restrictions relating to ivory trade with the antiques trade through trade associations and auctioneers. We also commissioned research into ageing ivory which is important as antique worked ivory items are exempt from controls.
International commercial trade in ivory has been prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1989 and this is actively enforced by HM Revenue and Customs at our borders and the police service internally. The illegal import or export of ivory can result in a large fine and/or several years imprisonment.
The UK fully supports efforts undertaken by the CITES community to improve enforcement activity in source and destination markets as well as working to eradicate illegal trade within the UK itself. The UK financially supports two key CITES programmes related to ivory trade: the Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) programmes. These enable the international community to monitor poaching and illegal trade levels so resources can be targeted where they are most needed.
Lighting
My Department, via the Market Transformation Programme, works with the lighting industry, the Energy Saving Trust and Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes to promote energy efficient lighting which is both commercially viable and acceptable to consumers.
While the upfront cost of energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) has been historically greater than inefficient tungsten filament bulbs, research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust suggests that, because they last up to 10 times longer and use significantly less energy to generate equivalent light levels, efficient bulbs can save householders up to £60 over the lifetime of a bulb in reduced energy bills and replacement costs.
New products are continually being developed and the retail prices of efficient bulbs have fallen significantly in recent years. In addition, the Energy Efficiency Commitment scheme has helped to drive down the price of energy efficient products, including CFLs, as energy suppliers work with retailers and manufacturers to offer good quality and affordable products to customers. Under the scheme, approximately 82 million CFLs have been distributed or sold to consumers since 2002.
We are not aware of any particular safety issues associated with high efficiency light bulbs such as CFLs. CFLs do contain a small amount of mercury, typically 3-4 mg, and should be disposed of responsibly. The European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive places a responsibility on manufacturers to ensure that these bulbs are disposed of in a safe manner.
Packaging: EU Law
Any business which places packaging or packaging materials on the UK market and has an annual turnover of more than £2 million and handles more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year is obligated under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 to recover and recycle a proportion of the packaging they handle.
In the UK, only companies which have a turnover of over £2 million and handle over 50 tonnes of packaging a year are obligated under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007. Therefore, companies below this threshold level would not need to comply with the provisions in the regulations and would not carry a compliance mark. A mandatory compliance mark could therefore be misleading for consumers.
Paper: Recycling
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: In July 2003 the Government signed an agreement with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which represents about 900 members involved in the direct mail and promotions industry, to raise recycling levels of direct mail to 30 per cent. by the end of 2005, 55 per cent. by the end of 2009 and 70 per cent. by the end of 2013. In 2003 about 13 per cent. of direct mail was recycled. The DMA estimates that recycling of direct mail rose to 28-30 per cent. in 2005.
The DMA also agreed to further develop the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) to improve the targeting of addressed direct mail, provide greater flexibility for both consumers and producers, and increase awareness of the service among householders. The DMA estimates that registrations with the MPS rose from 1.1 million in 2003 to 2.7 million in 2005.
Together with the Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP), the DMA is working to develop a recycle logo to be printed on all direct mail. The DMA is also working with WRAP in conjunction with the paper mills and adhesive manufacturers to minimise the use of materials that may contaminate the recycling process.
The Waste Strategy for England 2007 commits the Government to working with the DMA to develop an opt-out system for unaddressed direct mail, and to exploring with them whether an opt-in system would be an appropriate mechanism to further reduce unnecessary direct mail. These discussions are underway.
Recycling: Plastics
(2) whether consideration has been given to the introduction of deposits on glass and plastic bottles; and if he will make a statement.
My Department has not made any assessment of the merits of using plastic milk bottles or re-usable glass bottles. Assessing the most sustainable option for packaging containers will depend on a number of factors, including transport and the re-use or recycling of materials.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is currently undertaking a life-cycle analysis of milk packaging, which will look at the various different glass and plastic options and will include consideration of the impact of returnable packaging systems. This project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2008. WRAP is also working with local authorities and manufacturers to increase recycling of both glass and plastic bottles.
A deposit system for bottles has an obvious appeal to the public, however there would be difficulties in implementing such a system in the UK. In 2004, DEFRA commissioned a project to evaluate whether a deposit system could provide additional value, in combination with the current packaging waste recovery system established in the UK, to achieve wider EC Directive targets. This work took into account existing deposit and return schemes in Europe, the USA and Canada.
The report's conclusion was that a deposit scheme may not achieve our overall environmental goals since such systems favour packaging formats that do not necessarily deliver environmental benefits.
A deposit scheme would be extremely expensive when compared to the existing UK packaging system, which uses a market mechanism and a tradable “packaging waste recovery note” (PRN). This system is reputedly the most cost-effective system in Europe for implementing the Packaging Directive.
Seas and Oceans: EC action
DEFRA ministers and officials have regular discussions with counterparts from member states and the European Commission on a wide range of marine issues, including our proposals for marine legislation.
(2) when he expects the proposed roadmap towards marine spatial planning by member states to be introduced; what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the proposal with the proposed Marine Bill; and if he will make a statement.
We anticipate that the Commission will introduce the roadmap towards marine spatial planning some time before 2009. The existing outline proposals for an Integrated Maritime Policy set out a framework within which member states can develop their own marine planning arrangements. We believe the UK's current approach will be compatible with the proposed framework, and we will develop our view on the further detailed proposals as they emerge.
We will be well placed to continue to influence EU policy development on the roadmap because of our parallel work on a Marine Bill.
We see no substantial differences between the two concepts. Indeed, we agree with the concept within the Integrated Maritime Policy that marine spatial planning is a key tool for improving the sustainable development and restoration of marine and coastal areas. As we set out in the proposals in the Marine Bill White Paper in March 2007, marine planning will clarify our marine objectives and priorities for the future, and direct decision-makers and users towards more efficient, sustainable use and protection of our marine resources.
Publication of the Communication has not had an impact on the timetable for the Marine Bill, which we are working to publish in draft in spring 2008.
Wales
Departmental: Manpower
The Wales Office publishes its headcount in its annual departmental report which is available in the House Library or via our website:
www.walesoffice.gov.uk
The planned full-time equivalent headcount stands at 62 per year for each year, and will remain so for 2009-10. The actual out-turn has consistently been below this.
Culture, Media and Sport
Football: World Cup
My Department has produced regular updates for Ministers on the 2018 FIFA World cup bid since 27 June.
Music Mentoring Programme
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: 1,285 people have taken part in the Respect music mentoring programme since it was launched on 1 November 2006. Youth Music and its partners have appointed and trained 70 adult mentors and 149 peer mentors (aged 16 to 25). 1,066 young people have taken part in either one-to-one or group music mentoring sessions as part of the scheme.
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: Youth Music and its partners have appointed and trained 70 adult mentors and 149 peer mentors (aged 16 to 25) since 1 November 2006 as part of the music mentoring programme.
Olympic Games 2012: Scholarships
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: The total cost of the TASS 2012 scholarship programme in each of the last three years is shown in the following table.
Total cost (£) 2004-05 0 2005-06 875,000 2006-07 946,000
Scotland
Departmental Contracts
The Scotland Office has no contracts with external consultants.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Following the 2004 spending review, provision for the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General was flat in nominal terms over the SR04 period. The Offices are committed to achieving efficiency and effectiveness in all areas of their activities and reduced their complement by over 21 per cent. between 2003-04 and 2004-05 with further reductions thereafter. Details are contained in the Offices’ Annual Reports.
Departmental Expenditure
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 October 2007, Official Report, column 1363W.
Departmental Manpower
The complement and actual staff numbers of the Scotland Office are published in the Office’s Annual Report, copies of which are available in the House Library; decisions on the complement for 2009-10 have still to be taken in the light of the CSR2007 settlement.
Departmental Visits
From Monday 8 October to Tuesday 9 October I was in London where I had various meetings, including with Ministerial colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD. On Tuesday 9 October I attended Cabinet, had a telephone conversation with the First Minister of Scotland and attended the Chancellor’s statement on the Comprehensive Spending Review. I had no Scotland Office engagements on Wednesday 10 October, Thursday 11 October or Friday 12 October.
On Saturday 13 October I attended the Scotland v. Ukraine Euro 2008 Qualifier at Hampden Park, Glasgow. On Sunday 14 October I attended the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland Futures performance at Glasgow City Halls.
From Monday 15 October to Wednesday 17 October I was in London where I had various meetings, including with Ministerial colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD. On Tuesday 16 October I attended Cabinet, and answered Scottish Questions at the House of Commons. That evening I attended the Border and Immigration Agency reception in Dover House. On Wednesday 17 October I met the Chief Executive of Ofgem and that evening I attended the Poppy Scotland reception in Dover House.
From Thursday 18 October to Saturday 20 October I had no Scotland Office engagements. From Monday 22 October to Tuesday 23 October I was in London where I had various meetings, including with Ministerial colleagues and officials from the Scotland Office and MOD. On Tuesday 23 October I attended Cabinet. That afternoon I delivered a statement on the Gould report in the House of Commons. That evening I attended the CBI reception in Dover House. From Wednesday 24 October to Thursday 25 October I had no Scotland Office engagements.
On Friday 26 October I attended the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce business breakfast. That afternoon I attended the launch of Stagecoach’s bio-diesel coaches in Kilmarnock. From Saturday 27 October to Wednesday 31 October I had no Scotland Office engagements.
International Development
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
I have been asked to reply.
The UK employs a broad range of civilian staff in support of the Government of Afghanistan to help develop a stable and secure Afghanistan. Over 30 UK-based staff are employed from across the Government, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence and the Afghanistan Drugs Inter-Departmental Unit in provincial reconstruction teams. Their roles include work in governance, reconstruction and development, security, and counter narcotics.
Departmental ICT
DFID’s enterprise resource planning system is called ARIES (Activities Reporting and Information E-System).
Further to the answer given to the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne) on 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 487W, we have agreed two contract amendments, increasing the contract value to £16 million to finance additional work on testing, compliance with disability equality standards for the accessibility of the system and the training of users. The total expenditure to date, including internal and supplier costs, is £18.1 million.
Departmental Manpower
I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 13 November 2007, Official Report, columns 203-07W.
Members: Correspondence
A reply to the hon. Member’s letter of 1 August, from my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State (Baroness Vadera), has now been issued.
Pakistan: Elections
We have approved £3.5 million to support the electoral process in Pakistan, including strengthening the administrative capacity of the Election Commission of Pakistan and supporting civil society work to increase turnout and educate voters. £1.34 million of the £3.5 million has been spent.
While we welcome President Musharraf’s undertaking to hold elections on schedule, we remain deeply concerned about the situation in Pakistan. We have called on President Musharraf to: restore the constitution and create the conditions necessary to guarantee free and fair elections on schedule in January; release all political prisoners, including members of the judiciary and human rights activists; energetically pursue reconciliation with the political opposition; honour his commitment to step down as Chief of Army Staff and relax restrictions on the media.
We are keeping our support for elections under review.
St. Helena
I do not have any plans to visit the island of St. Helena following the appointment of a new governor.
Justice
Consultants: Contracts
My Department is currently collating information on the use of external consultants in the current financial year and will write to the hon. Member with a substantive reply to his question as soon as possible. A copy of my substantive reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Crime: Victims
Since 2003-04 the British Crime Survey has included a question that asks respondents who were a victim of crime in the last 12 months how satisfied they were with the way the police and other criminal justice agencies handled the incident. The following table shows the available information on the proportion of victims who said that they were either ‘very’ or ‘fairly satisfied’.
Proportion of victims of crime from the British Crime Survey who were very/fairly satisfied with the police and other criminal justice agencies handling of the incident
Proportion very/fairly satisfied 2003-041 59 2004-05 59 2005-06 59 2006-07 60 1 October 2003 to March 2004.
Crimes of Violence: Prisoners Release
This information is available on the Ministry of Justice website. The total number of releases by offence group for the first week of the scheme, the remainder of July, and every subsequent month since then. For the period from 29 June to 30 September there have been 1,544 releases.
29 June to 5 July 2007:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/2007-07tables-for-ECL-report.xls
6 July to 31 July 2007:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/stats-ecl-0707.pdf
1 August to 31 August 2007:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/stats-ecl-0807.pdf
1 September to 30 September 2007:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/stats-ecl-0907.pdf
It is not possible to reliably determine the numbers released in the violence against the person group for individual establishments, which would require checking of the precise offence for each release. Individual case records at every establishment would need to be checked to ensure accuracy, at disproportionate cost.
Prison service guidance makes it clear that prisoners serving sentences for the most serious types of violence against the person offences are ineligible for release under End of Custody Licence. The list of excluded offences is at Annex A to Prison Service Instruction 42/2007 which is available on the Prison Service website.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Departmental Manpower
The information requested is not held centrally and would involve a manual check of all staff records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Full time equivalent (FTE) headcount for the Ministry of Justice is published in the ONS quarterly work force statistics. The latest data (published on 12 September, relating to staff in post at 30 June 2007) show that 79,920 FTEs work in the Ministry of Justice.
Forecasts for the years 2008-09 and 2009-10 are currently being reviewed, in the light of the comprehensive spending review settlement announced on 9 October 2007.
Members: Correspondence
I apologise for the delay. I replied to the hon. Member on behalf of the Secretary of State for Justice on Monday 12 November 2007.
I can confirm that the hon. Member's letter was received on 18 April 2006. Unfortunately, however, it has been mislaid. Arrangements have been made to obtain a further copy and I will write to the hon. Member soon. I am very sorry for this unfortunate incident.
Offenders
Information on individual employees' unspent convictions is not kept centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost. Criminal record information (unspent and, in certain cases, spent convictions) is requested from applicants applying for jobs within the Ministry, and for certain jobs, requested from the CRB, as part of our recruitment procedures. Employees are also under a continuing obligation to declare any criminal convictions they may receive while they are employed by the Ministry.
In both circumstances, decisions on the appropriate action to take when convictions come to light are taken locally by managers supported by HR officers who have been trained in dealing with criminal records information.
Prisoners: Rehabilitation
The average number of hours of purposeful activity per prisoner per week, for each establishment during the financial year 2006-07 is shown in the following table. The primary function is shown for each establishment, with young offender institutes and male juvenile establishments listed first.
Prison Primary function Purposeful activity per prisoner per week Aylesbury Male closed young offender 21.8 Brinsford Male closed young offender 28.8 Castington Male closed young offender 25.7 Deerbolt Male closed young offender 20.8 Feltham Male closed young offender 30.1 Glen Parva Male closed young offender 23.0 Hindley Male closed young offender 29.6 Lancaster Farms Male closed young offender 26.2 Northallerton Male closed young offender 25.8 Portland Male closed young offender 21.7 Reading Male closed young offender 20.6 Rochester Male closed young offender 25.7 Stoke Heath Male closed young offender 25.9 Swinfen Hall Male closed young offender 27.4 Thorn Cross Male open young offender 40.0 Ashfield Male juvenile 30.0 Huntercombe Male juvenile 28.6 Warren Hill Male juvenile 25.8 Werrington Male juvenile 31.5 Wetherby Male juvenile 31.1 Albany Category B 23.0 Dovegate Category B 31.2 Garth Category B 25.5 Gartree Category B 25.0 Grendon Category B 30.2 Highdown Category B 16.3 Kingston Category B 25.6 Lowdham Grange Category B 27.4 Parkhurst Category B 23.3 Rye Hill Category B 28.5 Swaleside Category B 24.1 Acklington Category C 22.2 Ashwell Category C 31.7 Blundeston Category C 25.9 Brockhill Category C 18.9 Buckley Hall Category C 25.5 Bullwood Hall Category C 21.0 Camp Hill Category C 22.0 Canterbury Category C 22.3 Channings Wood Category C 26.1 Coldingley Category C 32.0 Dartmoor Category C 23.1 Edmunds Hill Category C 23.5 Erlestoke Category C 25.5 Everthorpe Category C 28.0 Featherstone Category C 26.1 Guys Marsh Category C 29.8 Haverigg Category C 28.9 Highpoint Category C 25.6 Lancaster Category C 22.9 Lindholme Category C 25.5 Littlehey Category C 25.0 Maidstone Category C 22.9 Moorland Category C 30.7 Mount Category C 27.1 Onley Category C 25.7 Ranby Category C 24.8 Risley Category C 25.3 Shepton Mallet Category C 25.5 Stafford Category C 27.1 Stocken Category C 27.0 Usk\Prescoed Category C 36.5 Verne Category C 28.8 Wayland Category C 26.4 Wealstun Category C 28.3 Wellingborough Category C 25.8 Whatton Category C 22.0 Wolds Category C 30.2 Wymott Category C 30.4 Frankland Dispersal 20.3 Full Sutton Dispersal 20.0 Long Lartin Dispersal 20.7 Wakefield Dispersal 16.8 Whitemoor Dispersal 21.6 Cookham Wood Female closed 29.0 Downview Female closed 27.5 Foston Hall Female closed 22.6 Send Female closed 31.6 Bronzefield Female local 29.4 Eastwood Park Female local 24.5 Holloway Female local 24.0 Low Newton Female local 24.8 New Hall Female local 24.0 Styal Female local 22.0 Askham Grange Female open 41.3 East Sutton Park Female open 43.4 Altcourse Male local 35.0 Bedford Male local 19.8 Belmarsh Male local 14.9 Birmingham Male local 20.9 Blakenhurst Male local 27.1 Bristol Male local 17.6 Brixton Male local 18.0 Bullingdon Male local 21.5 Cardiff Male local 25.6 Chelmsford Male local 23.3 Doncaster Male local 23.3 Dorchester Male local 17.7 Durham Male local 17.4 Elmley Male local 19.5 Exeter Male local 19.8 Forest Bank Male local 26.6 Gloucester Male local 19.8 Holme House Male local 17.3 Hull Male local 23.5 Leeds Male local 23.5 Leicester Male local 25.5 Lewes Male local 22.3 Lincoln Male local 19.4 Liverpool Male local 21.5 Manchester Male local 22.5 Norwich Male local 22.1 Nottingham Male local 24.7 Pare Male local 32.2 Pentonville Male local 17.3 Preston Male local 20.3 Shrewsbury Male local 19.1 Swansea Male local 17.2 Wandsworth Male local 23.0 Winchester Male local 21.8 Woodhill Male local 17.3 Wormwood Scrubs Male local 21.5 Ford Male open 40.7 Hewell Grange Male open 41.4 Hollesley Bay Male open 38.2 Kirkham Male open 40.7 Leyhill Male open 39.6 North Sea Camp Male open 39.5 Standford Hill Male open 38.8 Sudbury Male open 41.3 Blantyre House Semi open 55.7 Drake Hall Semi open 34.1 Haslar Semi open 53.3 Kirklevington Semi open 54.5 Latchmere House Semi open 49.2 Morton Hall Semi open 32.7
Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance
National Offender Management Service (NOMS) information on major maintenance is recorded under project headings and to identify work that was carried out solely on prisoner accommodation could be done only at disproportionate cost.
