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Mrs. Rumbold : Over 160 companies and individuals are sponsoring the CTC initiative. Discussions are still continuing with other companies.
National Testing
73. Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the relationship between national testing and secondary selection.
Mrs. Rumbold : There is no formal relationship. The basis for secondary selection, where it exists, is for local discretion.
Teacher Shortages
76. Sir George Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will produce figures for teacher shortages for each of the past five years ; and what further steps he plans to take to reduce such shortages in the future.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Vacancies for teachers in England and the proportion of teachers in service that they represent are as follows :
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(a) Share of HNI
|Column 1 |Column 2 |Column 3
|Per cent. of|Per cent. of|Column 2 as
|HNI |actual ADP |per cent. of
|distribution|Column 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For Rent |37.35 |33.46 |89.59
For Sale |37.37 |33.46 |89.59
|------- |------- |-------
Total |37.35 |33.46 |89.59
Data for primary schools are collected for the first time in 1988. Data for 1990 are currently being collected.
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The Government have implemented a range of measures to combat teacher shortages including : publicity and advertising campaigns spearheaded by the Teaching as a Career Unit ; the £1,300 bursary for trainee teachers of shortage subjects ; and in-service training for existing teachers of shortage subjects. Over two years from April we shall be supporting expenditure of £4 million in 45 local education authorities to improve the recruitment of mature new entrants and returners. We shall continue and reinforce our range of measures.101. Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the latest estimates of teacher shortages within and without London ; and what action he intends to take.
Mr. Alan Howarth : I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend gave on 21 December 1989 to the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) at columns 353-55.
We shall continue to support and develop the range of measures we have taken since 1986 to improve teacher supply. These include new initial and in-service training courses ; the establishment of the Teaching as a Career Unit (TASC) to undertake national advertising and publicity ; taster courses for mature people considering a career change ; education support grant provision for local initiatives to attract mature entrants and former serving teachers ; the licensed and articled teachers schemes ; and bursaries for initial teacher training students on shortage subject courses.
In addition we are supporting a London-wide recruitment campaign with funding of £159,000 in 1989-90.
Primary and Infant Schools, Manchester
78. Mr. Litherland : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what correspondence he has received from head teachers of primary and infant schools in Manchester ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The information is not available in the form requested. My right hon. Friend frequently receives correspondence from head teachers about various aspects of education provision.
Physics Teaching
80. Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science by how many the number of graduates applying to train to teach physics has increased for 1990 over 1989.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Applications from graduates for postgraduate certificate in education courses are handled by the Graduate Teacher Training Registry. For the week ending 9 February applications to train to teach physics were 17 per cent. down on the corresponding time last year. Applications can be received up until the end of September. In January 1989 PGCE applications overall were running 6 per cent. down on the previous year, but at the end of the recruiting season applications were 2 per cent. and recruitment 4 per cent. higher than in the previous year. We shall continue to pursue our programme to recruit teachers in shortage subjects.
Sport
84. Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement about the promotion of sport in schools.
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Mrs. Rumbold : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Miss Hoey).
Bradford LEA
93. Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received concerning Bradford education authority's guidelines on restrictions on head teachers from communicating with the media.
Teachers' Status
94. Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to improve the status of the teaching profession.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend announced on 1 February that he proposed to accept in full the recommendations of the interim advisory committee on school teachers' pay and conditions. These will mean better matching of rewards with contribution, better career prospects for good teachers and greater competitiveness for the teaching profession in the graduate labour market.
School Sports Facilities
95. Mr. Favell : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any further plans to encourage the use of school sports facilities by voluntary organisations when not in use by the school concerned.
Mr. Alan Howarth : With my hon. Friend the Minister for Sport, I intend to issue a document giving practical guidance on the dual use of school sports facilities. Publication is due in early April 1990.
Local Management of Schools
96. Mr. Haselhurst : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received about local management of schools.
Mrs. Rumbold : My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations about local management of schools. Many of these expressed heartening support for the key principles of local management of schools and looked forward to its successful introduction in April.
