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Mr. Maude, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry.23 to 25 February
Sir Geoffrey Howe, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
2 to 6 April
Mr. Moore, Secretary of State for Social Security.
18 to 24 May
Lord Young, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. 13 to 21 June
Mr. Lee, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Employment.
10 to 14 September
Mr. Rifkind, Secretary of State for Scotland.
19 to 21 September
Mrs. Thatcher, Prime Minister.
24 September to 4 October
Mr. Jackson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science.
27 to 30 September
Mr. Walker, Secretary of State for Wales.
5 to 7 October
Mr. Howard, Minister of State, Department of the Environment. 15 to 18 November
Lord Trefgarne, Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry.
26 November to 2 December
Lord Sanderson, Minister of State, Scottish Office.
4 to 8 December
Mr. Needham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office.
1990
10 to 15 May
Mr. Ridley, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
24 to 29 June
Mr. Eggar, Minister of State, Department of Employment. 15 to 18 July
Mrs. Chalker, Minister for Overseas Development.
9 to 11 September
Mr. Hurd, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
11 to 14 September
Mr. Howard, Secretary of State for Employment.
15 to 19 September
Mr. Patten, Secretary of State for the Environment.
28 September to 4 October
Mr. Mellor, Minister for the Arts.
2 to 7 November
Mr. Lang, Minister of State, Scottish Office.
13 to 22 November
Mr. Hunt, Secretary of State for Wales.
25 November to 1 December
Mr. Needham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office.
9 to 12 December
Lord Caithness, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
1991
17 to 19 January
Mr. Lilley, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Kincora Boys' Home
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will review all official papers on the Kincora boys' home ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the Kincora boys' home affair ; (3) if he will institute a new inquiry into events surrounding the Kincora boys' home.
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The Prime Minister : No.Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has received since taking office to the present date, concerning the Kincora boys' home.
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to obtain for the library of No. 10 Downing street a copy of the BBC2 "Public Eye" programme entitled "Kincora--An MI5 Connection" transmitted in June last year ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : I have no plans to do so.
Security and Intelligence Services
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to review the activities of the security and intelligence services.
The Prime Minister : I intend to follow the practice of my predecessors by not commenting on these matters.
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister when he last met the staff counsellor for the security and intelligence services ; and what issues were discussed.
The Prime Minister : The arrangements for the staff counsellor for the security and intelligence services were set out by my predecessor in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Whitney) on 2 November 1987 at column 512. It is not the practice to give details about how he discharges his responsibilities.
Mr. Colin Wallace
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the allegations made by Mr. Colin Wallace about events involving the security services and forces in Northern Ireland.
Mr. John McCarthy
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Prime Minister how many representations he has received since his appointment calling on the Government to press for the release of John McCarthy ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : We continue to receive a great many representations on behalf of John McCarthy. The plight of our citizens held hostage in Lebanon is high among our concerns and our efforts to secure their release remain unremitting. Hostage releases last year showed that Iran can exert decisive influence. The Iranians have undertaken publicly to use their humanitarian influence to achieve them to live up to this assurance. We are also urging Syria to continue its strenuous efforts to secure the release of western, including British, hostages in Lebanon.
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Further Education
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the percentage of the further education budget delegated to colleges by each local education authority.
Mr. Eggar : This information is not held centrally.
School Pupils
Mr. Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department on the number of pupils in each local education authority who receive education in schools maintained, or formerly maintained, by another local education authority.
Mr. Fallon : Every year each local education authority submits to the Department a return listing pupils who belong to its area but who are attending local authority-maintained or grant-maintained schools outside that area on the third Thursday in January. The pupil numbers as at January 1990 for each LEA are listed in the table.