In the year 2006-07, £70 million was spent on major maintenance projects across the custodial estate and a further £105.5 million on major refurbishment projects. Prison establishments also have limited allocations of funding for local maintenance and repairs.
Sentencing
I have been asked to reply.
The Attorney-General issued guidelines on the acceptance of pleas and the prosecutor's role in the sentencing exercise in October 2005; these can be found on
www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk.
These guidelines superceded earlier guidance on the acceptance of pleas issued by the Attorney-General in December 2000.
Sexual Offences
There is no specific definition of a ‘vice’-related offence, however there are a number of offences which can, in some cases, relate to vice. Information on the number of people proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for these offences in England and Wales from 2001 to 2005 are provided in the following table.
Information on the nationality of those proceeded against is not held by my Department, and data for 2006 will be available shortly.
Offence description Principal statute Proceeded against Found guilty 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Kerb-crawling. Sexual Offences Act 1985 Sec 1 916 1,053 956 841 717 775 891 834 760 635 Placing an advertisement relating to prostitution. Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 S.46. 6 586 420 410 435 5 549 396 376 408 Common prostitute loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution. Street Offences Act 1959 Sec l 3,129 2,909 2,956 2,002 1,376 2,841 2,668 2,627 1,735 1,116 Other offences3 147 178 134 162 162 104 133 97 106 97 Total 4,198 4,726 4,466 3,415 2,690 3,725 4,241 3,954 2,977 2,256 1 These data are provided on the principal offence basis. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Includes offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 Secs 2-4, 9, 22-24, 27-29, 30, 31, 33A, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 Sec 5(1), the sexual Offences Act 1985 Sec 2, the sexual Offences Act 2003 SS 14, 47-50, 52, 53, 55, 57-58, 62 and the Vagrancy Act 1824 Sec 3 and 4.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Business: Copeland
Data are only available for West Cumbria Development Agency (WCDA) staff, which was the main organisation providing support in the Copeland area. According to WCDA, there were 14 people (mainly part-time) who worked on business support for WCDA. Two full-time equivalent staff ran the start-up programme.
In addition staff at Activ8 Solutions Ltd, the Business Link supplier in Cumbria, will have provided support to businesses in Copeland. The Business Link employed around 50 staff, and approximately eight of these will be attributable to the Copeland area.
Chocolate: Standards
In its contacts with the industry the Government will encourage chocolate manufacturers to respond voluntarily to the growing public concern about sourcing and standards in their supply chains. The actions of consumers will also help shape manufacturers' decisions in this regard.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has regular stakeholder meetings with representatives of the food sector, including the confectionery industry.
Departmental NDPBs
Details of the budgets, remits and chairmen's salaries of the Department's non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are published in the Public Bodies Directory 2007 and relate to the position as at 31 March 2007. The Report can be found at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/about/strategy-objectives/annual-spending/page4039.html
Information on Chairmen's bonuses should be contained in each NDPB's annual report and accounts, which are normally available on the body's website. Alterations to the Department's public bodies announced during the machinery of Government changes in June 2007 are as follows:
From Cabinet Office to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
Executive NDPB
Local Better Regulation Office
Advisory NDPB
Better Regulation Commission
From BERR to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Executive NDPB
British Hallmarking Council
Design Council
Research Councils
Technology Strategy Board
Advisory NDPB
Council for Science and Technology
Tribunal NDPBs
Copyright Tribunal
Agencies
NWML
UK Intellectual Property Office
Departments: Disabled Access
Buildings occupied by my Department and which are part of the BERR HQ estate are as follows:
Building Location 1 Victoria Street London Kingsgate house London Westfield House London St. Mary's House Sheffield Atholl House Aberdeen Tay House Glasgow Amberley House Gloucester Newtown House Nottingham
All buildings occupied by my Department’s executive agencies (Companies House and The Insolvency Service) and which are not part of the BERR HQ estate are shown in the following tables. All are fully accessible to disabled people.
Companies House Location Crown Way Cardiff The Access Building Nantgarw
Insolvency Service Location 21 Bloomsbury Street London 83 Hagley Road Birmingham Ladywood House Birmingham Newfield House Blackpool Richmond House Bournemouth 69/70 Middle Pavement Brighton 100 Victoria Street Bristol Abbeygate House Cambridge Marlowe House Canterbury Companies House Cardiff Prince Regent House Chatham Windsor House Chester Sunley House Croydon Ladywell House Edinburgh Senate Court Exeter Southgate House Gloucester Anchor House Hull St. Clare House Ipswich 1 City Walk Leeds Wellington House Leicester Cunard Building Liverpool Boulton House Manchester City Tower Manchester Melbourne House Newcastle Copthall House Newcastle Under Lyme Sol House Northampton Emmanuel House Norwich The Frontage Nottingham Cobourg House Plymouth Apex Plaza Reading Trident House St. Albans City Plaza Sheffield Waterside House Southampton Central House Southend St. Marks House Stockton Sun Alliance House Swansea Exchange House Watford
Entertainments: Tickets
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has taken forward the recommendations in its 2005 report on “ticket agents in the UK”. For example, to work with local authority trading standards services to ensure ticket sellers comply with relevant consumer protection legislation, to consider enforcement action where necessary and to work with a trade association to produce model contract terms.
On advertising, the OFT recommended that the Committee of Advertising Practice should amend its guidance so all non broadcast event advertising is required to include the face value of the ticket, while indicating that additional fees may apply and could vary depending on the sales channel and ticket seller used. The Advertising Standards Authority acted on OFT's recommendation and amended its guidance in April 2005 but did not require advertisers to include the face value of tickets in adverts. The OFT is continuing to work with the ASA, in relation to reforming the Committee of Advertising Practice's code in line with the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and its UK implementation.
The OFT will monitor the effects of the new legislation and changes to the ASA code before considering whether further action is needed.
Imports: Renewable Energy
The renewable energy generation market was worth of the order of £800 million in 2006 and is set to grow in future years; this figure covers more than just equipment.
The Office for National Statistics publishes detailed breakdowns of data on trade in and manufacturer sales of generation equipment in their annual publication “PRA31100 Product Sales and Trade: Electric Motors, Generators and Transformers”; these figures do not distinguish between generating equipment used for renewable energy and that used for other purposes. The data can be accessed from:
www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=8101
Infosec
The Infosec forum is a medium for information security specialists in the civil nuclear industry to share best practice. The Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) facilitates the forum. In addition to OCNS, the attendees are UKAEA, Sellafield Ltd, Springfield Fuels Ltd, British Energy, Magnox North, Magnox South, BNFL, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Urenco, Nexia Solutions, Project Services and HSE's Nuclear Directorate. Two meetings of the forum have taken place in 2007. Participants, including OCNS, finance the forum on a rotational basis.
Although no formal minutes of the forum are taken, specific areas on which work has taken place this year include mobile computing and the introduction of the 'protect' sub-security marking.
Manufacturing Industries: Automation
Support and encouragement for the development of advanced manufacturing techniques is a key element of Government policy to promote a high value modern manufacturing sector. The Technology Strategy Board supports innovation and collaborative research and development into a wide range of leading edge technologies including robotics and automation.
The most recent competition under the technology programme announced on 8 November by John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, seeks proposals to develop new high value manufacturing techniques to secure the nation's future manufacturing base with research on the next generation of production techniques
Government also provide a range of support through the Businesslink network and the Manufacturing Advisory Service to help companies in all sectors to improve their performance.
Overseas Trade: Pakistan
The information requested is as follows:
(a) Total figure of those traders on the UK VAT register who have declared trade in goods with Pakistan in 2006 is 6,168. No data is available for businesses in the services sector.
(b) No official statistics are maintained on UK registered businesses in Pakistan. It is estimated that some 100 UK companies operate within Pakistan.
Radioactive Waste Management
Following the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management's 2006 recommendations, the NDA is currently in the process of carrying out a review of higher activity waste storage on behalf of Government. In drawing up the review, NDA has extended the scope beyond the narrowest definition of ‘durability of stores’ in order to address the concerns expressed on storage of non-immobilised wastes in various legacy facilities. The NDA will not include a detailed assessment of the security arrangements for waste storage facilities because this is the responsibility of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) (part of the Nuclear Directorate of the HSE), the Government regulator for security in the civil nuclear industry.
OCNS ensures that all nuclear wastes on licensed nuclear sites or in transit, are subject to a level of security commensurate with their category and activity in accordance with the demanding requirements of the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 (NISR 03). Security arrangements are kept under constant review by OCNS who liaise with NDA and site licensees to ensure compliance with NISR 03.
Small Businesses: Copeland
Value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. BERR data on the number of VAT registrations, and the start of year stock of VAT registered businesses in Copeland local authority from 2001 to 2005 are shown in the following table. Data for 2006 will be published 14 November 2007.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Registrations 80 110 190 110 110 N/A Stock 1,510 1,495 1,515 1,610 1,625 1,640 Source: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994-2005, BERR, available from http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat
Although the number of registrations in Copeland local authority has fluctuated, the start of year stock has risen by 9 per cent. between the start of 2001 and the start of 2006.
VAT registrations do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which was £60,000 at the start of 2006. Only 1.9 million out of 4.5 million UK enterprises (41 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2006.
The only grants used to provide start up support were delivered via West Cumbria Development Agency (WCDA). WCDA have provided business start up support since April 2003 to November 2007.
WCDA state that £1,000 was given to each company as a grant. 94 start-up businesses were provided with a grant over this period, and £94,000 was given in total as a grant. In addition to this, training and assistance was given via WCDA staff and consultants which is estimated at £2,500 per start up company i.e. an additional £235,000 of support was given to SMEs in Copeland, making £329,000 of support in total.
Neither the Northwest Regional Development Agency nor the West Cumbria Development Agency holds this information.
Toys and Games: Safety
At present we believe that the safety level set out in the Toys Directive and therefore the UK Toy Safety Regulations is appropriate, and that our market surveillance system is robust.
However, it is appropriate and important that we keep the situation under review. In light of this BERR officials have discussed toy safety with DG Enterprise officials on September 18 and at a special meeting of the General Product Safety Committee on 3 October.
My Department also held a Toy Safety Summit with interested parties held 29 October where the revision of the Toy Safety Directive and the Commission's toy safety stock-taking exercise were discussed.
Defence
Afghanistan: Armed Forces
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given in another place by my noble Friend, Lord Drayson on 15 October 2007, House of Lords, Official Report, column WA33.
Armed Forces: Deployment
The following table provides the number of personnel deployed on operations by operation and location at 28 October 2007.
The number of personnel deployed on operational duty is constantly under review in order to ensure operational objectives are sustainable.
Operation Number Total 14,540 of which: Telic 6,390 of which: Iraq 4,970 Qatar 420 Oman 270 Kuwait 140 Bahrain 60 At Sea 540 Herrick 7,640 of which: Afghanistan 7,640 Oculus 170 of which: Kosovo 140 Bosnia 20 UN 320 of which: Cyprus 290 1 Countries with 10 or more personnel are shown separately.
Armed Forces: Uniforms
The system, used in both operational theatres, for the re-supply of clothing and individual equipment is the GLOBAL Inventory Management System. When stock levels in theatre cannot meet demand GLOBAL is used to submit a replenishment demand back to the UK. Stock is then issued to theatre to satisfy the requirement.
Iraq: Foreign Workers
Available records indicate that UK military forces in Iraq have employed directly some 148 individuals not of UK or Iraqi nationality over this period. Details are set out in the table, broken down by the year in which each was recruited. However, it is possible that this information is not complete, especially for the initial stages of the deployment into Iraq, when some staff were recruited at short notice to meet urgent operational requirements, and data capture for these individuals may be incomplete.
Nationality/ Ethnicity 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total Kuwaiti 1 — — — — 1 Arabian 1 — — — 1 2 Bengali — 1 — — — 1 Lebanese — 1 — 2 4 7 Somali — 1 — 2 5 8 USA — 2 3 1 1 7 Indian — — — 8 9 17 Pakistani — — — 4 30 34 Egyptian — — — 10 42 52 Afghan — — — 1 — 1 Jordanian — — — 2 10 12 Canadian — — — — 1 1 New Zealand — — — — 1 1 Palestinian — — — — 4 4 Total 2 5 3 30 108 148
These figures do not include Commonwealth soldiers serving with the UK armed forces, UK-based civilian personnel, or contractor staff supporting the UK armed forces.
Military Aircraft
The numbers of aircraft that were planned to be in service with the RAF service on 31 March 1997 are contained in the following table:
Aircraft type Fleet numbers Tornado GR 142 Tornado F3 111 Harrier 70 Nimrod 29 Tristar 9 VC10 126 Sentry 7 Hercules 256 Islander 2 BAe 146 3 BAe 125 38 Sea King 25 Dominie 10 Hawk 100 Tucano 73 Vigilant 53 Jaguar 54 Bulldog 116 Canberra 9 Jetstream 10 Janus 2 Valiant 4 Viking 82 Chinook 34 Puma 37 Sea King 25 Gazelle 21 Wessex 50 1 Actual numbers were 27. 2 Actual numbers were 55. 3 Actual numbers were six. The planned figure does not reflect the retirement of two BAe 125 aircraft.
Military Aircraft: Helicopters
Budget figures for the early years are no longer held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The in-year budget for all helicopter procurement projects for financial year 2001-02 is £842 million. This figure excludes funding for emergent urgent requirements and some commodity items bought in support of these projects.
Military Equipment: Israel
The total value of UK imports of defence equipment from Israel, for the last five years where data are available, are given in the following table.
£ million1 2002 5 2003 42 2004 8 2005 1 2006 2 1 Rounded to nearest £ million at current prices
Data are based on HM Revenue and Customs information relating to defence equipment reported to UK Customs. Defence equipment is identified by an agreed set of tariff codes intended to capture the movement of military equipment.
Military Equipment: Libya
I have been asked to reply.
The Government publish detailed information on export licences issued, including the overall value and number of export licences approved for Libya and a summary of the items covered by these licences, in its Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. This information is available for licences issued only and not for equipment actually exported.
The Government’s Annual Reports, published since 1997, are available from the Libraries of the House and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website at:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029395474
The Government have published quarterly reports on Strategic Export Controls since January 2004 and these are also available from this website.
Trident Missiles
The December 2006 White Paper: The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994) announced a further reduction in our holdings of operationally available nuclear warheads, in line with the UK’s commitment to maintain only the minimum necessary deterrent. I can confirm that we have now reduced the number of operationally available warheads from fewer than 200 to fewer than 160.
Leader of the House
Departments: Official Hospitality
Following a Machinery of Government change, detailed information on expenditure incurred in the 2006-07 financial year is only available at disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary Year
A sample of local education authority calendars from all the nations were considered in preparing the House of Commons calendar.
Home Department
Drugs: Hertfordshire
Data are provided on a voluntary basis by Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships. According to the CDRP voluntary survey, 10 crack house closures have been issued to date in Hertfordshire, four in 2005-06 and six so far in 2006-07.
Parenting Contracts
Data on acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are not collected by the Home Office as they are voluntary agreements and therefore not suitable for central data collection. However, surveys of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) indicate that over 25,000 ABCs have been made since October 2003. The Home Office recently issued updated and comprehensive guidance for practitioners on the use of ABCs.
Parenting orders were piloted between 30 September 1998 and 31 March 2000 but data showing the breakdown by area are not available for that period. Parenting orders were commenced in England and Wales in June 2000. The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has collected the number of parenting orders by Youth Offending Team (“YOT”) area since April 2000, as reported to it by YOTs including education-related orders where the YOT has been involved.
Since September 2004, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has collected data on the number of parenting orders in England related to non-attendance of children at school and exclusion from school at local authority level.
The numbers of parenting orders relating to crime or antisocial behaviour from April 2000 until March 2007 and those related to non-attendance of children at school until March 2004 reported to the YJB by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough YOTs are shown in table A: The number of parenting orders made following truancy prosecution between 1 September 2004 and 13 April 2007 is shown in table B:
Cambridgeshire YOT Peterborough YOT Total Youth offending or antisocial behaviour Non-attendance where YOT involved Youth offending or antisocial behaviour Non-attendance where YOT involved 2000-01 0 0 9 0 9 2001-02 1 0 21 0 22 2002-03 4 0 13 0 17 2003-04 1 0 11 0 12 2004-05 2 1— 23 1— 25 2005-06 13 1— 22 1— 35 2006-07 8 1— 23 1— 31 1 See table B
School year Parenting orders for truancy 2004-05 2 2005-06 0 2006-07 0
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme
(2) how many permits were granted under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme in each of the last five years.
The Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme has been operational since 1 January 2004. The number of work cards issued since that date is provided in the following table.
Number of work cards issued 2004 20,420 2005 16,115 2006 15,980 To 30 September 2007 15,935 Total 68,450
The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.
Security Guards: Licensing
The SIA do not have any backlogs in determining licence applications.
As at 12 November, there were 15,089 applications at various processing stages. This includes applications that cannot be processed until additional information is received. The SIA does not record applications by type of licence until processing is complete and a decision has been taken.
The postal strikes in October caused some delays in the receipt, return and processing of applications. All licences issued during the strike should now have been received by the applicants. Processing times for applications sent to the SIA during the strike may continue to be affected, and delays of one or two weeks may be experienced.
Terrorism
An economic impact assessment alongside social and other impacts to the UK of a range of possible terrorist and non-terrorist events forms part of the UK resilience planning process. This assessment does not distinguish between insured and uninsured costs.
Terrorism: Detainees
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: The maximum period of detention pre-charge was extended to 28 days with effect from 25 July 2006. Statistics compiled from police records show that to date six people have been held for 27 to 28 days. Of these, three individuals were charged and three were released without charge.
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: The maximum period of detention pre-charge was extended to 28 days with effect from 25 July 2006. Statistics compiled from police records show that to date six people have been held for 27 to 28 days. Of these three individuals were released without charge. We do not keep figures on re-arrests.
Solicitor-General
BAE Systems
Since the decision to discontinue the investigation into BAe Systems plc in relation to Saudi Arabia on 14 December 2006 there has been one meeting between staff from the Serious Fraud Office and officials from the US Department of Justice and other officials.
Mohammed Salih
It would be inappropriate to comment on specific cases where extradition proceedings may or may not be pending. In general, extradition arrangements do exist between the UK and Iraq and the UK is a party to an extradition treaty with Iraq.
Young Offenders: Fines
The Crown Prosecution Service has no specific policy on financial penalties for youth offenders. The imposition of a fine is a matter for the court that sentences the youth offender.
The prosecutors role in the sentencing process is detailed in the 'Attorney-General's Guidelines on the Acceptance of Pleas and the Prosecutors Role in Sentencing'. These guidelines state that during sentencing the prosecutor must represent the public interest as well as the specific interests of victims. Prosecutors must be ready to assist the court by placing before it relevant information concerning the impact of the offending on the victim and the community, as well as relevant statutory provisions, sentencing guidelines and case law. In carrying out their function, prosecutors must also consider whether to apply for compensation for the victim, or another suitable ancillary order.