Teachers (Resettlement)
97. Sir Michael McNair-Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement on the resettlement arrangements for teachers in schools which close because they are surplus to requirements.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Resettlement arrangements for teachers whose schools close are a matter for their employers.
Higher Education
100. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many applications there have been for courses of higher education in the forthcoming
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academic year ; how many people are presently in higher education ; and what were the numbers in higher education (a) five years ago and (b) 10 years ago.Mr. Jackson : By 15 December 1989, the Universities Central Council on Admissions and the Polytechnics Central Admissions System had received 195,000 and 152,000 applications respectively from home and overseas students for admission to higher education courses in 1990. There are an estimated 1,061,000 students on higher education courses in institutions in Great Britain in the current academic year, compared with 882,000 in 1984- 85 and 778,000 in 1979-80.
Grant-maintained Schools
103. Mrs. Currie : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the number of schools which have now been accorded grant-maintained status and on the number of schools which have commenced the process of application for this status.
Mrs. Rumbold : To date 86 schools have embarked on the process of applying for grant-maintained status. Of these 80 schools have held ballots, and parents at 60 of them have so far voted in favour of proceeding with an application. My right hon. Friend has approved or said he is minded to approve 35 of the 46 proposals which have so far reached him for decision. More secondary schools have now been approved for grant- maintained status than the number of secondary schools in over half of English LEAs.
Student Grants
104. Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice or guidelines he has issued to local education authorities concerning the level of student grants for 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson : Following my right hon. Friend's announcement in December, the Department sent a circular letter in January informing local education authorities of the proposed main rates of grant and parental contribution scales for mandatory awards in 1990-91. A further circular letter about supplementary grant rates and any amendments to the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations proposed for 1990-91 will be issued by the summer. The regulations themselves will be laid before Parliament in the summer and made available to local education authorities.
Disabled Children
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what actions he plans to take on the failure of Gloucestershire education authority to ensure that Beverley Lewes received an education after the age of 10 years.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. Friend is currently investigating the circumstances of the case with the Gloucestershire local education authority.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he intends to take to ensure that all deaf-blind children up to the age of 16 years receive full-time education.
Mr. Alan Howarth : The Department published a statement on the educational needs of deaf-blind children
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on 9 March 1989, which describes the provision currently available for these children and suggests how it might be developed. We will be following up this document later in the year, to see what progress has been made by authorities towards providing for the needs of deaf-blind children.Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to identify young disabled adults who have not received the education to which they are entitled ; and what steps he intends to take to redress the situation.
Mr. Jackson : As part of their general duty to provide adequate facilities for further education for their area, local education authorities are required to have regard to the requirements of persons with learning difficulties. I see no reason to remove from LEAs the primary responsibility for identifying needs or to alter the existing machinery for complaints about provision in individual cases.
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether there are any circumstances under which a local education authority is not regarded by his Department as being obliged to provide full-time education to a disabled child under the age of 16 years.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Where a child has a statement of special educational needs, a local education authority is obliged, under section 7(2) of the Education Act 1981, to arrange that the special educational provision specified in the statement is made for him unless his parents have made suitable alternative arrangements for his education.
Leukaemia Research
Mr. Key : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the total cost of the recent Medical Research Council case control study of leukaemia and lymphoma in young people resident in west Cumbria ; and what percentage of it was met by each Government Department involved.
Mr. Jackson : The Medical Research Council has informed me that the total cost of its case control study of leukaemia and lymphoma in young people resident in west Cumbria was £260,000. The Department of Health contributed 27 per cent. of the total cost.
Examinations
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he intends to introduce measures to sustain the consistency of examination standards.
Mrs. Rumbold : The School Examinations and Assessment Council already works with examining bodies, through formal scrutinies, conferences of chief examiners, and other means, to secure the greatest possible consistency in standards of awarding grades. My right hon. Friend has no plans to promote additional action to that end.