The number of pupils belonging to local education authorities attending schools maintained or formerly maintained by other local education authorities --------------------------------------- City of London |116 Camden |3,475 Greenwich |2,364 Hackney |5,207 Hammersmith |2,470 Islington |4,221 Kensington |2,377 Lambeth |8,045 Lewisham |4,197 Southwark |3,954 Tower Hamlet |2,930 Wandsworth |3,887 Westminster |2,751 Barking |949 Barnet |2,315 Bexley |1,586 Brent |6,102 Bromley |1,579 Croydon |2,847 Ealing |3,197 Enfield |2,024 Haringey |3,509 Harrow |2,258 Havering |978 Hillingdon |1,308 Hounslow |2,300 Kingston |1,279 Merton |1,926 Newham |1,078 Redbridge |1,952 Richmond |1,112 Sutton |1,861 Waltham Forest |1,517 Birmingham |3,630 Coventry |314 Dudley |1,130 Sandwell |1,331 Solihull |785 Walsall |773 Wolverhampton |1,193 Knowsley |2,680 Liverpool |1,329 St. Helens |1,391 Sefton |466 Wirral |270 Bolton |918 Bury |1,540 Manchester |3,046 Oldham |752 Rochdale |1,217 Salford |1,053 Stockport |881 Tameside |884 Trafford |1,505 Wigan |1,378 Barnsley |614 Doncaster |410 Rotherham |255 Sheffield |734 Bradford |2,324 Calderdale |543 Kirklees |689 Leeds |916 Wakefield |299 Gateshead |609 Newcastle |1,020 North Tyne |790 South Tyne |226 Sunderland |429 Isles of Scilly |4 Avon |676 Bedfordshire |936 Berkshire |2,228 Buckinghamshire |4,612 Cambridge |1,220 Cheshire |1,235 Cleveland |134 Cornwall |351 Cumbria |132 Derbyshire |1,536 Devon |713 Dorset |328 Durham |827 East Sussex |1,244 Essex |3,538 Gloucestershire |500 Hampshire |2,597 Hereford and Worcs |2,151 Hertfordshire |1,272 Humberside |554 Isle of Wight |18 Kent |1,074 Lancashire |2,638 Leicester |667 Lincolnshire |1,889 Norfolk |1,023 North Yorks |1,291 Northumberland |455 Nottinghamshire |1,069 Oxfordshire |551 Shropshire |561 Somerset |1,044 Staffordshire |2,095 Suffolk |588 Surrey |4,395 Warwickshire |1,264 West Sussex |1,184 Wiltshire |1,278
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many schools have (a) become committed to hold a ballot on grant- maintained status, (b) voted yes and (i) had the proposal approved, (ii) had the proposal rejected and (iii) await determination of the proposal and (c) voted no ; how many in each category
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were the subject of (1) closure or (2) reorganisation proposals ; and whether, for schools in categories (b) (ii) and (c), the proposals have been approved or rejected.Mr. Eggar : A total of 179 schools have been or are committed to holding a ballot on GM status. There have been 98 votes in favour, 33 votes against and 51 results are still awaited. Four schools have embarked on the process twice and one application lapsed. Of the schools that voted in favour of applying for GM status, 58 applications have been approved and the Secretary of State is minded to approve a further two. Twelve have been rejected and 16 have yet to be decided. Applications from a further 10 schools are awaited. The number of schools in each category which have been the subject of closure or reorganisation proposals were :
|Number subject to
|closure/reorganisation
|proposals
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GM proposals:
approved |58 |18
minded to approve |2 |1
rejected |12 |11
not yet decided |16 |4
still to be published |10 |3
Voted no |33 |19
Lapsed applications |1 |1
Ballot result pending |51 |5
Total number of
embarkations |183 |62
Eight of the 11 reorganisation proposals involving schools with rejected GM applications were eventually approved. Eleven of the 19 reorganisation proposals involving schools who voted not to apply for GM status were approved.
Oral Questions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the average length of time taken and the average cost involved of officials' time in his Department preparing ministerial briefs for oral parliamentary questions.
Mr. Eggar : The time taken in preparing ministerial briefs for oral parliamentary questions is not routinely recorded in this Department. Estimates are however made where there is a likelihood of exceeding the disproportionate cost threshold--currently £250. However, following an interdepartmental exercise in 1972 an assessment was made of the average cost throughout all Departments of answering an oral question. This assessment was based on staff time, using average rates of pay and associated costs for the grades concerned, together with a share of the cost of parliamentary sections and any substantial non-staff costs such as computer usage. This assessed figure is regularly updated and currently stands at £99.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what savings his Department would make were no notice given of oral questions to Ministers and they were answered without civil service time being used on briefings.