Communities and Local Government
Departmental Assets
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Fareham on 30 October 2007, Official Report, column 1158W.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
The details of the workstreams within our efficiency programme, including how much each was predicted to contribute towards the SR04 target are contained within the efficiency technical note published in December 2005 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Department regularly publishes details on the progress made on meeting its efficiency target, including a breakdown of efficiency savings made in each workstream, in both its annual report and autumn performance report.
Homelessness
The summary of the research findings and the good practice guide based on the research were both published in June 2006.
The final report will be published shortly.
Housing: Finance
Modelling work by a group of local authorities and arms length management organisations has identified potentially significant benefits from allowing some local authorities to leave the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system. This is however a complex matter and any changes must not disadvantage those councils who depend on the redistributive system to subsidise their housing services. The Housing Green Paper, ‘Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable’, published in July, confirmed that we would set out our conclusions and next steps in the autumn.
Housing: Low Incomes
A new definition of affordable housing appears in Planning Policy Statement 3—Housing which was published in November 2006. The definition states that:
“Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing should:
Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices.
Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative housing provision.”
Local planning authorities are required to use this definition when preparing plan policies and determining planning applications for housing.
Further guidance is included in the accompanying document “Delivering Affordable Housing”. It is for local planning authorities to use these documents to inform decisions on individual cases with reference to local needs.
Local Government: Standards
The 198 national indicators for local authorities and local authority partnerships were announced as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. In reducing the number of indicators to from around 1,200 to 198 the Government have delivered on the first part of its commitment to streamline the local performance framework.
To be effective indicators need to be clearly defined in a way that is meaningful on the ground. On 8 November we published a consultation seeking feedback on the detailed definitions on the 198 indicators.
The consultation will run until 21 December and seeks views from local authorities and their partners on the methodology, frequency of reporting and data source of each individual indicator. The consultation document contains full descriptions of the national indicators and is available at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/indicatorsdefinitions.
Maps: Licensing
Ordnance Survey has granted no licences specifically under section 107 of the Copyright and Design and Patents Act 1988 in any of the last five years.
Non-domestic Rates: Small Businesses
The information requested is not available. However, as at 31 December 2006, there were 504 business in Copeland that were in receipt of small business rate relief.
Rented Housing: Rents
No formal assessment of the policy has been made since the recommendations of the three-year review undertaken in 2004, which made three recommendations:
higher bedroom weights for three- and four-bed properties, and new, higher weightings for properties with five and six (or more) bedrooms;
from April 2005, using the same formula for restructuring local authority rents as that which is currently used for restructuring RSL rents, and adopting the RPI as the inflation measure used in calculating local authority rent increases.
local authorities should ignore the downward limit of RPI+ 0.5 per cent. minus £2 per week on rent changes, in order to achieve restructuring on all properties for which rents need to fall by 2011-12. The Housing Corporation should also encourage associations to do the same, where their finances permit.
After further consultation with stakeholders, these recommendations were implemented in full from 1 April 2006.
The Government wish to see the policy implemented for a period of time before considering a formal assessment.
Health
Abortion
The information requested is set out in the following table.
Conceptions—all ages Total (thousand) Percentage ending in abortion 2001 763.7 23.2 2002 787.0 22.5 2003 806.8 22.5 2004 826.8 22.4 2005 837.4 22.3
Alcoholic Drinks: Rehabilitation
The information is not held centrally.
Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust: Doctors
The following table shows all medical and dental staff working within Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals National Health Service Trust1 and of those staff, those working in the accident and emergency specialty by year
As at 30 September each year All medical and dental staff Of which: Accident and emergency 1997 407 40 1998 403 53 2000 405 39 2001 442 43 2002 443 37 2003 471 37 2004 559 46 2005 588 44 2006 599 51 1 1997 and 1998 show Wellhouse NHS Trust and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust. These organisations merged in April 1999 to form Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust.
Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust: Nurses
The information is not held in the format requested. Although numbers of nursing and midwifery staff are recorded, the numbers of those working within accident and emergency cannot be separately identified.
The following table lists the number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed by Barnet and Chase Farm National Health Service Trust.
As at 30 September each year Number (headcount) 1997 1,560 1998 1,533 2000 1,440 2001 1,570 2002 1,711 2003 1,740 2004 1,731 2005 1,715 2006 1,692 1 More accurate validation processes in 2006 have resulted in the identification and removal of 9,858 duplicate non-medical staff records out of the total work force figure of 1.3 million in 2006. Earlier years’ figures could not be accurately validated in this way and so will be slightly inflated. The level of inflation in earlier years' figures is estimated to be less than 1 per cent. of total across all non-medical staff groups for headcount figures. This should be taken into consideration when analysing trends over time.
Breast Cancer: Screening
In September, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced proposals for cancer services including extending the breast cancer screening age range to women aged between 47 and 73.
We aim to publish the Cancer Reform Strategy, which will set out the future direction of cancer services in England, by the end of the year. Details on the implementation of the proposals already announced will be issued in due course.
Funding for the extension of the breast screening programme has been included in the comprehensive spending review settlement, and will be allocated to and managed by NHS Cancer Screening Programmes on behalf of primary care trusts.
Broomfield Hospital: Private Finance Initiative
The full business case for the £147 million Broomfield hospital private finance initiative scheme for Mid Essex Hospitals Services NHS Trust was approved by the Department and HM Treasury on 14 November. The scheme can now proceed to financial close.
Cancer: Consultants
[holding answer 12 November 2007]: Figures on recruitment of cancer consultants are not collected centrally but the following table shows the increase in consultants numbers over the previous year.
Number 2000 166 2001 193 2002 192 2003 256 2004 212 2005 212 2006 118
The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent cancer consultants at September each year.
Number 2000 3,183 2001 3,331 2002 3,569 2003 3,787 2004 4,005 2005 4,246 2006 4,389 1 The six main cancer specialists consist of clinical oncology, medical oncology, palliative medicine, haematology, histopathology and clinical radiology. Source: Information Centre, Medical and Dental Workforce Census
Departmental Consultants
The Department does not collect information on contracts with external consultants in the format requested. To do so would attract disproportionate cost.
A new system will be introduced in April 2008 called SHOWA, which will be able to gather such information for the Department.
Departmental Managers
[holding answer 12 November 2007]: The criteria for determining performance pay and bonuses for senior civil servants will be set out in the Department's pay strategy. The pay strategy is prepared following the publication of the Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB), whose terms of reference include the remuneration of senior civil servants, and the Government's response to it. The SSRB is usually published in February each year. The Director General of the Commercial Directorate will become eligible to be considered for a bonus for the first time in April 2008 under criteria set in the 2008 pay strategy.
Digoxin
Digoxin is most often used in the treatment of heart failure or atrial fibrillation. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines on Chronic Heart Failure (CG5, July 2003) and the Management of Atrial Fibrillation (CG36, June 2006) which included advice on the use and monitoring of this medicine.
Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body
The Health Department’s written evidence to the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration has been placed in the Library and is also available at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_080117
Revenue allocations are made directly to primary care trusts (PCTs), as it is for PCTs to determine how to use the funding to commission services to meet the healthcare needs of their local populations. Table 2.3 in the Department’s evidence to the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration provides a central estimate of national health service cost pressures. The cost of individual programmes will depend on local decisions on the implementation of NHS priorities.
The Department needs to ensure that the best value is secured for the investment in the NHS. The requirement to make 3 per cent. year on year efficiency savings enables the Government to build on the Spending Review 2004 efficiency programme, and was considered to be achievable based on the value for money delivery plans that all Departments were required to submit as part of the current Comprehensive Spending Review.
Drugs: Eastern Region
The information is not held centrally.
Health Services: Overseas Visitors
We have not made an estimate of the cost of amending the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 in the way described.
Hearing Aids: Waiting Lists
The average median waiting time for a diagnostic audiology assessment, including hearing assessment, is one week for the Mid Essex Primary Care NHS Trust. The average for England is 16 weeks.
Influenza: Eastern Region
This information has been placed in the Library.
Influenza: Greater London
Flu vaccine uptake data were collected for the first time on those aged 65 and over from 2000. The percentage of those aged 65 and over who received a flu vaccine in each London primary care trust from 2000 is available in the Library.
Mentally Ill: Death
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: This information is not collected by the Department.
Deaths of patients who were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 should be referred to Her Majesty's Coroner (HMC). HMC will hold an inquest where the medical cause of death remains in doubt after a post-mortem examination, or if the cause of death is violent or unnatural or where a death has occurred in such a place as to require an inquest under section 8 (1) of the Coroner's Act 1988.
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: The Department issued guidance in 1994 Health Service Guidance (94) 27: “Guidance on the discharge of mentally disordered people and their continued care in the community” which details action to be taken following mental health in-patient deaths. This was followed by further guidance in 2005, “Independent investigation of adverse events in mental health services”, which updated part of the 1994 guidance.
This guidance requires strategic health authorities to commission independent investigations. This involves appointing the investigation team, agreeing terms of reference, publishing and distributing the results and agreeing a local action plan following a homicide committed by a person in touch with mental health services.
The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH) collects data on suicide and sudden unexpected deaths of in-patients and homicides committed by persons in touch with mental health services. NCISH is funded by the National Patient Safety Agency and published its latest report, “Avoidable Deaths”, in December 2006. This reviews homicides in England and Wales between April 1999 and December 2003 and suicides from April 2000 to December 2004.
The Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) collects data on all detained patient deaths and publishes data on those from non-natural causes in its biennial report. MHAC, under its general remit to keep under review the operation of the Mental Health Act 1983, asks providers to notify it of all deaths of detained patients within three working days.
MHAC reviews the deaths of patients who have died from non-natural causes to establish whether good practice, as defined in the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice, has been followed and whether lessons for future practice and policy need to be learned. This review may include sending a Commissioner to the inquest which considers the circumstances of the death or arranging a visit to the hospital to consider the issues arising.
Methyl Methacrylate: Health Hazards
There has been no assessment of the effects of the use of methyl methacrylate in nail bars on health.
Midwives: Training
The national benchmark price for pre-registration training for midwifery students in the financial year 2007-08 is £7,838 outside London, £8,230 in outer London and £8,465 for inner London.
In addition to tuition costs, midwifery trainees are entitled to either a bursary or salary support funding. The average bursary paid for midwifery students in 2006-07 was £6,314.
Students may be entitled to other payments such as allowances for dependant children and the cost of national health service employees seconded on to midwifery training programmes will include a proportion of their salary costs.
NHS Plus
The Department is currently establishing five demonstration sites in England for innovative delivery of health and work services to private employers, in particular focusing on small and medium-sized businesses, by providing a £10 million capital fund. A further £10 million capital fund is available for an additional tranche of demonstration sites to enrich the developing good practice in this area. This will both bring benefits to the private sector in the areas in which the demonstration sites are located, and establish good practice from which others can learn.
NHS: Finance
There is no central turnaround programme in 2007-08. The Department, in conjunction with strategic health authorities, continues to apply best practice learnt from the turnaround programme in recent years and applies this through the usual performance management functions. No central funding has been set aside to pay for turnaround teams.
The amounts of the multi-professional education and training (MPET) levy allocated to strategic health authorities (SHAs) in 2006-07 that was not spent on workforce development in cash terms and as a percentage of overall strategic health authority budgets, broken down by strategic health authority, are shown in the following table.
SHAs MPET Budget not spent on workforce in cash terms (£000) MPET Budget not spent on workforce as a percentage of overall SNA resource budget North East 9,904 3.4 North West 32,862 4.4 Yorkshire and Humberside 43,587 7.0 East Midlands 21,602 5.3 West Midlands 46,259 8.7 East of England 32,137 6.8 London 74,717 6.3 South East Coast 27,154 8.1 South Central 33,099 8.5 South West 36,177 7.6 Total 357,496 6.5
The Department did not expect the national health service to plan or manage its expenditure on a separate near cash and non-cash basis in 2006-07. Instead, the NHS was expected to live within overall expenditure limits and at least achieve financial balance. The net surplus of £515 million recorded in the audited accounts for 2006-07 represents a revenue surplus only, and is reported after full account was taken by the NHS for pay costs.
NHS: Management Consultants
The information requested is not held by the Department.
NHS: Manpower
The percentage of national health service revenue spending spent on pay is forecast to increase in 2008-09. This is a national estimate and it is a proportion of the overall growing NHS revenue funding, therefore overall expenditure on NHS staff is expected to increase.
Revenue allocations are made to primary care trusts to provide them with funding to deliver local and national priorities. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the change in number of NHS staff employed, as workforce planning, and therefore setting the number of staff required to deliver services, is a matter for local NHS organisations to deal with. They are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health community and will recruit the appropriate number of staff to meet those needs. The Department sees workforce planning as a priority and closely monitors strategic health authority local delivery plans to ensure they will deliver the activity required within the finance envelope. As part of that approach, the Department also expects SHAs to be satisfied that local workforce plans are sufficiently robust to deliver the planned activity.
NHS: Procurement
The following suppliers have been appointed to the Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners:
Aetna Health Services (UK) Limited;
AXA PPP Healthcare Administration Services Limited;
BUPA Membership Commissioning Limited;
CHKS Ltd, trading as Partners In Commissioning;
Dr. Foster Limited, trading as Dr. Foster Intelligence;
Health Dialog Services Corporation;
Humana Europe, Ltd;
KPMG LLP;
McKesson Information Solutions UK Limited;
McKinsey and Company, Inc. United Kingdom;
Navigant Consulting, Inc;
Tribal Consulting Limited;
Unitedhealth Europe Limited; and
WG Consulting Healthcare Limited, trading as WG Consulting.
NHS: Vacancies
The annual national health service vacancy survey collects information at the end of March on vacancies which trusts are finding hard to fill.
The Information Centre who publish the vacancy survey define a vacancy as
‘one which has lasted three months or more and which employers are actively trying to fill as at 31 March.’
The emphasis is therefore on vacancies which trusts are finding hard to fill, rather than on normal staff turnover.
Pharmacy: Hampshire
A list of pharmacies under contract to Hampshire Primary Care Trust, Portsmouth City PCT and Southampton City PCT at the end of the 2006-07 financial year has been placed in the Library.
It is not appropriate to give the number of items dispensed by each pharmacist as these figures are commercially sensitive. The following table provides information on the monthly average number of items for each Primary Care Trust in Hampshire for each financial year.
Primary Care Trust 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 Blackwater Valley and Hart 149 142 137 131 East Hampshire 183 172 166 158 Eastleigh and Test Valley South 146 138 132 122 Fareham and Gosport 195 184 176 168 Mid-Hampshire 120 115 113 108 New Forest 221 210 201 191 North Hampshire 182 154 156 150 Portsmouth City 189 185 184 179 Teaching Southampton City 222 209 214 211 Total 1,607 1,509 1,479 1,418
Primary Care Trusts: Finance
Figures showing the value of primary care trust top-slice, and the amount returned by strategic health authorities (SHAs) in 2006-07, have been placed in the Library.
It is for each SHA to manage both the timing and method for repaying contributions made by their PCTs within a reasonable period, not usually exceeding the three-year allocation cycle, and depending on overall affordability within the SHA economy. SHAs should consider the position of PCTs with the greatest health need first.
The Department made clear in the national health service operating framework for 2007-08 that strategic health authorities (SHAs) will not generally need to top-slice primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocations to the same level as in 2006-07 because of the substantial improvement in the overall financial position of the NHS. However, for 2007-08 a number of PCTs have chosen to lodge resources with their SHA to be included within the SHA’s strategic investment fund as a safeguard against any risk associated with the lower financial settlement over the period 2008-09 to 2010-11.
The data showing the value of PCT lodgements in their respective SHA’s strategic investment fund have been placed in the Library.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Hertfordshire
Information on the diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in genito-urinary clinics (GUM) is only available by strategic health authority (SHA). The total number of STIs diagnosed in the East of England SHA since 2004 to 2006, the latest date for which figures are available, which includes West Hertfordshire and North East Hertfordshire Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) area, is given in the following tables.
Infection 2004 2005 2006 Primary and secondary syphilis 88 82 80 Uncomplicated gonorrhoea 1,223 947 838 Anogenital herpes - first attack 1,518 1,580 1,731 Anogenital warts - first attack 6,588 6,796 6,729 Uncomplicated chlamydia 8,031 8,369 8,300 Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns
2004 2005 2006 Total number of new STI diagnoses1 29,878 29,858 30,242 Total number of other STI diagnoses2 18,018 19,865 20,980 1 Includes those defined in table 1 and all others. 2 Includes recurrent and follow-up presentations. Notes: 1. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset. 2. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed. For example, individuals may be diagnosed with several co-infections and each diagnosis will be counted separately. 3. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data. Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns
In addition to diagnoses made in GUM clinics, the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) has been running since 2003. The number of people diagnosed with chlamydia within the programme in the East of England SHA broken down by individual PCTs are shown in the following table.
PCT 2004-07 Bedfordshire 192 Cambridgeshire 70 East and North Hertfordshire 22 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 78 Luton 222 Mid Essex 11 Norfolk 377 North East Essex 7 Peterborough 33 South East Essex 529 South West Essex 43 Suffolk 574 West Essex 20 West Hertfordshire 18 Notes: 1. The data from the NCSP are for diagnoses made outside of GUM clinics only and include diagnoses made by the Boots pathfinder project. 2. The data available from the NCSP are the number of diagnoses made and not the number of patients diagnosed. 3. The data only include those aged 15-24, who have provided a postcode of residence. 4. The data are specific to the following years 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, since the NCSP follows the financial year. Source: The NCSP
Information on the diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in genitourinary clinics (GUM) is only available by strategic health authority (SHA). The total number of STIs between the ages of 16 and 19 years of age diagnosed in the East of England SHA since 2004 to 2006, the latest date for which figures are available, which includes West Hertfordshire and North East Hertfordshire Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) area, is given in the table.
Infection 2004 2005 2006 Primary and secondary syphilis 6 6 2 Uncomplicated gonorrhoea 276 190 166 Anogenital herpes - first attack 213 228 279 Anogenital warts - first attack 1,189 1,183 1,308 Uncomplicated chlamydia 2,219 2,321 2,111 Notes: 1. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset. 2. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed. For example, individuals may be diagnosed with several co-infections and each diagnosis will be counted separately. 3. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data. 4. Data are not collected for the age range 16-18. Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns
In addition to diagnoses made in GUM clinics, the National Chlamydia Screening Programme has been running since 2003. The number of people diagnosed with chlamydia within the programme in the East of England SHA broken down by individual PCTs is shown in the following table.