ENVIRONMENT
Housing
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment by how much would (a) the share, (b) the number of units and (c) the cash allocation received by the
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Housing Corporation regions covering London as part of the 1990-91 approved development programme have been increased had the revised housing needs index been fully implemented next year.Mr. Chope : The tables compare the actual distribution of the for rent and for sale elements of the approved development programme in 1990-91 with that suggested by the housing needs index for the geographical area covered by the corporation's three London and home counties regional offices :
(b) Planned number of units to be approved (excluding Special
Homelessness Programme and central Corporation reserve
Units
|HNI suggested|Actual ADP |Column 2 as
|distribution |distribution |per cent. of
|Column 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For Rent |7,190 |6,441 |89.59
For Sale |1,494 |1,338 |89.56
|------- |------- |-------
Total |8,684 |7,779 |89.58
(b) Planned number of units to be approved (excluding Special Homelessness Programme and central Corporation reserve)
Units
HNI suggested
distribution Actual ADP
distribution Column 2 as per cent. of Column 1
For Rent 7,190 6,441 89.59
For Sale 1,494 1,338 89.56
Total 8,684 7,779 89.58
(c) Share of ADP cash allocation (excluding Special Homelessness Programme and central Corporation reserve)
£ millions (total scheme costs ie public and private investment)
HNI suggested distribution
(cost compensated) Actual ADP distribution Column 2 as per cent. of Column 1
For Rent 490.6 439.6 89.59
For Sale 107.7 96.8 89.88
Total 598.3 536.4 89.65
Note : Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Community Charge
Sir Eldon Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will discuss with the local authority associations and the national builders federation the position of small building companies that have built housing estates for sale but not yet found purchasers for those houses and that are being charged twice the standard community charge on each empty house.
Mr. David Hunt : Newly built domestic property is entitled to complete relief from the standard charge for at least six months after it has been substantially completed. Local authorities have discretion to extend that period for such property for as long as they wish ; they also have discretion to levy a charge which is less than twice the personal charge. These decisions are for individual local authorities to take and justify in the light of local circumstances, and it would not be appropriate for the Government to seek to influence those decisions.
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authorities which
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have now set their community charge levels, to the latest convenient date ; what level of charge has been set in each case ; and what is the political control of each authority concerned.Mr. Chope [holding answer 26 February 1990] : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mr. Hinchliffe) on 21 February. ( Official Report, Vol. 167, column 741 ).
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken by his Department to collate publicly available information on community charge registrations by hon. Members ; how much of this information was collected ; and for what purposes it was collected.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 26 February 1990] : The Department has collected no such information.
Community Charge (North Bedfordshire)
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will cap the community charge for North Bedfordshire which has substantially exceeded the figure recommended by the Government.
Mr. Chope : Selection of authorities for capping has to be on general principles and it would not be right for me to speculate on whether North Bedfordshire borough council or any other authority would be capped if my right hon. Friend needed to use his capping powers for next year ; but he has made it clear that if authorities insist on budgeting excessively he will not hestitate to cap them.
Council Houses, Lambeth
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council houses were conveyed for sale in Lambeth in 1988 ; how many were exempt from stamp duty because they were disposed of for less than £30,000 ; and what was the ratio of the capital value to the rateable value.
Mr. Chope : Lambeth borough council reported the sale of 537 dwellings in 1988-89 ; information is not collected centrally on the value of individual sales or on their rateable value.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to table 15.3 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1989," whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing in the same form the number and value of (i) houses and (ii) flats owned by Lambeth borough council and conveyed to the private sector in 1988.
Mr. Chope : Lambeth borough council reported the sale of 302 houses and 235 flats in 1988-89 at a total value including discount of £26, 559,000. The number of sales includes 20 dwellings sold to housing associations. Information is not collected centrally on the value of house and flat sales.