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Mr. Eggar : No savings would be made and costs would almost certainly increase significantly. If the oral question is known in advance briefing can be tightly focused, thus avoiding the cost of producing a detailed brief, covering all subjects that could possibly arise.Student Loans
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the projected amount to be repaid by a student taking out the maximum available loan (a) studying in London and (b) studying outside London to the Student Loans Company by a graduate who was living away from the parental home, does not defer repayments, and was on a (i) three-year and (ii) four-year course commencing October 1990 ;
(2) if he will give a breakdown of monthly repayments over the standard five-year repayment period to be repaid by a student taking out the maximum available loan (a) studying in London and (b) studying outside London to the Student Loans Company by a graduate who was living away from the parental home, does not defer repayments, and was on a (i) three-year and (ii) four-year course commencing October 1990.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Borrowers repay in real terms the amount that they borrowed. The loan outstanding at the start of repayment depends on the maximum loan available in successive academic years ; on the rates of indexation applicable during the period of the loan, and on when in each academic year the borrower draws down the loan. These factors also affect the size of the monthly repayments, as does the length of the standard repayment period.
The table shows, to the nearest pound, the expected loan outstanding at the start of repayment and the monthly cash instalments due in each case. The figures take account of the GDP deflator assumptions given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement. They assume that the borrowers draw down the loan at the start of each academic year and that repayments will take place over five years, starting in April 1994 where the course has lasted three years and in April 1995 where it had lasted four years. The Government will review annually the length of the standard repayment period, in order to ensure that repayments are manageable.
|Loan |Monthly
|outstanding at|instalment
|start of
|repayment
|£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Borrower who had studied in London
and lived away from home:
(i) On a three-year course |1,967 |36
(ii) On a four-year course |3,010 |55
(a) Borrower who had studied outside London
and lived away from home:
(i) On a three-year course |1,741 |32
(ii) On a four-year course |2,638 |48
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will provide a detailed breakdown of how his Department arrived at the student loans repayment figures given in table 3 of the leaflet "Loans for Students : A brief guide 1990-91" published in August 1990.
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Mr. Alan Howarth : The figures in table 3 are purely illustrative. They provide for borrowers to repay in real terms the amount that they borrow.
The table shows the expected monthly cash instalments due from a student who starts a course in the academic year 1990-91 and borrows the maximum loan facility each year at the "elsewhere" rate of loan. It assumes that the value of full year student support from grant and loan will increase by 6 per cent. in the academic year 1991-92, by 3.5 per cent. in the academic year 1992-93 and by 3 per cent. thereafter.
The loan outstanding at the start of repayment is the sum of the maximum loan facilities for the relevant years plus an amount resulting from the indexation of the amount outstanding each year. The indexation rates are assumed to be 9.8 per cent. for the year beginning 1 September 1990, 4.75 per cent. for the year beginning 1 September 1991, 3.5 per cent. for the year beginning 1 September 1992 and 3 per cent. from 1 September 1993 onwards.
Regulation 7(2) of the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1990 determines the number of monthly instalments. Regulation 7(1) determines the date when repayments start, which depends on the length of the borrower's course. Regulation 7(3) determines the amount of the monthly instalments.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give the cost to the Exchequer of the error made by the Student Loans Company in its calculations in its leaflet "Student Loans : Are You in the Picture?" ref. PO5 143/90.
Mr. Alan Howarth : I am informed by the Student Loans Company that the cost of producing a second edition of its brochure was £120,907, which was met from within the company's approved budget.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give the amounts by which the loan facilities will be uprated for the academic year 1991-92 for students in (a) London and (b) outside London.
Mr. Alan Howarth : My right hon. and learned Friend expects to announce shortly the maximum loan facilities for the academic year 1991-92.
Access Funds
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the amounts each individual college will receive in access funds under the Education (Further and Higher Education Institutions Access Funds) Regulations 1990.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Access fund grants have been paid to more than 400 institutions in England and Wales under the regulations. I am arranging for the figures requested to be placed in the Library. In addition, access fund grants have been paid to universities, polytechnics and colleges by the Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council under sections 131(4) and 132(4) of the Education Reform Act 1988.
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Full-time Education and Training
Mr. Denzil Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science in the latest available year how many 16 to 18-year-olds in England participated in full-time education and training.
Mr. Eggar : The number of 16, 17 and 18-year-olds, including overseas students, at annual census dates between November 1989 and January 1990, participating in full-time education or YTS in England was 1,040,000.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to ensure that where comprehensive schools decide to become grant maintained they will not be favoured by local authority funding in preference to primary schools.
Mr. Eggar : Recurrent grant for the direct costs of
grant-maintained schools is calculated mainly by reference to the levels of provision that individual LEAs set for their own schools. The additional funds that grant-maintained schools receive in lieu of services previously provided centrally by their former LEA are not intended to be biased towards either primary or secondary schools.
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many schools in the south-west are balloting parents on the question of grant-maintained status.
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