Primary Care Trust 2004-2007 Bedfordshire 75 Cambridgeshire 30 East and North Hertfordshire 5 Great Yarmouth and Waveney 41 Luton 84 Mid Essex 1— Norfolk 143 Peterborough 17 South East Essex 214 South West Essex 18 Suffolk 284 West Essex 1— West Hertfordshire 5 1 Cell size of 1 to 4 have been masked to protect deductive disclosure in accordance with ONS guidelines. Notes: 1. The data from the NCSP are for diagnoses made outside of GUM clinics only and include diagnoses made by the Boots pathfinder project. 2. The data available from the NCSP are the number of diagnoses made and not the number of patients diagnosed. 3. The data only include those aged 16-18, who have provided a postcode of residence. 4. The data are specific to the following years 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, since the NCSP follows the financial year. Source: The National Chlamydia Screening Programme.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan: Foreign Workers
The total number of locally engaged staff directly employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Afghanistan is 72 (comprising 58 in Kabul and 14 in Lashkar Gah).
Afghanistan: Manpower
The UK employs a broad range of staff in support of the Government of Afghanistan to help develop a stable and secure Afghanistan. Over one hundred civilian staff in Kabul and over thirty staff in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar are employed from across the Government, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Afghanistan drugs inter-departmental unit. Their roles include work in governance, reconstruction and development, and counter-narcotics.
Afghanistan: Peace Negotiations
The UK supports President Karzai’s efforts to bring disaffected Afghans into society’s mainstream, providing they renounce violence and accept Afghanistan’s constitution. In this context, the UK spent just under the allocated £500,000 in support of the Program Takhim-e-Solh programme in Afghanistan in the last financial year (2006-07). The UK has allocated a further £330,000 in the current financial year.
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Tom Koenigs is the current special representative to the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan. His remit covers co-ordination of international reconstruction and development work. His contract extends to February 2008 and we, with other UN member states, are discussing a suitable successor.
The UN's role in co-ordinating the international effort in Afghanistan is very important. The UK is committed to supporting the UN effort, led by a senior UN representative for the long term.
Afghanistan: United Nations
Tom Koenigs is the current special representative to the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan. His contract extends to February 2008.
The UN's role in co-ordinating the international effort in Afghanistan is very important. The UK is committed to supporting the UN effort to improve the current levels of international co-ordination, led by a senior UN representative for the long term. We discuss this with our Security Council counterparts on a regular basis. However, the decision on a replacement is ultimately the decision of the Secretary-General.
Asma Jahangir
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to him today (UIN 163937).
Bosnia: Politics and Government
We fully support High Representative Lajcak and his efforts to improve the functioning of state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The measures he took on 19 October are designed to improve the Council of Ministers’ ability to take decisions and will make it harder for representatives to obstruct the working of Parliament through absenteeism. The measures are fully in line with the constitution and do not target any constituent people. We are urging political representatives from all sides in BiH to accept Lajcak’s measures.
The Peace Implementation Council (PIC) steering board meeting of 30-31 October expressed concern over the continued deterioration of the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It judged that responsibility lay with political leaders from both entities who have blocked progress and undermined the political situation with their aggressive rhetoric. The statement expressed full support for completing implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, including efforts to tackle the evident dysfunctionality of state institutions. We were disappointed that Russia chose to dissent over one paragraph, but overall we judge the PIC conclusions to be a strong signal of support for High Representative Lajcak.
We have been in close contact with our EU and US counterparts over the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), including through the Contact Group, the EU and the Peace Implementation Council (PIC). Members of all of these groups share our concern over the deteriorating political situation in BiH and the failure of the country’s leaders to make progress on key reforms. This concern was underlined in the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council conclusions of 15 October and the PIC statement of 30-31 October. We continue to stay in regular contact with relevant international actors including our EU and US partners.
British Council: Vetting
The British Council’s policy on conducting Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks complies fully with UK law. The British Council has in place a comprehensive child protection policy which all British Council staff and outside consultants or contractors whose responsibilities involve access to children and young people must adhere to.
Its employees
Since the early 1990s, the British Council has asked all newly recruited teachers to sign a child declaration form indicating that they have had no history or background relating to child protection issues that would preclude them from the British Council’s employment.
From January 2005, the British Council has implemented CRB checks on all staff working in the UK whose jobs involve contact with children.
From January 2007, the British Council has run CRB checks on all teachers recruited in the UK, through its headquarters to work overseas. Where teachers are recruited directly by overseas teaching centres, similar checks are run when available in the relevant country. This is available in six of the 48 countries in which the British Council have teaching centres. Where no CRB equivalent exists, the British Council will seek information on individuals in their references.
In addition, the British Council is conducting retrospective CRB checks on all teachers where these have not already been carried out. The British Council expects to complete checks on all teachers:
that have lived or worked in the UK by the end of 2007;
that have lived or worked in countries with CRB equivalents by mid-2008; and
in the remaining 42 countries where no CRB equivalent exists, where at all possible, by the end of 2008.
People working on its behalf
Employment agencies providing the British Council with temporary staff, and companies providing support services, must confirm that their own recruitment practices are consistent with the British Council’s child protection policy. For consultants and other temporary staff working in posts designated as having direct contact with children and young people, the British Council must receive confirmation that the individuals concerned have undergone due checks.
Chechnya: Politics and Government
We continue to watch developments closely as Chechnya, and the rest of the north Caucasus, remain fragile and vulnerable to human rights violations. We believe that the best guarantee of political stability is for the federal and local authorities to work together in the republic to improve the democratic accountability of government structures, and to address the social and economic needs of the population.
Departmental Standards
HM Treasury asked Departments to publish their autumn performance reports (APRs) between 1 November and 15 December 2007. We expect to publish the Foreign and Commonwealth Office APR during this window. The Treasury Public Expenditure Survey guidance note of 16 August 2007 commissioning the APRs is available at:
http://hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/F/D/pes_2007_12.pdf.
Departments: Disabled
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has carried out all the reasonable adjustments to our UK premises identified as required to meet the needs of the disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995. However, given that the many individual adjustments formed part of general programmes of building upkeep, and that 19 years has elapsed since the Act was passed, the level of detail requested by the hon. Member could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The whole of the FCO’s UK estate has been assessed for ease of accessibility in relation to disabled users. The assessments recommended a number of reasonable adjustments, which have been carried out over the last 12 years. These include voice announcements and Braille/raised buttons in lifts, converting goods elevators to passenger use, installing wheelchair lifts, providing portable ramps, stairwalkers and evacuation chairs. We have moved kitchen equipment and lowered counter tops in tea points where necessary and provided vibrating pagers linked to fire alarm systems or security guards. Other examples of changes made include specialist furniture, new signage, replacement floor surfaces for easier access and contrasting strips on step edges, and adjusting working hours of disabled staff.
Overseas, posts are aware of the principles of the DDA and have been instructed to review disabled access, make information about accessibility available, and where possible make improvements. Where access is limited, posts seek alternative ways of providing accessible services.
We work closely with the FCO disabled persons’ representatives and when local circumstances change we conduct further assessments.
EU-African Union Summit
No final decision has been made on the level of UK attendance at the EU-Africa summit. But my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has been clear that neither he nor any senior UK Government Minister will attend the summit if President Mugabe is present.
Iraq: Detainees
The UK currently holds 36 detainees at the divisional internment facility at Basra air station, all of whom are Iraqi nationals.
The UK detains individuals in Iraq for imperative reasons of security under the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1723 (2006). It is a power we use sparingly and we take our responsibilities to our detainees seriously. Where possible, we seek to release individuals or transfer their cases to the Iraqi justice system. The UK has obtained assurances from the government of Iraq to ensure that anyone transferred from UK to Iraqi custody will be treated in accordance with basic international human rights principles.
Kosovo: Politics and Government
The UK fully supports the work of the EU-Russia-US Troika aimed at reaching agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo’s future status. The process will be concluded by the Contact Group reporting to the UN Secretary-General by 10 December.
So far there have been four rounds of face-to-face talks between the parties. The last round took place in Vienna on 5 November. A further round is scheduled to take place on 20 November.
We share the UN Secretary-General’s view that the status quo in Kosovo is unsustainable. We see an early resolution of Kosovo's status as crucial to the stability and security of the Balkans and Europe as a whole.
Law Making
I have been asked to reply.
Significant progress has been made embedding use of impact assessment in the policy-making process and in simplifying existing EU legislation. In particular, the European Council in March 2007 endorsed a Commission proposal to set a target to reduce administrative burdens arising from EU law by 25 per cent. by 2012. As far as paragraph 34 is concerned, a transposition coordinator has been appointed in the Cabinet Office European Secretariat. New guidance for officials on transposition was published in September; this explains how officials can use the transposition notes they provide to Parliament as transposition tables for the European Commission. All transposition notes are published at the Office of Public Sector Information website,
www.opsi.gov.uk
Middle East: Peace Negotiations
Mr. Blair is not paid a salary in his role as Quartet Representative. The UK has provided £400,000 to a United Nations Development Programme Trust Fund which provides operational and technical support to Mr. Blair's office in Jerusalem. The UK has also seconded four staff to his team. Other international donors are also supporting his work.
We strongly support the work of Mr. Blair. He is well placed to drive forward Palestinian capacity building, which is a clear priority.
Pakistan: Detainees
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has made clear in a statement to the House on 7 November 2007, Official Report, columns 130-32, that we condemn the mass detentions of politicians, lawyers and human rights activists, and call for their immediate release. It is vital that the Government of Pakistan act quickly to restore the constitution, hold free and fair elections on schedule, honour the president’s commitment to step down as army chief and lift restrictions on the media.
Our high commission in Islamabad has raised our concern at the highest levels for the welfare and safety of Asma Jahangir, head of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, I. A. Rehman and all those in detention. Close attention is being paid to their treatment and preparations are under way both bilaterally, and through the EU, to visit or contact as many as possible.
In parallel, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and my noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, the right hon. Lord Malloch-Brown, met Hina Jilani (Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders) on 8 November to discuss the current situation in Pakistan. They expressed concern about the hundreds of political detainees in Pakistan, including Hina Jilani’s sister, Asma Jahangir.
Pakistan: Politics and Government
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) met in London on 12 November to discuss the situation in Pakistan, and issued a Statement. The Statement is available on the Commonwealth’s website at:
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/.
My noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, the right hon. Lord Malloch-Brown, represented the UK at the meeting.
The situation will be discussed further when CMAG meets on 22 November in Kampala, immediately prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
It is not possible to put a figure on the number of people detained following the declaration of the state of emergency. There are various estimates ranging from a few hundred to several thousand. The situation is very fluid. Some of the detainees have been released.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made clear in a statement to the House on 7 November 2007, Official Report, columns 130-132 that we condemn the mass detentions of politicians, lawyers and human rights activists, and call for their immediate release. It is vital that the Government of Pakistan act quickly to restore the constitution, hold free and fair elections on schedule, honour the President’s commitment to step down as army chief and lift restrictions on the media.
Our high commission in Islamabad has raised its concern for the welfare and safety of all those in detention at the highest levels. Close attention is being paid to their treatment and preparations are under way to visit or contact as many as possible.
Parvaiz Aslam Chaudhry
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made clear in a statement to the House on 7 November 2007, Official Report, columns 130-32, that we condemn the mass detentions of politicians, lawyers and human rights activists, and call for their immediate release. It is vital that the Government of Pakistan act quickly to restore the constitution, hold free and fair elections on schedule, honour the President’s commitment to step down as army chief and lift restrictions on the media.
Our high commission in Islamabad has raised its concern at the highest levels for the welfare and safety of Parvaiz Aslam Chaudhry and all those in detention. Close attention is being paid to their treatment and preparations are under way, both bilaterally and through the EU, to visit or contact as many as possible
Wael al-Haj Ibrahim
The UK shares international concerns at the expulsion of the Head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in South Darfur on 7 November and fully supports UN efforts to resolve the case. The UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Co-ordinator told the Government of Sudan on 10 November that the expulsion contravened the letter and spirit of the Joint Communiqué of 28 March 2007, which undertakes to remove bureaucratic impediments to humanitarian agencies.
The UK and UN are pressing the Government of Sudan to comply with the commitments made to the international community, including through the High Level Committee, which monitors the implementation of the Joint Communiqué. The UK is due to assume an observer seat on the Committee.
Zimbabwe
As Zimbabwe is no longer a member of the Commonwealth, it will not be on the formal agenda of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is likely however to be discussed in the margins of the meeting.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Consultants
The information requested for the Cabinet Office is not readily available and may not be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
The information requested for the Cabinet Office is not readily available and may not be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
Departmental NDPBs
The information requested is currently being collated to be published as part of the 2007 Public Appointments Plan in due course. The latest published information is available in the directory “Public Bodies 2006”
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/documents/pdf/public_bodies/publicbodies2006.pdf
Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.
European Union
The information requested for the Cabinet Office is not readily available and may not be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
Strategy Unit
The Strategy Unit’s work programme falls into two broad parts:
(a) standing teams covering core policy areas including education; health; home affairs; and public service improvement.
(b) a small number of time-limited projects covering cross-cutting issues such as childhood and food policy.
Treasury
Bank Melli
The United States sanctions of 25 October against Iranian individuals and entities are domestic measures that are not part of UK law.
The UK takes seriously the risks to the financial system posed by Iran’s lack of a comprehensive anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance (AML/CTF) system. At the recent meeting of the financial action task force, the international standard setting body currently chaired by the UK, FATF members issued a public statement to express concerns that Iran represents a significant vulnerability within the international financial system. FATF members are advising their financial institutions to take the risk arising from deficiencies in Iran’s AML/CTF regime into account for enhanced due diligence. The Treasury has issued guidance to this effect to financial institutions in the UK.
Banks: Iran
The United States sanctions of 25 October against Iranian individuals and entities are domestic measures and are not therefore part of UK law.
As the United States Department of the Treasury said in its press statement of 25 October, as a result of the measures all transactions involving any of the designees and any US person will be prohibited and any assets the designees may have under US jurisdiction will be frozen.
Cancer
(2) how many cases of breast cancer were (a) diagnosed and (b) cured in (i) Gateshead and (ii) Sunderland in each of the last 10 years.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 15 November 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary questions asking how many cases of ovarian cancer were (a) diagnosed and (b) cured in (i) Gateshead and (ii) Sunderland in each of the last 10 years [163358] and how many cases of breast cancer were (a) diagnosed and (b) cured in (i) Gateshead and (ii) Sunderland in each of the last 10 years [163359].
Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of ovarian cancers registered in the Gateshead and Sunderland local authorities between 1995 and 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available) are given in Table 1.
Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of breast cancers registered in the Gateshead and Sunderland local authorities between 1995 and 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available) are given in Table 2.
It is not possible to say whether or not patients are cured. For most cancers, but not breast, five-year survival rates are often taken to be 'cure' rates.
Survival rates by local authority are not available, but one and five year survival for eight common cancers including breast cancer by strategic health authority and Government Office region, for patients diagnosed in 1997-99 and followed up to 31 December 2004, are available on the National Statistics website at
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=11991&Pos=9&ColRank=1&Rank=272
The breast cancer figures are given in Table 3 for the North East.
Long-term breast cancer survival rates for Government Office regions, up to 2003 are available on the National Statistics website at
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14172&More=n
and are given in Table 4 for the North East.
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Gateshead 26 28 19 19 26 20 24 21 17 18 Sunderland 26 46 21 40 35 40 20 35 39 30 1 Ovarian cancer is defined by codes C56 and C57 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Source: Office for National Statistics
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Gateshead 123 148 129 142 148 150 128 146 166 166 Sunderland 132 170 189 178 160 189 179 209 195 249 1 Breast cancer is defined by code C50 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) Source: Office for National Statistics
Table 3. Five-year age-standardised relative survival (percentage) from breast cancer in women1 aged 15-99 for the North East Patients diagnosed in 1997-99 and followed up to 31-12-04 North East Government Office Region 77 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 77 County Durham and Tees Valley 78 Patients diagnosed in 1996-98 and followed up to 31-12-03 North East Government Office Region 74 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 72 County Durham and Tees Valley 76 Patients diagnosed in 1995-97 and followed up to 31-12-02 North East Government Office Region 68 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 65 County Durham and Tees Valley 72 Patients diagnosed in 1994-96 and followed up to 31-12-01 North East Government Office Region 69 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 67 County Durham and Tees Valley 72 1 All female (15-99 years) residents who were diagnosed with breast cancer that was their first, primary, invasive malignant neoplasm were eligible for analysis. Source: Office for National Statistics
Duration of survival (percentage) One year Five years 10 years 15 years 3Women 4Deaths 13,272 1,918 94 80 69 66 1 Period approach (2001-03) 2 Age-standardisation with age-specific weights given by the proportions of women diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales during 1986-90 in each of six age groups (15-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-99 years). 3 Number of women included in the analyses. 4 Number of deaths occurring among these women during the stated period. Source: Office for National Statistics
Child Benefit
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: Around 8 per cent. of all child benefit recipients were paid using a Post Office Card Account (POCA) at August 2007.
Sub-national estimates are not yet available for August 2007. At August 2006 around 5 per cent. of customers in Oxfordshire were paid using a POCA account.
Clostridium: Elderly
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people over the age of 85 died from (a) Clostridium difficile and (b) MRSA infections in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (165334)
Special analyses of deaths involving MRSA and Clostridium difficile are undertaken annually by ONS for England and Wales. These are published in Health Statistics Quarterly. The latest year for which such figures are available is 2005.
The data requested are presented in the table below.
(1) Clostridium difficile (2) MRSA (a) Mentions (b) Underlying Cause (a) Mentions (b) Underlying Cause 1997 5Not available 5Not available 104 27 1998 5Not available 5Not available 104 33 1999 439 259 133 35 2000 5Not available 5Not available 175 50 2001 592 359 204 86 2002 677 389 204 80 2003 890 506 281 103 2004 1,072 634 343 128 2005 1,847 1,056 511 184 1 Identified using the methodology described in Office for National Statistics (2005) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2004. “Health Statistics Quarterly” 30, 56-60. 1 Identified using the methodology described in Griffiths C, Lamagni TL, Crowcroft NS, Duckworth G and Rooney C (2004) Trends in MRSA in England and Wales: analysis of morbidity and mortality data for 1993-2002. Health Statistics Quarterly 21, 15-22. 2 Excludes neonatal deaths. 3Clostridium difficile: Deaths registered in 1999, deaths occurring in 2001-05. 4 MRSA: Deaths occurring in each year. 5 All deaths in England and Wales are coded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The Tenth revision (ICD-10) has been used by the ONS since 2001. In the Ninth revision of the ICD (ICD-9) there are no specific codes that would allow deaths mentioning Clostridium difficile to be easily identified. Identifying these deaths in ICD-9 would require extensive text searching of a very large number of death certificates. This could only be done at disproportionate cost. Data for 1997, 1998 and 2000 are therefore not available as ICD-9 was used in these years. Deaths registered in 1999 in England and Wales were coded to both ICD-9 and ICD-10 as part of a special study to compare the two ICD revisions, and have therefore been used to give an additional year of data on deaths involving C. diff. Data is available for MRSA in both ICD-9 and ICD-10.