Tenants' Choice
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authority areas in which tenants' choice has been exercised ; and how many properties have been involved in each case.
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Mr. Chope : At present, one tenants' choice application has been served, on Westminster city council. This application is for 1,100 properties. Many other tenants' groups and potential new landlords are in preliminary discussions with the Housing Corporation.Cyclists
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies his Department has done concerning the effect of greater numbers of cyclists on (a) vehicle pollution of the environment and (b) global warming ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport on 26 February ( Official Report, Vol. 168, column 55 ).
Structural Defects (Compensation)
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money his Department has awarded in compensation to property owners claiming for structural defects resulting from high alumina cement who were (a) private owners and (b) local authorities and (c) housing associations.
Council House Sales
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the sales of council houses quarter by quarter up to and including the last quarter of 1989 since 1985.
Mr. Chope : The information requested is listed in the table :
(c) Share of ADP cash allocation (excluding Special Homelessness
Programme and central Corporation reserve
£ millions (total scheme costs ie public and
private investment)
|HNI suggested|Actual ADP |Column 2 as
|distribution |distribution |per cent. of
|(cost compen |Column 1
|sated)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For Rent |490.6 |439.6 |89.59
For Sale |107.7 |96.8 |89.88
|------- |------- |-------
Total |598.3 |536.4 |89.65
Cheshire Council (Staffing)
Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out a table showing for each year since 1979 the (a) full-time, (b) part-time and (c) total staffing levels of Cheshire county council, Macclesfield borough council and Vale Royal borough council.
Mr. Chope : The information is as follows :
English local authority and new town sales<1> Year |Q1 |Q2 |Q3 |Q4 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1985 |25,981 |21,550 |21,711 |20,359 1986 |20,979 |19,684 |20,979 |23,380 1987 |23,944 |21,575 |23,221 |27,382 1988 |34,472 |32,607 |35,202 |39,363 1989 |40,933 |37,290 |<2>33,856|<3>33,000 <1> Includes sales to owner-occupiers only. <2> Provisional. <3> Estimated.
Cheshire County Council: staffing levels at June Full-time |Part-time|Total -------------------------------------------------- 1979 |23,242 |18,076 |41,318 1980 |22,849 |17,400 |40,249 1981 |22,322 |16,065 |38,387 1982 |21,682 |16,053 |37,735 1983 |21,463 |15,252 |36,715 1984 |20,754 |16,988 |37,742 1985 |20,579 |17,282 |37,861 1986 |20,729 |18,362 |39,091 1987 |20,959 |20,090 |41,049 1988 |20,892 |19,536 |40,428 1989 |20,780 |19,024 |39,804
Macclesfield borough council: staffing levels at June Full-time |Part-time|Total -------------------------------------------------- 1979 |970 |158 |1,128 1980 |899 |146 |1,045 1981 |879 |152 |1,031 1982 |896 |178 |1,074 1983 |865 |176 |1,041 1984 |844 |194 |1,038 1985 |837 |187 |1,024 1986 |826 |202 |1,028 1987 |836 |201 |1,037 1988 |826 |223 |1,049 1989 |816 |194 |1,010
Vale Royal borough council: staffing levels at June Full-time |Part-time|Total -------------------------------------------------- 1979 |870 |132 |1,002 1980 |906 |127 |1,033 1981 |875 |124 |999 1982 |850 |132 |982 1983 |844 |135 |979 1984 |829 |128 |957 1985 |830 |103 |933 1986 |812 |106 |918 1987 |804 |104 |908 1988 |769 |107 |876 1989 |786 |122 |908
Shire Counties (Spending)
Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all shire counties in rank order of spending per head for (a) 1988-89, (b) 1989-90, so far as possible and (c) 1990-91, based on any available spending proposals.