Colorectal Cancer: Death
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people died from bowel cancer in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997.1 am replying in her absence. (165218)
The table attached provides the numbers of deaths where bowel cancer was the underlying cause of death in (a) Jarrow parliamentary constituency, (b) South Tyneside local authority, (c) North East government office region and (d) the UK from 1997 to 2006 (the latest year available).
Deaths (persons) Jarrow South Tyneside North East UK 1997 36 61 860 17,308 1998 25 58 819 17,047 1999 26 50 761 16,651 2000 34 62 817 16,238 2001 38 57 818 16,195 2002 25 45 770 16,236 2003 33 47 762 16,159 2004 18 59 745 16,151 2005 21 51 799 16,117 2006 31 47 717 15,994 1 Cause of death for bowel cancer was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 153-154 and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C18-C21. The introduction of ICD-10 in 2001 means that the numbers of deaths from this cause before 2001 are not completely comparable with later years. 2 Based on parliamentary constituency and local authority boundaries as of 2007. 3 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 4 Figures include data provided by the Registrars General for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The 2006 figures provided by the Registrar General for Northern Ireland are provisional.
Departmental NDPBs
The annual budget for the Statistics Commission, the Treasury’s only NDPB, is £1.35 million. Its remit is “to help ensure that National Statistics are trustworthy and responsive to public needs”. The Commission’s chairman is Professor David Rhind who is paid £28,000 a year for 60 days work. He receives no bonus but can claim expenses to cover costs incurred while on Commission business.
Foreign Workers: Eastern Region
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of people who entered the UK in the last ten years are included in the figures for employment in (a) the East of England and (b) Suffolk. I am replying in her absence. (162588)
The table attached gives the number of people resident of working age in East of England and Suffolk who entered the UK in the last ten years; and of those who are in employment for the three months ending June 2007.
When interpreting these figures, it is important to bear in mind that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is not designed to cover everyone who is present in the UK. The survey may undercount the numbers of people who were born overseas. The reasons are set out in the table footnote.
The LFS estimates at this detailed level are only consistent with the UK population estimates published in February and March 2003 and they do not incorporate the more recent population estimates that are used in the headline labour market series.
The data for analysing migrant workers comes from the LFS. The National Statistics method for estimating the number of migrant workers employed in the UK is routinely based on the number of people at a given time who were born abroad, are of working age (16-64 for men, 16-59 for women), and in employment. This question has been answered on this basis.
Estimates are taken from the LFS; as with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Thousand Three months ending June 2007 Total foreign born population In employment Employment rates2 Suffolk 24 21 84.9 East of England 219 160 72.9 1 Includes men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59. 2 In employment as a percentage of total population. Notes: It should also be noted that the country of birth question in the LFS is an undercount because: it excludes those who have not been resident in the UK for 6 months. it excludes students in halls who do not have a UK resident parent. it excludes people in most other types of communal establishments (eg hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites, etc). it is grossed to population estimates that only include migrants staying for 12 months or more. microdata is only grossed to population estimates consistent with those published in spring 2003 which are significantly lower than the latest population estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Government Buildings: Access
The term “main areas” referred to in the answer given on 29 October excluded the non-public areas such as plant rooms, roofs and other maintenance areas within the Treasury buildings where access may be restricted because of the configuration of machinery and plant, low ceiling heights, etc.
Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: Estimates of the information requested can be found as follows.
Income bands (£) Tax band (%) Extra revenue (£ billion) Number of individuals affected (thousand) 100,000-250,000 50 3.6 420 250,000-500,000 60 2.6 70 500,000 + 70 5.0 30 All — 11.2 420
These estimates are based on the 2004-05 Survey of Personal Incomes projected forward to 2007-08 using pre-Budget 2007 assumptions and include Budget 2007 changes. These figures exclude any estimate of behavioural response which could be significant given the scale of the change.
Migrant Workers
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 15 November 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of self-employed Romanian and Bulgarian migrant workers who are currently employed in the United Kingdom. (163167)
The attached table gives the estimated number of self-employed Romanian and Bulgarian people of working age for April to June 2007.
The data for analysing migrant workers comes from the Labour Force Survey. The National Statistics preferred method for estimating the number of migrant workers employed in the UK is based on the number of people at a given time who were born abroad, are of working age (16-64 for men, 16-59 for women), and in employment. This is the basis on which this PQ has been answered.
When interpreting the figures in the table, it is important to bear in mind that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is not designed to cover everyone who is present in the UK. The survey may undercount the numbers of people who were born overseas, a detailed breakdown of the reasons are set out in the table footnote.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Thousand Country of birth Self-employed Total in employment Bulgaria 7 13 Romania 7 18 1 Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. Note: It should be noted that the above estimates: exclude those who have been resident in the UK for less than 6 months exclude students in halls of residence who do not have a UK resident parent exclude people in most types of communal establishment (eg hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc) are grossed to population estimates that only include migrants staying 12 months or more are grossed to population estimates consistent with those published in spring 2003 which are significantly lower than the latest population estimates as used in the Labour Market Statistics monthly First Release. Source: Labour Force Survey
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many skilled public sector jobs have been filled by Romanian and Bulgarian migrant workers since the accession of their countries to the EU. I am replying in her absence. (163168)
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS) provide estimates of the number of public sector employees by occupation, country of birth and nationality, at a given time. However, the LFS and APS samples are too small to provide the information requested.
Public Sector: Manpower
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the proportion of public sector employees in the UK who are a) British-born UK nationals, b) Overseas-born UK nationals, c) nationals of other EU member states and d) nationals of countries outside the EU in each year since 1996. I am replying in her absence. (162052)
The attached table gives the proportion of public sector employees in the categories requested for the three month period ending June each year, from 1997 to 2007. Comparable estimates are not available for 1996, 1998 and 2000.
The data for analysing migrant workers come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The National Statistics method for estimating the number of migrant workers employed in the UK is routinely based on the number of people at a given time who were born abroad, are of working age (16-64 for men, 16-59 for women), and in employment. However, you have requested data based on foreign nationality and this is the basis on which this question has been answered.
When interpreting the figures in the table, it is important to bear in mind that the LFS is not designed to cover everyone who is present in the UK. The survey may undercount the numbers of people who were born overseas, for the reasons which are set out in the table footnotes. It should also be noted that the categorisation of employment in the public sector is based on individual responses in LFS interviews which often do not correspond to the National Accounts definition of public sector employment.
As reported by ONS in an article, “Characteristics of Pubic Sector Workers”, published in the May 2007 edition of Economic and Labour Market Review , LFS public/private sector classifications suffer from some reporting error and the data do not correspond to the National Accounts definition, which is used for the official public sector employment statistics mainly based on returns from public sector organisations.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Percentage Three months ending June each year UK-born UK nationals Overseas-born UK nationals EU nationals Non-EU nationals 1997 92 4 2 2 1999 92 4 2 2 2001 92 4 1 3 2002 92 4 2 2 2003 91 4 2 3 2004 91 4 2 3 2005 91 4 2 3 2006 90 5 2 4 2007 90 5 2 4 1 Men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59. 2 Including country of birth for UK nationals. Notes: Comparable data not available for 1996, 1998 and 2000. It should be noted that the above estimates: -exclude those who have been resident in the UK for less than six months -exclude students in halls of residence who do not have a UK resident parent -exclude people in most types of communal establishment (eg hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc) Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Terrorism: Aviation
The Government do not intend to exempt or limit airlines’ liability. Aviation is an international business and the best route for issues of aviation liability is through reform of the 1952 Rome Convention in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The ICAO is currently working to revise the 1952 Rome Convention on third party liability. The next step is for the ICAO legal committee to consider the latest draft of a convention on unlawful interference. The UK will participate in these discussions when they take place next year.
Unemployment: Wales
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about how many people in Wales were (a) unemployed and (b) economically inactive, broken down by (i) age group and (ii) sex, in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (162895)
The attached table gives the number of people in the categories requested for the three month period ending June each year, from 1997 to 2007. Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000.
Each month the ONS publishes estimates of the number of unemployed people in Wales, for 16+ and working age (men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59). Please visit the following link;
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LMs_FR_HS/WebTable18SA.xls
As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
thousand 1997 1999 2001 2002 2003 Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive 16-19 Male 11 23 11 32 9 29 9 28 10 33 Female 6 27 7 29 6 30 6 37 6 33 20-24 Male 14 10 11 15 11 17 9 17 7 17 Female 8 24 5 26 6 26 5 38 5 25 25-29 Male 8 7 8 10 9 8 4 7 5 8 Female 7 24 4 28 3 26 3 26 3— 21 30-34 Male 8 8 6 7 4 7 3 11 4 10 Female 4 31 6 32 3 28 4 28 2 21 35-39 Male 7 10 5 8 3 12 3 9 2 8 Female 6 26 2 27 4 31 3 24 1 20 40-44 Male 4 12 3 9 3 16 3 10 3 10 Female 2 22 2 21 2 25 3— 20 1 23 45-49 Male 7 13 5 13 2 15 4 15 2 11 Female 3 24 3 20 1 27 2 21 3— 18 50-54 Male 4 22 7 19 3 20 2 19 4 17 Female 3 34 1 40 3— 33 3 34 3— 29 55-59 Male 2 28 3 32 3 30 2 28 3 31 Female 3— 39 2 39 3— 49 1 49 2 41 60-64 Male 3 42 2 42 2 50 3 47 1 40
2004 2005 2006 2007 Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive 16-19 Male 7 26 11 35 9 39 12 35 Female 5 31 6 32 4 32 11 30 20-24 Male 3 14 5 24 13 21 13 17 Female 8 32 5 29 5 26 6 31 25-29 Male 3 5 4 13 10 9 4 5 Female 2 21 3 16 2 19 2 23 30-34 Male 2 12 2 6 3 7 3— 7 Female 3 27 2 24 2 22 3— 21 35-39 Male 2 9 3 8 3 9 2 9 Female 4 25 2 24 4 26 5 21 40-44 Male 3 14 4 13 3 9 3 9 Female 1 21 1 26 5 24 3 27 45-49 Male 2 12 3 9 2 11 3 10 Female 2 21 3— 21 2 21 5 20 50-54 Male 3 13 3 16 2 15 3 18 Female 2 28 3— 25 2 26 3— 25 55-59 Male 3— 30 2 34 2 26 3 27 Female 2 45 3— 48 2 42 2 45 60-64 Male 3— 45 3— 45 1 45 3— 45 1 Men aged 16 to 64 and Women aged 16 to 59. 2 Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000. 3 Sample sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)
VAT
The average processing times for VAT registration applications for the latest three-month period is as follows:
Period Average time taken in days August 2007 42 September 2007 39 October 2007 28
These latest figures represent an upturn in HMRC performance, and this is an early sign that the improvement measures that are now in place are starting to have an impact. This upturn has taken place against an operational background that continues to present challenges, and alongside the ongoing need to operate pre-registration checks against serious abuse such as Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud.
Welfare Tax Credits
I refer the hon. Member to the evidence given to the Treasury Select Committee on 14 March 2007 in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins).
HM Revenue and Customs has been collecting information on official error in disputed overpayment cases since April 2007. For the first part of 2007-08 the proportion of cases with an element of official error remains at around 5 per cent. Of the official error cases identified, more than three quarters have had their overpayment remitted.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
The following local authorities have agreed to co-sponsor academies:
Cheshire County Council;
Corporation of London;
Coventry City Council;
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea;
Kent County Council;
Manchester City Council;
Sunderland City Council;
Telford and Wrekin Council;
West Sussex County Council.
Academies exemplify the new role of local authorities as commissioners rather than providers of schools. Academies are, in effect, jointly commissioned by the Department and the relevant local authority on a partnership basis. Academies are not maintained by the local authority in the traditional manner, but each academy has at least one local authority representative on its governing body. My Department has no plans to change these arrangements.
Academies: Special Educational Needs
Academies are required by their Funding Agreements to admit pupils who have a statement of special educational needs (SEN) in any case where the statement names1 the academy. A local authority (LA) must first consult an academy before naming it on a SEN statement, but the academy must consent unless admission of the pupil would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children, and no reasonable steps may be made to secure compatibility. In the case of a dispute between a LA and an academy, either side can ask the Secretary of State to determine whether or not the academy should be named. That determination is final, subject only to the parents’ right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
The Secretary of State also has the power, again through Funding Agreements, to direct an academy to admit a named pupil. Academies are independent schools, and we do not believe it would be appropriate for this power to pass to LAs.
1 Part 4 of a SEN statement can be used to name the school which the LA believes to be best placed to meet the needs identified in earlier parts of the statement.
Capita
Details of the amount paid to Capita and its subsidiaries by the Department for Education and Skills for 2004-05 and 2005-06 are set out in the following table.
£ 2004-05 206,577,675 2005-06 198,944,409
The expenditure relates to payments recorded in the Department’s integrated financial information system and credited against Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries.
Children: Internet
[holding answer 12 November 2007]: Becta has worked closely with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to ensure that the revised secondary curriculum includes references to the teaching of e-safety. This is reflected in the revised level descriptors for each of the key stages. Becta and the QCA have also developed an Internet Proficiency scheme for Key Stage 2 pupils.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has also developed ThinkUKnow a primary and secondary education programme for schools which focuses on developing safe and responsible behaviours online. This has been delivered to over one million children.
Becta works closely with local authorities and schools to ensure that there are appropriate measures in place to cover education and training for teachers, leaders and pupils, a safe secure infrastructure, effective policies and monitoring procedures all underpinned by robust standards and frameworks.
In addition, the Prime Minister has asked clinical psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron to conduct an independent review looking at the risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games. The review will consider how all in society, including schools, parents, Government and industry can support children and young people to use the internet safely.
Curriculum
A table containing the number of 15-year-olds entered for each of the most popular subjects at GCSE for each year between 1997 and 2006 has been placed in the House of Commons Library. This information for 2007 will be available at a later date. The information for every subject at GCSE can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Dyslexia
In order to be awarded qualified teacher status, all trainee teachers must demonstrate that they know how to make effective personalised provision for those they teach including pupils with special educational needs (SEN), and know how to differentiate their teaching accordingly. They are also required to demonstrate knowledge of current legislation and guidance on the safeguarding and promotion of the well-being of children and young people, including SEN and disability legislation and the SEN code of practice. The professional standards further require them to demonstrate understanding of the roles of colleagues with specific responsibility for groups of learners with SEN and other needs, and demonstrate ability to communicate effectively with children, young people, colleagues, parents and carers.
As part of a wider programme to strengthen understanding of SEN and disability issues within initial teacher training, the Training and Development Agency for Schools has been developing and piloting specialist SEN and disability units for primary undergraduate courses and for newly qualified teachers during their induction. These include specific units on dyslexia. The units have been received well by both staff and students and it is planned to organise a national roll out to all training providers in the coming year. Work is under way to develop similar materials for secondary undergraduate courses and the PGCE.
On 17 October, we launched the Inclusion Development Programme, a programme of confidence-raising professional development for serving teachers and other staff. The opening round focuses on training in relation to children's communication difficulties including dyslexia.
Education Maintenance Allowance
There are no current plans to reduce the age limit for education maintenance allowance eligibility.
Education: Assessments
The regulatory authorities for the public exams systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland issue a joint code of practice which requires awarding bodies to ensure that candidates’ work is marked by suitably experienced and trained examiners. Data on examiners’ qualifications are not collected by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which is the regulatory authority in England for GCSEs and A-levels.
The National Assessment Agency (NAA), which is responsible for the external marking of national curriculum tests, specifies the criteria for eligibility to be considered for employment as a test marker. Until 2003, these were the possession of a degree or equivalent, and to be a practising teacher. Since 2004, applicants with a degree and who are taking a Post Graduate Certificate of Education course have also been eligible. The NAA does not collect data about the details of test markers’ qualifications.
(2) what assessment he has made of the standard of literacy among overseas markers; and if he will make a statement.
The regulatory authorities issue a code of practice which requires awarding bodies to ensure that candidates' work is marked by suitably experienced and trained examiners. The awarding bodies are responsible for their own selection criteria in recruiting examiners to ensure that they fulfil that remit.
Education: Standards
International comparisons studies play an important role in benchmarking against other countries and as pointers to what we might learn from other school systems. They can also provide useful supplementary information about attainment, although they are not necessarily measuring the same content and processes as national tests.
The most recent findings come from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which was conducted in 2003. TIMSS found that the performance of 10-year-olds in England had improved significantly from 1995 to 2003 in both science and mathematics. However, the performance of 14-year-olds in England, as reported in TIMSS, had not increased significantly between 1995 and 1999 and 1999 and 2003, for either science or mathematics.
The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), focusing on the mathematics performance of 15-year-olds, was also carried out in 2003 but concluded that data for the UK could not be considered valid either for international comparisons or for constructing trends in performance because response rates from schools and pupils did not meet its strict participation rate requirements. PISA was conducted again in 2006, this time with a focus on science, and findings from the study will be published on 4 December 2007.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) was first carried out in 2001 and examined the reading performance of 10-year-olds. The average score for England was 553. Findings from the most recent round of PIRLS, conducted in 2006, will be published on 28 November 2007.
Educational Institutions: Music
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: There are 48 specialist music colleges in England. This total includes establishments for which music is designated as a second specialism.
Educational Visits: Insurance
The Department does not hold this information. Schools make their own insurance arrangements and are not required to provide the Government with information about their arrangements.
Free School Meals
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: The available information showing the proportions of children claiming free school meals who achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C is given in the following table:
Proportion of those claiming free school meals achieving 5 GCSE passes at grades A*-C (Percentage) 2002(final) 23.0 2003 24.4 2004 26.1 2005 29.9 2006 33.0 Source: National Pupil Database
This information is not available prior to 2002. Information on the numbers of children claiming free school meals and achieving five or more GCSEs is not readily available for all years.
These figures are compiled from a series of SFRs titled “National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics”. The latest published information is for 2005/06. Final data and can be found at:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000708/index.shtml
Provisional information for 2007 is scheduled for publication on 27 November in SFR 38/2007 which can be found at:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000759/index.shtml.
GCE A-level
The GCSE, GCE, GNVQ and AEA Code of Practice requires awarding bodies to ensure that students’ work is marked by suitably experienced and trained examiners. The awarding bodies determine their own recruitment and selection requirements in light of the requirements of the Code of Practice.
GCSE: Standards
(2) what percentage of (a) pupils and (b) boys did not gain five GCSEs at grades A* to C in each of the last five years;
(3) what percentage of boys did not obtain one or more GCSEs at grades A*-C in each of the last five years;
(4) what percentage of pupils gained five GCSEs at grades A*-C in each of the last five years.
The information requested is in the following table:
2002-032003-042004-052005-062006-07Percentage of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C 52.953.756.358.560.3Percentage of boys gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C47.948.851.453.855.8Percentage of pupils who did not obtain one or more GCSEs at grades A*-C24.224.222.521.119.2Percentage of boys who did not obtain one or more GCSEs at grades A*-C29.028.927.025.322.9 Percentage of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and Maths41.942.644.345.345.7Notes:1. Figures from 2006-07 are provisional. Schools will get the opportunity to amend their results as part of the data checking process before the revised figures are published in January 2008.2. Figures relate to the achievements of pupils who were 15-years-old at the start of the school year, i.e. 31 August.3. Results from 2004 onwards include equivalencies.Source:Data taken from the annual GCSE Statistical First Releases (SFRs) available at:http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000474/index.shtml (2002/2003)http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000585/index.shtml (2003/2004)http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000664/index.shtml (2004/2005)http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000702/index.shtml (2005/2006)http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000754/index.shtml (2006/2007)
The information to answer the question can only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, information on the proportion of pupils entered for a modern foreign language at GCSE and the proportion of those pupils entered who gained an A*-C grade is readily available and given in the following table.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 20072 Percentage of pupils1 entered for a modern foreign language at GCSE 74 77 78 79 78 76 73 68 59 51 46 Percentage of pupils1 entered for a modern foreign language at GCSE gaining A*-C grade 48 48 50 50 51 52 50 53 60 64 66 1 Figures from 1997 to 2004 are for pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year. Figures from 2004 to 2007 are for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. 2 Figures for 2007 are provisional.
GCSE: Languages
Lord Dearing’s Languages Review, published in March 2007, identified the need to resolve the widely held perception that languages GCSEs are harder than other subjects. The review recognised that there are other reasons pupils do not perform as well in languages as in other subjects, such as the quality of teaching and the motivation of the pupil.
As a result, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), as the regulator with responsibility for standards in GCSE, is looking at the issue. In the course of this work the QCA has received several representations from schools about grade boundaries for modern foreign languages. It is currently finalising its response.
Languages: Primary Education
To teach in a primary school as a qualified teacher it is necessary to have gained qualified teacher status via one of the undergraduate, postgraduate or employment-based routes into teaching. It will be for the head teacher to decide whether a teacher has the necessary knowledge and experience for a particular role in the school.
The law also allows unqualified teachers to work as instructors when they have a specific skill or knowledge, where a qualified teacher is not available and again where the head teacher is satisfied that this person is able to properly fulfil this role.
Mathematics: Teachers
Information on the number of full-time teachers in service in secondary schools by subject of qualification is available from the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS), an occasional sample survey undertaken in the years 1988, 1992, 1996, 2002 and 2007. 2007 figures are expected to be published in early 2008.
The following table provides the estimated number of full-time secondary school teachers with a post A- level qualification in mathematics, physics and chemistry, irrespective of whether they are teaching the subject, in England for the years available.
1988 1992 1996 2002 Mathematics 42,000 38,100 27,100 n/a Physics 17,600 15,900 10,400 n/a Chemistry 16,600 15,000 10,700 n/a n/a - not available 1 Teachers are counted once for each subject in which they have a qualification. Source: Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey.
Information for 2002 is not available on the same basis. Figures for the number of teachers teaching each subject area and the level of qualification in that subject are available however and these are provided in the following table.
Percentages Degree3 BEd PGCE Cert Ed Other Qual. No Qual. Total teachers (Thousand) Mathematics 42 ± 3 15 ± 2 9 ± 2 7 ± 1 2 ± 1 24 ± 2 28.2 English 51 ± 3 15 ± 2 7 ± 1 6 ± 1 1 ± 1 20 ± 2 29.4 Combined/General science 62 ± 3 12 ± 2 10 ± 2 4 ± 1 1 ± 1 11 ± 2 28.3 Biology4 71 ± 5 7 ± 3 11 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± 1 7 ± 3 5.6 Chemistry4 72 ± 5 6 ± 3 12 ± 4 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 7 ± 3 5.2 Physics4 63 ± 6 11 ± 4 15 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± - 8 ± 3 4.7 Other sciences4 10 ± 6 4 ± 4 5 ± 4 - ± - - ± - 80 ± 8 1.6 French 54 ± 3 7 ± 2 10 ± 2 3 ± 1 2 ± 1 23 ± 3 16.0 German 47 ± 5 6 ± 3 13 ± 4 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 30 ± 5 6.9 Spanish 37 ± 7 8 ± 4 19 ± 6 - ± - 3 ± 2 33 ± 7 3.6 Other modern languages 18 ± 8 - ± - 9 ± 7 - ± - 3 ± 4 71 ±10 1.4 Design and technology5 26 ± 3 20 ± 3 7 ± 2 21 ± 3 2 ± 1 24 ± 3 20.9 ICT5, 6 13 ± 2 6 ± 1 8 ± 2 2 ± 1 3 ± 1 69 ± 3 18.9 Other/Combined technology5 30± 1 0 13 ± 8 16 ± 7 18 ± 9 2 ± 3 20 ± 9 1.6 Business studies 30 ± 5 11 ± 4 9 ± 3 4 ± 2 3 ± 2 43 ± 5 6.5 Classics 33 ± 7 - ± - 2 ± 4 2 ± - - ± - 63 ± 7 1.0 History 57 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 6 ± 2 - ± - 23 ± 3 13.7 Religious education 22 ± 3 8 ± 2 8 ± 2 4 ± 1 2 ± 1 57 ± 4 14.2 Geography 53 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 5 ± 2 1 ± 1 25 ± 3 13.7 Other social studies 35 ± 5 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 2 ± 1 - ± 1 54 ± 6 4.9 Combined arts/humanities/social studies 5 ± 3 4 ± 2 7 ± 3 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 83 ± 5 5.3 Music 59 ± 5 15 ± 4 5 ± 2 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 13 ± 4 6.3 Drama 25 ± 4 10 ± 3 12 ± 3 6 ± 2 2 ± 1 45 ± 5 8.1 Art and design 54 ± 4 10 ± 3 7 ± 2 9 ± 3 1 ± 1 20 ± 4 9.3 Physical education 25 ± 3 31 ± 3 6 ± 2 13 ± 2 2 ± 1 22 ± 2 21.4 Careers education 2 ± 2 1 ± 2 3 ± 3 4 ± 4 3 ± 4 87 ± 7 1.5 PSHE6 1 ± - 1 ± - 2 ± 1 1 ± - - ± - 95 ± 1 61.4 General studies 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 95 ± 2 7.1 Citizenship 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 94 ± 2 9.0 Other — — — — — — 32.8 Total2, 7 33 ± - 10 ±- 7 ± - 5 ± - 1 ± - 44 ± - 388.4 ‘—’ = zero or less than 0.5. 1 Where a teacher has more than one post A-level qualification in the same subject, the qualification level is determined by the highest level reading from left (Degree) to right (Other Qual.). For example, teachers shown under PGCE have a PGCE but not a degree or BEd in the subject, while those with a PGCE and a degree are shown only under Degree. 2 Teachers are counted once against each subject which they are teaching. 3 Includes higher degrees but excludes BEds. 4 Teachers qualified in combined/general science are treated as qualified to teach biology, chemistry, or physics. Teachers qualified in biology, chemistry or physics are treated as qualified to teach combined/general science. 5 Teachers qualified in other/combined technology are treated as qualified to teach design and technology or information and communication technology. Teachers qualified in design and technology or information and communication technology are treated as qualified to teach other/combined technology. 6 Information and Communication Technology is abbreviated as ICT and Personal Social and Health Education is abbreviated as PSHE. 7 ‘Other’ not included in total percentages. Source: Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey 2002.
Music: Finance
(2) what funding the Music Standards Forum is planned to receive over the next two years.
[holding answer 13 November 2007]: In respect of spending on the Music Standards Fund from 2003-04 I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 20 February 2007, Official Report, column 892W.
The Music Standards Fund grant for the next two years, that is, for 2008-09 and 2009-10, totals £82 million a year. Local authorities are free to add to the Music Standards Funds from their general education budgets, and many do.
No Outsiders Project
The Department has no direct involvement in the project although a DCSF official has visited the project to observe a training session and an official has met the project lead who outlined the project’s intentions.
The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter). Its aims are to assist in understanding the requirements of The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. The No Outsiders Project does not affect what is taught in the school curriculum. This is governed by the Education Act 1996, as amended, which includes children learning the value of all relationships, with a particular emphasis on marriage and its importance for bringing up children.
Pupils: Finance
The following table sets out allocations of the £40.9 million of funding within dedicated schools grant (DSG) to support children from deprived backgrounds who attend schools in less deprived local authorities. The amounts are increases in funding for 2008-09, and will become part of each qualifying authority's DSG baseline for 2009-10 and 2010-11. No funding was allocated for 2007-08; funding for 2011-12 will be allocated under the next spending review. Decisions on the targeting of this funding will be taken by local authorities in consultation with their schools forums, but our strong expectation is that it will be directed to those schools with the most disadvantaged pupil intakes.
LEA name £ million Barnet 1.264 Bath and NE Somerset 0.317 Bedfordshire 1.219 Bexley 0.284 Bromley 0.518 Buckinghamshire 0.384 Cambridgeshire 0.362 Cheshire 2.637 Derbyshire 1.873 Dorset 0.314 East Riding of Yorkshire 1.171 Essex 1.574 Gloucestershire 1.023 Hampshire 0.768 Harrow 0.331 Havering 0.077 Hertfordshire 0.046 Hillingdon 0.042 Kent 3.963 Kingston upon Thames 0.177 Leicestershire 1.335 Milton Keynes 1.558 North Somerset 0.690 North Yorkshire 1.493 Northamptonshire 2.484 Oxfordshire 0.147 Poole 0.011 Richmond upon Thames 0.277 Shropshire 0.309 Solihull 1.193 Somerset 0.951 South Gloucestershire 0.074 Staffordshire 2.459 Stockport 1.316 Suffolk 1.408 Surrey 0.048 Sutton 0.218 Swindon 0.564 Thurrock 0.243 Trafford 1.338 Warrington 0.875 Warwickshire 0.722 West Sussex 0.425 Wiltshire 0.178 Worcestershire 1.576 York 0.673
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority: Conferences
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) incurred costs of £2.65 million in 2006-07 and £1.62 million in the current financial year to October for external meetings. Total costs by location are shown below. Information on the purpose of each meeting could be collected only at disproportionate cost, but a significant number were stakeholder meetings on key areas of QCA’s work, such as developing Diplomas and the national consultation on the Secondary Curriculum.
Location Amount (£) 2006-07 (April-March) Bath 1,179 Belfast 48,244 Birmingham 128,396 Blackburn 15,366 Bolton 395 Bournemouth 1,992 Bradford 2,727 Brighton 3,188 Bristol 23,542 Bromley 617 Cambridge 2,233 Cardiff 817 Chelmsford 2,831 Coventry 186,135 Crewe 1,101 Doncaster 205 Dudley 609 Enfield 5,509 Exeter 271 Guildford 5,058 Hemel Hempstead 2,767 Ipswich 1,062 Kingston upon Thames 81,371 Lancaster 1,088 Leeds 19,932 Leicester 37,340 Liverpool 2,181 Llandudno 1,481 London 1,472,455 Manchester 57,208 Middlesbrough 3,000 Milton Keynes 124,694 Newcastle upon Tyne 9,517 Northampton 134,684 Nottingham 2,950 Oldham 208 Oxford 8,491 Preston 220 Reading 53,303 Redhill 411 Sheffield 27,277 Slough 29,086 Southampton 12,364 St. Albans 1,101 Stockport 60,186 Stoke-on -Trent 1,756 Swansea 705 Telford 8,572 Truro 1,109 Twickenham 3,631 Wakefield 270 Warrington 30,000 Watford 2,228 Wolverhampton 212 York 28,777 Total 2,652,052 2007-08 (April-October) Bath 500 Belfast 1,116 Birmingham 43,917 Blackburn 5,763 Bournemouth 31,319 Bristol 4,406 Bromley 1,050 Cambridge 589 Cardiff 1,150 Chelmsford 1,893 Chester 17,214 Coventry 99,774 Crewe 11,958 Croydon 304 Darlington 1,058 Derby 800 Doncaster 316 Dudley 563 Exeter 3,542 Gloucester 2,535 Harrogate 1,256 Hemel Hempstead 2,218 Hereford 470 Huddersfield 240 Hull 2,400 Ipswich 5,145 Kingston upon Thames 54,395 Lancaster 6,711 Leeds 5,961 Liverpool 525 London 1,050,836 Manchester 11,118 Middlesbrough 3,800 Milton Keynes 29,245 Northampton 39,529 Norwich 1,946 Nottingham 979 Oxford 45,943 Peterborough 469 Plymouth 6,334 Preston 6,575 Reading 10,747 Redhill 8,234 Rochester 527 Salisbury 242 Sheffield 2,512 Southampton 3,350 Stockport 29,164 Stoke-on-Trent 1,558 Sunderland 316 Swansea 2,250 Taunton 4,479 Truro 898 Tunbridge Welts 251 Uxbridge 4,277 Walsall 193 Watford 530 Wolverhampton 735 Worcester 14,417 York 28,447 Total 1,618,989
The London hotels used by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in the months from May this year, and the monthly cost, are shown in the following table. Information on the purpose of each booking could be collected only at disproportionate cost, but a significant number of these events were related to the national consultation on the Secondary Curriculum.
Month 2007 Hotel Cost (£) May City Inn Westminster Flemings Mayfair Hotel Hilton London Green Park Holiday Inn Mayfair Holiday Inn-London Bloomsbury Hotel Russell Le Meridien Piccadilly Millennium Hotel (London Mayfair) Novotel London Euston The Chesterfield Mayfair The Washington Mayfair 106,380 June Bonnington Hotel London Flemings Mayfair Hotel Hilton London Green Park Holiday Inn Mayfair Hotel Russell The Chesterfield Mayfair 43,567 July Bonnington Hotel London Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington Flemings Mayfair Hotel Hilton London Islington Holiday Inn Mayfair Hotel Russell Langham Hotel The Cavendish London The Chesterfield Mayfair The Park Lane Hotel Thistle Hotel Marble Arch 70,623 August Flemings Mayfair Hotel Holiday Inn Mayfair Millennium Hotel (London Mayfair) The Chesterfield Mayfair The Rubens At The Palace Hotel 12,239 September Flemings Mayfair Hotel Hilton London Green Park Hilton London Islington Hilton London Metropole Holiday Inn Mayfair Millennium Gloucester Hotel Millennium Hotel (London Mayfair) The Chesterfield Mayfair The Cumberland Hotel The Park Lane Hotel 74,919 October Flemings Mayfair Hotel Le Meridien Piccadilly Radisson Edwardian Marlborough Hotel Rubens at the Palace The Chesterfield Mayfair Thistle Hotel Westminster 18,802 Total 326,530
School Leaving
The Department has not made detailed projections at a local level. Demographic changes will vary between local areas, of course, as will the nature of demand from young people, and local authorities will need to use their own projections to plan accordingly.
The proposed legislation is for the education and training leaving age, not the school leaving age, to be raised to 18 years. This will be done in two stages, with the age not being raised to 18 until 2015. We estimate that most of the additional places required will be in FE colleges, not in schools.
The Youth Cohort Study (YCS) for England and Wales provides information on the activities of young people who have completed compulsory education. For the cohort of 16-year-olds who completed their compulsory education in 2002/03, the YCS estimates that 31 per cent. of those who did not stay on in full-time education after the age of 16 had five or more A* - C grade GCSEs or equivalent.
There are very significant benefits to young people from staying in education and training until at least the age of 18. Staying in learning not only supports young people to get a better job; it also improves their life chances and equips them with the personal and social skills they need to thrive throughout their lives. That is why we have embarked on a series of education and training reforms which will ensure that there are suitable progression routes for all young people, and published on 5 November plans for raising the participation age to 18.
Financial support for learning will be restructured when the compulsory participation age is raised to 18, and we are looking at a variety of methods to ensure that this is done in the most effective way to ensure young people are enabled to participate. In doing this we will build on the foundation of the educational maintenance allowance, and the views we gathered in the public consultation on “supporting young people to achieve.”
(2) what (a) proportion and (b) number of (i) 16, (ii) 17 and (iii) 18-year-olds were in education and training in each year from 1997 to 2006; and what his estimate is of the equivalent figures in each year from 2007 to 2015.
The figures provided are for 16, 17 and 18-year-olds in ‘education and work based-learning’ in each year from 1997 to 2006 in England, and will include some learners in part-time training. These figures are available as additional information with the Statistical First Release published by the Department in SFR 22/2007, please see the following web link:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000734/index.shtml
Academic age 16 17 18 1997/98 84.6 76.5 56.7 1998/99 83.7 75.9 55.8 1999/2000 84.6 76.8 56.0 2000/01 83.7 76.5 55.5 2001/02 82.6 73.9 53.8 2002/03 83.4 73.7 53.1 2003/04 83.7 74.7 52.7 2004/05 84.7 74.8 53.3 2005/06 86.0 76.1 54.4 2006/07 (provisional) 87.2 77.5 53.7
Academic age 16 17 18 1997/98 512,800 467,500 333,800 1998/99 497,700 458,300 338,400 1999/2000 506,500 453,500 334,800 2000/01 507,800 457,200 325,000 2001/02 523,300 453,300 323,700 2002/03 526,900 471,800 330,200 2003/04 541 ,900 477,000 342,500 2004/05 563,400 490,200 345,900 2005/06 564,100 512,000 361,700 2006/07 (provisional) 577,600 510,900 364,800
Projections of participation by 16 and 17-year-olds were published in the Green Paper “Raising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16”. The following tables provide these by age and also include 18-year-olds. They are subject to change following receipt of up-to-date data and publication of the Learning and Skills Council’s annual statement of priorities.
Academic age 16 17 18 2007/08 87.2 79.6 53.0 2008/09 88.6 80.2 54.1 2009/10 89.5 82.2 54.9 2010/11 91.3 83.9 56.1 2011/12 92.0 86.1 56.5 2012/13 92.4 87.6 57.2 2013/14 100.0 88.1 57.4 2014/15 100.0 94.1 57.3 2015/16 100.0 100.0 57.7
Academic age 16 17 18 2007/08 582,000 532,000 354,000 2008/09 583,000 540,000 366,000 2009/10 568,000 546,000 374,000 2010/11 575,000 537,000 377,000 2011/12 570,000 547,000 367,000 2012/13 570,000 547,000 368,000 2013/14 619,000 548,000 364,000 2014/15 605,000 589,000 361,000 2015/16 594,000 612,000 366,000
The estimated proportion of 17-year-olds expected to participate in 2020 is 100 per cent.
On 5 November we published a document setting out how our proposals to raise the participation age have developed since the consultation, and which aspects require legislation. This explains that enforcement action will be a last resort, but if a young person is not participating once suitable learning provision has been identified for them and appropriate support provided, the local authority will be able to issue an attendance notice, specifying precisely the provision the young person must attend and where and when they must do this. We estimate that very few young people will reach the stage of being issued with an attendance notice, as the focus of the policy will be on ensuring that there is an engaging and worthwhile learning programme for every young person and the right support, including financial support, to help them stay in learning and succeed. The estimates and projections in the initial regulatory impact assessment (which has been placed in the Library of the House) are being revised to reflect developments in the policy before being published in the impact assessment that will accompany the Education and Skills Bill.