Mr. Chope : The information for 1988-89 and 1989-90 is in the tables. Corresponding information for 1990-91 is not yet available. The spending per head of population given in the tables has been calculated using Office of Population Censuses and Surveys mid-year estimates of total population.
|c|Net current expenditure per head
of population-Shire counties|c|
|c|1988-89|c|
|Rank|£
--------------------------------------
Shire Counties England
Cleveland |1 |596
Humberside |2 |542
Derbyshire |3 |526
Cumbria |4 |517
Nottinghamshire |5 |510
Lancashire |6 |505
Durham |7 |495
Leicestershire |7 |495
Bedfordshire |9 |492
Northamptonshire |10 |485
Cheshire |11 |483
Hertfordshire |11 |483
Buckinghamshire |13 |480
Shropshire |14 |475
Warwickshire |14 |475
Avon |16 |471
Essex |17 |457
Gloucestershire |18 |455
Somerset |18 |455
Northumberland |20 |451
Staffordshire |21 |449
Wiltshire |22 |448
Lincolnshire |23 |446
Cambridgeshire |24 |443
Cornwall |25 |442
Berkshire |26 |440
North Yorkshire |27 |437
Hampshire |28 |435
Kent |28 |435
Isle of Wight |30 |432
Hereford and Worcester |31 |431
Devon |32 |427
Norfolk |33 |420
Surrey |34 |419
Suffolk |35 |417
Oxfordshire |36 |408
Dorset |37 |402
East Sussex |38 |398
West Sussex |39 |393
Table file CW900227.047 not available
|c|Net current expenditure per head
of population-Shire counties|c|
|c|1989-90|c|
|Rank|£
--------------------------------------
Shire Counties England
Cleveland |1 |622
Humberside |2 |563
Derbyshire |3 |544
Nottinghamshire |4 |536
Lancashire |5 |535
Cumbria |6 |529
Durham |7 |525
Leicestershire |8 |520
Northamptonshire |9 |516
Cheshire |10 |512
Bedfordshire |11 |511
Avon |12 |509
Somerset |13 |508
Hertfordshire |14 |506
Buckinghamshire |15 |502
Shropshire |15 |502
Warwickshire |17 |499
Wiltshire |18 |488
Essex |19 |486
Northumberland |20 |483
Staffordshire |21 |478
Cambridgeshire |22 |477
Gloucestershire |22 |477
Cornwall |24 |476
Lincolnshire |25 |475
Devon |26 |473
North Yorkshire |26 |473
Hereford and Worcester |28 |455
Berkshire |29 |454
Oxfordshire |29 |454
Kent |31 |453
Norfolk |32 |451
Hampshire |33 |450
Isle of Wight |34 |442
Surrey |35 |439
Suffolk |36 |438
Dorset |37 |427
East Sussex |38 |420
West Sussex |39 |416
Local Government Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the basis of his calculation of a net inflow of persons for Grimsby and an average of nights stayed by visitors for indicator values for standard spending assessment purposes.
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Mr. Chope : A definition of these and all indicators used within SSAs is given in annex A of the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) approved by the House on 18 January.
Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he intends to make provision for concessions on community charges to those households which are not connected to the main sewer and which at present receive a reduction in their rating assessment ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he intends to make provision for some adjustment to those people who pay community charges and do not receive certain services because they live on an unmade road ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 23 February 1990] : No. The community charge is not property-based, and it would not be appropriate to retain features of the rating system which link payment for local services to the rental value of property.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his written reply dated 14 February, Official Report, column 222, concerning the amount of poll tax payable in 1990-91 per adult for each region, and so on, (1) whether he will provide in each case the average amount per head contributed by central Government to the finance of local expenditure in 1989-90 ;
(2) whether he will provide in each case the adult population figures on which it was based together with the number of hereditaments : and if he will add figures for the child population.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 26 February 1990] : I have today placed in the Library a table showing the information requested. The figures for 1989-90 rate support grant include contributions to or from the London rate equalisation scheme and are per head of relevant population in 1990-91. Central Government also contribute towards the finance of local authority expenditure by specific grants but amounts are not yet known for individual authorities or areas.
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