No individual will have to give up employment they already have as a result of our plans to raise the participation age to 18 from 2013. The first young people to be affected are currently in Year 6, so will have time to prepare. 16 and 17-year-olds cannot currently work more than 40 hours a week, and we do not propose to change this. An estimate of foregone productivity costs will be included in the impact assessment which will be published with the Education and Skills Bill.
Individuals will not incur additional staff costs. Some businesses may incur additional staffing costs if they choose to employ 18-year-olds, to whom they must pay a higher National Minimum Wage, rather than 16 and 17-year-olds. The estimates in the initial regulatory impact assessment published alongside the Green Paper (which was placed in the Library of the House) are being revised to reflect developments in the policy and will be published in an impact assessment alongside the Education and Skills Bill.
An initial regulatory impact assessment was published alongside the “Raising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16” Green Paper in March. This included estimated costs of £6.7 million to local authorities of enforcing the duty. This was based on the enforcement system set out in the Green Paper and the assumption that it would be used as a very last resort, with the focus of the policy on ensuring that there is an engaging and worthwhile learning programme available for every young person, along with the right support for them to access it successfully. As we said in the Green Paper, we will continue to make sure local authorities are properly resourced to deliver the new requirements.
The Green Paper proposed that one option for enforcing attendance orders would be for an individual, on breach of the terms of such an order to be liable to prosecution. Court costs of £2.5 million and legal aid costs of between £0.25-0.7 million were therefore included in the initial RIA to reflect this. The estimates in the initial RIA are being revised to reflect developments in the policy before being published in an impact assessment alongside the Education and Skills Bill.
An initial regulatory impact assessment was published alongside the “Raising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16” Green Paper in March, and copies were place in the Library of the House. The estimated additional annual costs to local authorities were based on additional resources needed to track and contact young people not participating, provide help and support to address issues and re-engage in learning, and ultimately enforce the duty, through the system of attendance notices described in the Green Paper. No additional costs were forecast for registration, based on maintaining the Connexions Caseload Information System. An estimated cost of £50 million for additional tracking and support was included, and an estimated cost to local authorities of £6.7 million for enforcement (with other enforcement costs being incurred elsewhere). As we said in the Green Paper, we will make sure the local authorities are properly resourced to deliver the new requirements. The estimates in the initial regulatory impact assessment are being revised to reflect developments in the policy before being published in an impact assessment alongside the Education and Skills Bill.
School Leaving: Colchester
The Department has not made detailed projections at a local level. Demographic changes will vary between local areas, of course, as will the nature of demand from young people, and local authorities will need to use their own projections to plan accordingly.
The proposed legislation is for the education and training leaving age, not the school leaving age, to be raised to 18 years. We estimate that most of the additional places required will be in FE colleges, not in schools.
School Meals
The Secretary of State has not made such an assessment. Responsibility for setting the price of a school lunch rests with the local authority or, where the budget has been delegated, the school.
Schools: Admissions
The latest published data are for January 2006 where there were:
(a) 513,738 surplus primary places (including middle deemed primary) representing almost 12 per cent. of total capacity
(b) 244,111 surplus secondary places (including middle deemed secondary) representing around 7 per cent. of total capacity.
We do not collate separate figures for middle schools. They are deemed to be either primary or secondary schools.
The January 2007 surplus places data will be published later this year.
Schools: Construction
We have adapted the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for schools and since 2005 it has been our requirement that major school building projects achieve a minimum BREEAM rating of ‘very good’. To complement this requirement we are planning to introduce new standards for carbon emissions attributable to energy used within new school buildings.
The Department is also funding demonstration schemes that will achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘excellent’ and we have commissioned a study to investigate the potential implications of raising the target to ‘excellent’. The outcomes of these initiatives work will inform future policy.
Schools: Crimes of Violence
Information on the number of permanent and fixed-period exclusions due to assault against an adult, broken down by local education authority, and covering the academic year 2004-05 has been placed in the House Of Commons Library.
Data are not collected centrally on the category of assault.
Data for 2006-07 will be available in June 2008.
Schools: Finance
Under the spend plus methodology for distribution of Dedicated Schools Grant, there is no single set of area cost adjustment factors for schools by local authority in England. The level of Dedicated Schools Grant per pupil for each local authority will depend on the level of their spending on schools in 2005-06, which was closely related to the formula for Schools Formula Spending Share (FSS) for that year. The Schools FSS formula contained the area cost adjustment factors set out as follows in column 1. We have in 2006-07 and 2007-08 distributed funding for a number of ministerial priorities including the greater personalisation of learning, more practical learning options for 14-16 pupils, work force reform and the increased entitlement to early years provision from 33 to 38 weeks, all of which used the ACA factors set out below in column 2. Funding for the ministerial priorities in the school funding settlement for 2008-09 to 2010-11, which I announced to the House on 12 November also used the ACA factors in column 2.
Local authority 2005-06 ACA 2006-11 ACA City of London 1.4764 1.4655 Camden 1.2825 1.2761 Greenwich 1.2825 1.2761 Hackney 1.2825 1.2761 Hammersmith and Fulham 1.2825 1.2761 Islington 1.2825 1.2761 Kensington and Chelsea 1.2825 1.2761 Lambeth 1.2825 1.2761 Lewisham 1.2825 1.2761 Southwark 1.2825 1.2761 Tower Hamlets 1.2825 1.2761 Wandsworth 1.2825 1.2761 Westminster 1.2825 1.2761 Barking and Dagenham 1.0929 1.0886 Barnet 1.1593 1.1543 Bexley 1.0929 1.0886 Brent 1.1593 1.1543 Bromley 1.0929 1.0886 Croydon 1.0929 1.0886 Ealing 1.1593 1.1543 Enfield 1.0929 1.0886 Haringey 1.0929 1.0886 Harrow 1.1593 1.1543 Havering 1.0929 1.0886 Hillingdon 1.1593 1.1543 Hounslow 1.1593 1.1543 Kingston upon Thames 1.1593 1.1543 Merton 1.1593 1.1543 Newham 1.0929 1.0886 Redbridge 1.0929 1.0886 Richmond upon Thames 1.1593 1.1543 Sutton 1.1593 1.1543 Waltham Forest 1.0929 1.0886 Birmingham 1.0246 1.0168 Coventry 1.0246 1.0168 Dudley 1.0246 1.0168 Sandwell 1.0246 1.0168 Solihull 1.0246 1.0168 Walsall 1.0246 1.0168 Wolverhampton 1.0246 1.0168 Knowsley 1 1 Liverpool 1 1 St. Helens 1 1 Sefton 1 1 Wirral 1 1 Bolton 1.0179 1.019 Bury 1.0179 1.019 Manchester 1.0179 1.019 Oldham 1.0179 1.019 Rochdale 1.0179 1.019 Salford 1.0179 1.019 Stockport 1.0179 1.019 Tameside 1.0179 1.019 Trafford 1.0179 1.019 Wigan 1.0179 1.019 Barnsley 1 1 Doncaster 1 1 Rotherham 1 1 Sheffield 1 1 Bradford 1.0086 1.0074 Calderdale 1.0086 1.0074 Kirklees 1.0086 1.0074 Leeds 1.0086 1.0074 Wakefield 1.0086 1.0074 Gateshead 1 1 Newcastle upon Tyne 1 1 North Tyneside 1 1 South Tyneside 1 1 Sunderland 1 1 Isles of Scilly 1.5 1.5 Bath and North East Somerset 1.0377 1.04 City of Bristol 1.0377 1.04 North Somerset 1.0377 1.04 South Gloucestershire 1.0377 1.04 Hartlepool 1 1 Middlesbrough 1 1 Redcar and Cleveland 1 1 Stockton-on-Tees 1 1 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 1 1 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 1 North East Lincolnshire 1 1 North Lincolnshire 1 1 North Yorkshire 1 1 York 1 1 Bedfordshire 1.0563 1.0558 Luton 1.0563 1.0558 Buckinghamshire 1.0971 1.0957 Milton Keynes 1.0916 1.0915 Derbyshire 1 1 Derby 1 1 Dorset 1 1 Poole 1 1 Bournemouth 1 1 Durham 1 1 Darlington 1 1 East Sussex 1.017 1.0137 Brighton and Hove 1.017 1.0137 Hampshire 1.048 1.0449 Portsmouth 1.048 1.0449 Southampton 1.048 1.0449 Leicestershire 1.0019 1.0057 Leicester 1.0019 1.0057 Rutland 1.0019 1.0057 Staffordshire 1 1 Stoke on Trent 1 1 Wiltshire 1.0321 1.0265 Swindon 1.0321 1.0265 Bracknell Forest 1.142 1.1361 Windsor and Maidenhead 1.142 1.1361 West Berkshire 1.1339 1.1367 Reading 1.1339 1.1367 Slough 1.142 1.1361 Wokingham 1.1339 1.1367 Cambridgeshire 1.0506 1.0493 Peterborough 1.0506 1.0493 Cheshire 1.0217 1.0169 Halton 1.0217 1.0169 Warrington 1.0217 1.0169 Devon 1 1 Plymouth 1 1 Torbay 1 1 Essex 1.038 1.0358 Southend 1.0133 1.0117 Thurrock 1.0887 1.0854 Herefordshire 1 1 Worcestershire 1 1 Kent 1.0252 1.021 Medway 1.0145 1.0101 Lancashire 1 1 Blackburn 1 1 Blackpool 1 1 Nottinghamshire 1 1 Nottingham City 1 1 Shropshire 1 1 The Wrekin 1 1 Cornwall 1 1 Cumbria 1 1 Gloucestershire 1.0198 1.0199 Hertfordshire 1.0988 1.0953 Isle of Wight Council 1.048 1.0449 Lincolnshire 1 1 Norfolk 1 1 Northamptonshire 1.0226 1.0189 Northumberland 1 1 Oxfordshire 1.0831 1.075 Somerset 1 1 Suffolk 1.007 1 Surrey 1.142 1.1361 Warwickshire 1.0275 1.0209 West Sussex 1.0396 1.0228
The guaranteed unit of funding per pupil for each local education authority for years 2008-09 to 2010-11 is provided in the following table. 2008-09 figures are ordered from the largest sum payable downwards.
Local authority 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 City of London 7,362 7,603 7,871 Tower Hamlets 6,289 6,523 6,792 Hackney 6,170 6,409 6,682 Camden 6,161 6,373 6,618 Lambeth 5,848 6,075 6,337 Islington 5,812 6,043 6,310 Kensington and Chelsea 5,757 5,956 6,186 Southwark 5,756 5,961 6,200 Hammersmith and Fulham 5,635 5,831 6,059 Lewisham 5,556 5,751 5,981 Westminster 5,439 5,650 5,893 Greenwich 5,361 5,576 5,827 Wandsworth 5,146 5,376 5,639 Newham 5,071 5,259 5,478 Haringey 4,987 5,161 5,364 Brent 4,894 5,102 5,342 Ealing 4,832 5,007 5,213 Hounslow 4,651 4,822 5,024 Waltham Forest 4,584 4,747 4,940 Manchester 4,571 4,731 4,919 Barking and Dagenham 4,563 4,725 4,917 Barnet 4,559 4,723 4,917 Harrow 4,507 4,669 4,862 Nottingham 4,500 4,658 4,843 Merton 4,452 4,612 4,801 Birmingham 4,448 4,605 4,790 Enfield 4,437 4,596 4,785 Slough 4,404 4,582 4,792 Bristol, City of 4,366 4,520 4,702 Hillingdon 4,361 4,519 4,709 Liverpool 4,320 4,484 4,675 Richmond upon Thames 4,311 4,467 4,654 Salford 4,309 4,462 4,642 Croydon 4,267 4,432 4,627 Reading 4,260 4,428 4,627 Kingston upon Thames 4,256 4,410 4,596 Blackburn with Darwen 4,254 4,405 4,583 Sutton 4,253 4,409 4,596 Luton 4,251 4,402 4,583 Knowsley 4,236 4,414 4,621 Halton 4,226 4,376 4,555 Redbridge 4,214 4,380 4,575 Sandwell 4,214 4,372 4,557 Middlesbrough 4,182 4,330 4,506 Rochdale 4,171 4,321 4,500 Kingston upon Hull, City of 4,168 4,317 4,493 Leicester 4,151 4,310 4,497 Bexley 4,151 4,301 4,482 Wolverhampton 4,145 4,309 4,502 Thurrock 4,141 4,291 4,470 Havering 4,137 4,287 4,468 North East Lincolnshire 4,134 4,281 4,455 Oldham 4,118 4,271 4,453 Southampton 4,117 4,265 4,441 Coventry 4,110 4,258 4,433 Bradford 4,107 4,275 4,470 Brighton and Hove 4,103 4,249 4,424 Peterborough 4,098 4,246 4,422 Newcastle upon Tyne 4,096 4,256 4,443 South Tyneside 4,092 4,241 4,417 Milton Keynes 4,080 4,231 4,413 Stoke-on-Trent 4,070 4,215 4,388 Portsmouth 4,061 4,207 4,381 Isle of Wight 4,051 4,198 4,373 Rotherham 4,045 4,190 4,363 Windsor and Maidenhead 4,040 4,193 4,378 Medway 4,034 4,179 4,351 Hartlepool 4,029 4,173 4,345 Southend-on-Sea 4,026 4,171 4,344 Walsall 4,023 4,183 4,371 Bracknell Forest 4,017 4,177 4,367 East Sussex 3,997 4,141 4,313 Sunderland 3,990 4,137 4,311 Redcar and Cleveland 3,990 4,133 4,305 Gateshead 3,986 4,129 4,300 West Berkshire 3,984 4,137 4,321 Tameside 3,983 4,126 4,298 Blackpool 3,982 4,125 4,296 Durham 3,982 4,125 4,296 Bolton 3,978 4,125 4,301 Derby 3,978 4,120 4,291 St. Helens 3,977 4,120 4,290 Surrey 3,976 4,129 4,313 Bromley 3,966 4,123 4,311 Stockton-on-Tees 3,960 4,102 4,272 Dudley 3,949 4,092 4,263 Wigan 3,948 4,091 4,262 Kirklees 3,947 4,093 4,266 Sheffield 3,947 4,096 4,272 Darlington 3,944 4,086 4,255 Doncaster 3,941 4,083 4,252 Kent 3,938 4,081 4,251 Wirral 3,937 4,089 4,269 Lancashire 3,927 4,069 4,238 Leeds 3,926 4,068 4,237 Bury 3,926 4,068 4,238 Essex 3,924 4,067 4,238 Torbay 3,922 4,064 4,233 Sefton 3,917 4,058 4,227 Calderdale 3,912 4,053 4,222 Telford and Wrekin 3,911 4,052 4,219 Stockport 3,902 4,043 4,211 Buckinghamshire 3,899 4,042 4,216 Rutland 3,898 4,039 4,208 Hertfordshire 3,896 4,039 4,212 Bath and North East Somerset 3,891 4,033 4,204 Plymouth 3,889 4,030 4,198 Wakefield 3,881 4,022 4,190 Cheshire 3,880 4,021 4,190 West Sussex 3,877 4,018 4,186 Oxfordshire 3,870 4,011 4,182 North Yorkshire 3,854 3,993 4,160 Trafford 3,852 3,992 4,160 Barnsley 3,848 3,987 4,154 Wokingham 3,844 4,005 4,198 Nottinghamshire 3,842 3,981 4,148 North Tyneside 3,836 3,974 4,140 Cumbria 3,831 3,970 4,137 Derbyshire 3,825 3,964 4,130 Bournemouth 3,825 3,964 4,130 Hampshire 3,824 3,964 4,132 North Lincolnshire 3,822 3,961 4,127 Warrington 3,819 3,958 4,125 Bedfordshire 3,817 3,961 4,134 Norfolk 3,807 3,945 4,111 York 3,801 3,939 4,103 Dorset 3,799 3,938 4,104 Lincolnshire 3,795 3,933 4,099 Warwickshire 3,789 3,927 4,093 Cambridgeshire 3,787 3,926 4,093 Northamptonshire 3,785 3,923 4,088 Staffordshire 3,776 3,913 4,078 Swindon 3,775 3,913 4,079 Suffolk 3,763 3,900 4,065 North Somerset 3,757 3,895 4,061 Somerset 3,752 3,889 4,052 Solihull 3,750 3,887 4,052 Gloucestershire 3,744 3,881 4,046 Cornwall 3,742 3,879 4,043 Worcestershire 3,729 3,865 4,028 Poole 3,724 3,860 4,024 East Riding of Yorkshire 3,715 3,851 4,015 Shropshire 3,715 3,850 4,013 Wiltshire 3,713 3,849 4,013 Northumberland 3,711 3,850 4,016 Devon 3,707 3,843 4,005 Herefordshire 3,687 3,830 4,002 South Gloucestershire 3,647 3,781 3,944 Leicestershire 3,596 3,728 3,888
The main influences on the differences between authorities are relative deprivation; area costs; and the authority's historic spending above or below its assessment.
Schools: Fruit
I have been asked to reply.
The lottery provided £16 million towards the original pilots of the National School Fruit Scheme between 2000 and 2002. Lottery funding also provided £42 million to support scaling-up of the original pilots across five Government regions between 2002 and 2004.
The Department of Health spent £0.75 million in 2001-02 and £0.3 million in 2002-03 on administering and evaluating the National School Fruit Scheme pilots.
The national rollout of the scheme to all LEA infant, primary and special schools across England was completed at the end of 2004 and in the year 2004-05 the Department of Health spent £23.66 million on the scheme. In 2005-06 the scheme, now fully funded by the Department of Health, cost £37.41 million and in 2006-07 £36.21million.
Schools: Immigrants
Local authorities are responsible for balancing the demand and supply of school places in their area. They have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places, the needs of the local community are served, and good quality education is provided in a cost-effective way.
The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of school places and the number of pupils on roll via an annual survey. Local authorities also provide area-wide forecasts of pupil numbers at primary and secondary levels. The earliest data available are for 2003 and the most recent are for 2007.
The following table shows the number of school places, pupil numbers and the level of surplus places in Chipping Barnet for the past five years.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Primary Capacity1 8121 8238 8238 8247 8053 NOR2 7401 7543 7538 7453 7630 Surplus3 720 695 700 794 423 Secondary Capacity1 7447 7460 7460 7460 8020 NOR2 7340 7350 7378 7496 7555 Surplus3 107 110 82 0 465 1 Capacity is the number of school places as at January 2 NOR relates to the number of pupils on roll as at January 3 Surplus relates to the difference between the capacity of a school and the number of pupils on roll
Schools: Parents
(2) what estimate he has made of the proportion of schools using email to provide feedback to parents on pupil performance.
The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 specify that head teachers are responsible for ensuring they send a written report to parents on their children once during the school year, or to the pupil where they are aged 18 or over.
Many schools are already reporting on a termly basis to parents about their child's progress.
The Department has just undertaken a survey on parental involvement in children's education. Report writing and analysis are under way. I anticipate the report will be published in spring 2008, and will indicate what proportion of parents have talked about how well their child is doing with teachers at regular events such as parents' evenings, parents meetings or review days arranged by the school.
Many schools use technology such as email as part of wider school strategies for parental engagement or behaviour. The ‘Harnessing Technology in Schools Survey’ (National Centre for Social Research/Becta, July 2007) found that
“although paper messages remained the predominant mode of communication with parents...70 per cent. of primary schools and 86 per cent. of secondary schools used emails to communicate with parents”.
Schools: Sports
The annual PE and School Sport Survey was introduced in 2003/04 and collects data relating to participation in PE and School Sport.
Over the last four years, the percentage of pupils who took part in at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport each week is as follows:
Primary Secondary Total 2003/04 52 73 62 2004/05 64 75 69 2005/06 82 78 80 2006/07 91 80 86
Prior to 2003/04, no data were collected relating to the amount of time spent on PE and school sport.
Schools: Standards
The statutory duty for setting annual pupil performance targets rests with the Governing Body of every maintained school. Each school agrees their targets with the School Improvement Partner (SIP) who provides support and challenge to ensure the targets reflect the best ambition for the progress of all the pupils in the school. We expect local authorities (LAs) to review the targets for all of their schools to ensure that they are setting goals which are both ambitious and achievable. In the case of schools judged to be in need of special measures by Ofsted, the LA and the SIP will be closely involved in the annual target setting process with the head teacher and the Governing Body to ensure that the targets will support the school’s improvement plan.
The number of schools in special measures has fallen from 515 in 1997/08 to 246 at the end of the summer term this year. As part of the comprehensive spending review we have announced new targets for schools and LAs which will place a focus on improving progression throughout the education system and further reduce failure and underperformance.
The Secretary of State's power to close a school under section 68 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (and prior to that section 19 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998) has not so far been used. It is a reserve power, applicable only to schools that Ofsted has judged to require special measures, and would only be used in exceptional circumstances.
The forthcoming Children's Plan will set out the Government's ambition for school improvement and how the Department for Children Schools and Families will drive the necessary changes across the schools system.
The Secretary of State has existing powers under section 68 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to direct a local authority to close a school which is in special measures on a date specified in the direction.
Secondary Education: Admissions
The school admissions process is coordinated by local authorities in partnership with schools in their area. Information on the number of applications made for secondary school places is not collected centrally.
The annual survey of school places provides information on the number of schools that are full to capacity or over capacity. Data from the 2007 survey show there are 1,045 secondary schools with no spare capacity—31 per cent. of all secondary schools in England.
Special Educational Needs
(2) how any (a) A-level, (b) GCSE, (c) Key Stage 3 SATs and (d) Key Stage 2 SATs marks were changed as a result of being re-marked, broken down by (i) subject and (ii) examination board in each year since 2001;
(3) how many (a) A-level, (b) GCSE, (c) Key Stage 3 SATs and (d) Key Stage 2 SATs marks were appealed and re-marked in each year since 2001, broken down by (i) subject and (ii) examination board;
(4) which are the 200 lowest performing secondary schools in terms of (a) GCSE results, (b) value added and (c) the number of pupils leaving with no GCSE grade A to C passes over the last 10 years;
(5) which are the 200 lowest performing primary schools in terms of (a) SATs results and (b) value added over the last 10 years;
(6) what marks have been required in Key Stage (a) 2 and (b) 3 tests in (i) English and (ii) mathematics to achieve a level (A) 4 and (B) 5 in each year from 1997 to 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(7) what percentage score has been required for a GCSE in mathematics at grade C for each examination board in each year from 1997 to 2007;
(8) how many maintained schools have refused to have their pupils take the Key Stage 3 English tests; and if he will make a statement;
(9) what percentage of the Key Stage 3 literacy tests were marked by overseas markers in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
(10) what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) maintained and (b) independent schools which introduced (i) international GCSEs and (ii) the International Baccalaureate in each year from 1997 to 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(11) how many modular exams for (a) AS levels and (b) A2 levels have been re-taken at least once by students in each year from 1997 to 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(12) how many children took (a) GCSEs and (b) A-levels in Tower Hamlets local authority area in (i) 2006 and (ii) 2007; and how many of them achieved (A) five or more A* to C GCSEs and (B) better than or equal to one A grade and two B grades at A-level; and if he will make a statement;
(13) what proportion of pupils taking GCSEs secured a grade A*-C in both English and mathematics in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement;
(14) how many and what proportion of children educated in maintained schools in each inner London education authority achieved at least three A-levels at A grade in each year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement;
(15) what proportion of year 11 pupils have taken five or more GCSE examinations in each year from 1990 to 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(16) if he will list the 20 English schools with the worst GCSE success rates in 2007 on the basis of (a) five A*-C at GCSE and (b) five A*-C at GCSE including mathematics and English;
(17) if he will list by local authority area all schools which achieved less than 30 per cent. five A*-C in GCSEs including mathematics and English in 2007;
(18) which schools in which fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils have achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and mathematics in each year since 2002 have been rated as (a) excellent and (b) good by Ofsted.
The information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The data required for PQs 163569 and 163570 are not yet published. They will be available from the Library in January 2008.
Specialised Diplomas
Figures put forward by the successful consortia applying through the Gateway Process indicate that there will be approximately 39,000 places available for learners on the five new 14-19 diplomas that will be available from September 2008. This represents around 1.2 per cent. of the total 14-19 population in that year, and is the first step on a phased roll-out of the new diplomas that will culminate in a national entitlement from 2013.
Specialist Schools
At re-designation specialist schools that meet certain published criteria are designated high performing specialist schools (HPSS). The published criteria for 2007 were:
(a) An overall Grade 1 Ofsted marking or
(b) An overall Grade 2 Ofsted marking with a Grade 1 in “Achievement and Standards” or
(c) An overall Grade 2 marking and with 60 per cent. or above 5+ A*-C GCSE including English and Maths in the 2006 KS4 results or
(d) An overall Grade 2 marking and in top 20 per cent. CVA national ranking and a minimum 35 per cent. 5+ A*-C GCSE including English and Maths in the 2006 KS4 results.
Since 2005, 393 schools have been designated HPSS. HPSS schools are an important element in our drive to build system-wide reform. They have opportunities to take on additional roles working with other schools and the community.
The published list of HPSS can be viewed at:
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/
Teachers: Pay
There are four long-established teacher pay areas, covering Inner London, Outer London, the “Fringe” (extending to certain parts of the Home Counties), and the rest of England and Wales (as defined in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document). Each of the four pay areas has, since 2004, had its own pay scales. The differences between pay scales broadly relate to differing economic circumstances linked to labour market conditions and cost of living pressures. Changes to the actual pay scales follow recommendations made by the independent School Teachers’ Review Body.
Any other differences that may arise between average pay rates in local authorities will be down to differences in the composition of the teaching work force, and, in the case of the limited number of authorities which have both ‘Fringe’ and England and Wales pay areas within their borders, the composition of the pay areas.
We have received the School Teachers’ Review Body’s detailed recommendations covering teachers’ pay from 2008. We are not in a position to announce our response until we have considered them further within the wider context of the Government’s approach to public sector pay.
Teachers: Physical Education
(2) how many dedicated physical education teachers are employed in England.
Information on the number of teachers appointed to and leaving schools by subject area is not collected centrally
The following table provides the number of full-time teachers employed in maintained secondary schools by the highest post A-level qualification held in the subjects they teach, including physical education, for November 2002 which is the latest information available.
Percentages Degree3 BEd PGCE Cert Ed Other Qual. No Qual. Total teachers (Thousand) Mathematics 42 ± 3 15 ± 2 9 ± 2 7 ± 1 2 ± 1 24 ± 2 28.2 English 51 ± 3 15 ± 2 7 ± 1 6 ± 1 1 ± 1 20 ± 2 29.4 Combined/General science 62 ± 3 12 ± 2 10 ± 2 4 ± 1 1 ± 1 11 ± 2 28.3 Biology4 71 ± 5 7 ± 3 11 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± 1 7 ± 3 5.6 Chemistry4 72 ± 5 6 ± 3 12 ± 4 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 7 ± 3 5.2 Physics4 63 ± 6 11 ± 4 15 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± - 8 ± 3 4.7 Other sciences4 10 ± 6 4 ± 4 5 ± 4 - ± - - ± - 80 ± 8 1.6 French 54 ± 3 7 ± 2 10 ± 2 3 ± 1 2 ± 1 23 ± 3 16.0 German 47 ± 5 6 ± 3 13 ± 4 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 30 ± 5 6.9 Spanish 37 ± 7 8 ± 4 19 ± 6 - ± - 3 ± 2 33 ± 7 3.6 Other modern languages 18 ± 8 - ± - 9 ± 7 - ± - 3 ± 4 71 ±10 1.4 Design and technology5 26 ± 3 20 ± 3 7 ± 2 21 ± 3 2 ± 1 24 ± 3 20.9 ICT5, 6 13 ± 2 6 ± 1 8 ± 2 2 ± 1 3 ± 1 69 ± 3 18.9 Other/Combined technology5 30± 1 0 13 ± 8 16 ± 7 18 ± 9 2 ± 3 20 ± 9 1.6 Business studies 30 ± 5 11 ± 4 9 ± 3 4 ± 2 3 ± 2 43 ± 5 6.5 Classics 33 ± 7 - ± - 2 ± 4 2 ± - - ± - 63 ± 7 1.0 History 57 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 6 ± 2 - ± - 23 ± 3 13.7 Religious education 22 ± 3 8 ± 2 8 ± 2 4 ± 1 2 ± 1 57 ± 4 14.2 Geography 53 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 5 ± 2 1 ± 1 25 ± 3 13.7 Other social studies 35 ± 5 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 2 ± 1 - ± 1 54 ± 6 4.9 Combined arts/humanities/social studies 5 ± 3 4 ± 2 7 ± 3 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 83 ± 5 5.3 Music 59 ± 5 15 ± 4 5 ± 2 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 13 ± 4 6.3 Drama 25 ± 4 10 ± 3 12 ± 3 6 ± 2 2 ± 1 45 ± 5 8.1 Art and design 54 ± 4 10 ± 3 7 ± 2 9 ± 3 1 ± 1 20 ± 4 9.3 Physical education 25 ± 3 31 ± 3 6 ± 2 13 ± 2 2 ± 1 22 ± 2 21.4 Careers education 2 ± 2 1 ± 2 3 ± 3 4 ± 4 3 ± 4 87 ± 7 1.5 PSHE6 1 ± - 1 ± - 2 ± 1 1 ± - - ± - 95 ± 1 61.4 General studies 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 95 ± 2 7.1 Citizenship 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 94 ± 2 9.0 Other — — — — — — 32.8 Total2, 7 33 ± - 10 ±- 7 ± - 5 ± - 1 ± - 44 ± - 388.4 ‘—’ = zero or less than 0.5. 1 Where a teacher has more than one post A-level qualification in the same subject, the qualification level is determined by the highest level reading from left (Degree) to right (Other Qual.). For example, teachers shown under PGCE have a PGCE but not a degree or BEd in the subject, while those with a PGCE and a degree are shown only under Degree. 2 Teachers are counted once against each subject which they are teaching. 3 Includes higher degrees but excludes BEds. 4 Teachers qualified in combined/general science are treated as qualified to teach biology, chemistry, or physics. Teachers qualified in biology, chemistry or physics are treated as qualified to teach combined/general science. 5 Teachers qualified in other/combined technology are treated as qualified to teach design and technology or information and communication technology. Teachers qualified in design and technology or information and communication technology are treated as qualified to teach other/combined technology. 6 Information and Communication Technology is abbreviated as ICT and Personal Social and Health Education is abbreviated as PSHE. 7 ‘Other’ not included in total percentages. Source: Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey 2002.
Truancy: Special Educational Needs
The available information is shown in the following table.
Information on whether a pupil has a physical disability is not collected centrally.
Total Percentage of half days missed3 Number of day pupils of compulsory school age2 Authorised absence Unauthorised absence Overall absence Pupils with statements of SEN 71,700 8.99 2.48 11.47 Pupils with SEN without statements 501,340 8.80 2.89 11.69 Of which: Pupils at School Action Plus 153,450 10.05 4.05 14.10 Pupils at School Action 347,880 8.25 2.38 10.63 Pupils with SEN (with and without statements) 573,030 8.82 2.84 11.66 Pupils with no identified SEN 2,410,010 6.30 1.06 7.35 Total4 2,983,040 6.82 1.42 8.24 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Pupil numbers are as at January 2006. Includes pupils aged 5 to 15 with sole and dual (main) registration. Excludes boarders. 4 Includes pupil enrolments for whom information on SEN was missing. Note: Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census
Trust Schools
Copies of the lists of foundation and trust schools existing on the dates specified have been lodged with the House Library. To produce this information, it was necessary to reconcile two separate databases carrying with it a small margin for error.
The regulations of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 governing trust schools came into force in May 2007 and according to our records there were no trust schools set up under that legislation before August 2007.
Young People: Devon
The Department’s estimates of the number and proportion of young people participating in education, training and employment cannot be disaggregated to local authority level. However, we can give an indication of the activity of 16 to 18-year-olds from information collected by the Connexions service. The following table shows the proportion of young people in Devon at the end of 2006 who were known by Connexions to be in (a) education, (b) training and (c) employment.
Percentage of all 16 to 18-year-olds Education 64.9 Training 10.5 Employment 19.0
Young people who are in both work and learning are recorded according to their main activity.
It should be noted that information on young people in education and training provided by Connexions is collected on a different basis from that published by the Department, and does not, therefore, give the same totals.
Young People: Education
[holding answer 14 November 2007]: The following table shows the numbers and proportions of young people of academic age 16 to 18 who were estimated to be not in education, employment or training for each year since 1997.
Number Proportion (Percentage) 1997 154,300 8.5 1998 170,300 9.4 1999 144,500 8.1 2000 162,900 9.1 2001 175,900 9.5 2002 180,200 9.5 2003 178,700 9.2 2004 190,000 9.7 2005 217,100 10.9 2006 206,200 10.3
These figures are available in the Statistical First Release (SFR) 22/2007, published by the Department at the following web link:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/SFR/s000734/sfr22_2007.pdf.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Business and University Collaboration
University business collaboration is an important driver of innovation and one we have in, for example, the Higher Education Innovation Fund and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. It is not practical to put a single number estimate on the economic value of this activity, but Funding Councils collect data from universities through the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey, which shows significant increases over recent years in key measures of collaboration.
Skills
To succeed in the global economy we must ensure that our work force has world-class skills, carry out world-class research, and drive innovation in all areas. That is why we are committed becoming a world leader on skills by 2020, and to making real progress towards that ambition by 2011. To support that, Government investment in further education and skills will increase by 7 per cent. in real terms between 2007-08 and 2010-11.
Higher Education
The latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that for 2005/06, the proportion of young entrants to full-time first degrees coming from lower socio-economic class backgrounds stands at 29.1 per cent.—up from 27.9 per cent. in 2002/03. Furthermore, the Department’s own, published evidence shows that the proportion of young people from lower socio-economic class backgrounds participating in higher education has risen from 17.6 per cent. in 2002/03 to 19.9 per cent. in 2005/06.
Part-time Students
We have asked the Funding Council to reduce funding for equivalent level qualifications by £100 million by 2010-11. The council is consulting on the how to implement this policy. The entire £100 million sum will be recycled within the higher education sector. Much of it will be available to support part-time provision for those already in the workplace who do not yet have a higher education qualification.
Government Research Establishments
A number of initiatives have taken place in line with the Lisbon strategy. For example, the European Competitiveness Council adopted a proposal for an Intellectual Property Charter for Europe in June. This aims to create a level playing field for industry and academia across Europe on the processes for IP management and exploitation.
National Institute for Medical Research
The MRC consulted Camden council on three occasions about the possibility of moving the NIMR to the National Temperance hospital site on Hampstead Road. To date there has been no formal consultation with Camden council or local residents on the proposals for the move of the NIMR to the site adjacent to the British Library. Should the BLISS consortium (MRC, CRUK, Wellcome Trust and UCL) be successful in acquiring the site, the consultation and planning process would naturally need to be followed.
(2) what progress has been made on the proposed move of the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, to central London; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what plans he has for the future use of the Temperance hospital site; and if he will make a statement;
(4) what the most recent estimated cost is of the proposed move of the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, to central London.
A consortium of the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and University College London have submitted a bid to purchase a site adjacent to the British Library. Detailed proposals for the move and its cost will be developed once the outcome of this bid is known, including, if necessary, alternative proposals for the future use of the National Temperance hospital site. MRC envisages that the relocation of the National Institute of Medical Research might be completed by 2013.
The MRC, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and University College London have created a partnership to build a new international centre for medical research and scientific excellence. Detailed proposals for the scheme, which will include the proposed financial contribution of the current and any future partners, will be developed in 2008.
The BLISS consortium, (MRC, CRUK, Wellcome Trust and UCL) have submitted an expression of interest for the land adjacent to the British Library to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), as part of the sale process. The expression of interest is still under consideration.
National Institute for Medical Research: Public Appointments
This is a matter for the Medical Research Council. I have asked the MRC's chief executive to write to my hon. Friend.
Science: Finance
Public funding for science and innovation continues to rise. The science budget will increase from £3.4 billion in 2007/08 to just under £4 billion by 2010/11. On innovation, the Technology Strategy Board will develop and lead a strategic programme with its partners worth £1 billion over the next three years. This includes £180 million earmarked by the English Regional Development Agencies and £120 million by the Research Councils, to work in partnership with the Technology Strategy Board, to provide a coherent package of technology and innovation support that is aligned to maximise impact.
Students: Fees and Charges
The Department is undertaking on-going research which will inform the independent commission on tuition fees. The commission will, of course, be able to gather its own evidence.
Students: Grants
[holding answer 12 November 2007]: This is a matter for the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I have asked the chief executive to reply to the hon. Member’s question.
Students: Industrial Training
We want employers to work more closely with the higher education sector to meet the higher skill needs of the work force and those of students still in education. Employers value broader skills such as communication, analysis and problem-solving and while a good higher education experience delivers these, more could be done. We will encourage this through our Higher Level Skills Strategy due to be published shortly.
University of York
I very much enjoyed my visit to York university, and the discussions I had with staff and students there. I was able to see how the university is flourishing on the international stage, while at the same time making a real contribution to the local economy and society. I greatly value visits of this kind, because I have made clear that the Government want those working in the higher education sector and students to contribute towards the making of policy. I also valued the opportunity to speak with students from York university about a range of educational issues, as part of the Government’s student listening programme.