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authorities to decide how to apportion those resources between and within services in accordance with their statutory obligations and their own priorities. I will shortly be presenting my final proposals for the 1993-94 settlement for the approval of the House.

Schools (Surplus Places)

Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the latest estimate of the number of surplus places in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Mid Glamorgan ; and on what basis such estimates are made.

Sir Wyn Roberts : My estimate of surplus school places (as at 1 January 1991) for Mid Glamorgan is shown as follows :

Primary

13,416

Secondary

7,409

The data is based on information provided by the local authority, and is currently being updated.

HIV

Mr. Richards : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many children were born HIV positive in Wales in each year since 1980.

Mr. Gwilym Jones : Since reporting of HIV/AIDS began in 1984, 10 children have been reported from Wales as born to an HIV infected mother, three in 1989, two in 1990, three in 1991 and two in 1992. In two of the 10, one of whom has developed AIDS, HIV infection has been established, and another two have been shown to be uninfected. The infection status for the remaining six is unknown as it is not yet possible to determine whether these children are infected or whether their seropositivity is due to passive transfer of maternal antibody.

Schools (Excluded Pupils)

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many local education authorities have schools with conditional re-entry agreements as a means of re-admitting excluded pupils to schools ; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness.

Sir Wyn Roberts : This information is not available centrally.

Elton Report

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many local education authorities have formal systems of communication within their schools and between schools and parents, governors, their communities and outside agencies, as recommended in the Elton report on discipline in schools ; what percentage of schools have such systems of communication ; and to what extent they meet the standards expected by his Department.

Sir Wyn Roberts : This information is not available centrally.

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consideration he has given to the need for further legislation to clarify the legal basis of teachers' authority referred to in the Elton report on discipline in schools.

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Sir Wyn Roberts : None. The position of teachers is sufficiently safeguarded by existing legislation.

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made, following the Elton report on discipline in schools, of the equitable distribution of teaching and other resources across the ability range in schools and of how local education authorities are taking this recommendation into account when funding schools.

Sir Wyn Roberts : No assessment has been made of these matters.

School Governors

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many local education authorities provide regular training courses for school governors which meet the standards expected by his Department.

Sir Wyn Roberts : All local education authorities provide training courses for school governors. The content of these courses is primarily a matter for the authority concerned. The Department has not set down standards in connection with such training.

Teaching Hours

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the length of the school teaching day.

Sir Wyn Roberts : The length of the school day is a matter for school governing bodies. Current advice on this and related issues are contained in Welsh Office Circular 43/90 "Management of the School Day" a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Educational Psychologists

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many local education authorities have developed working relationships between schools and educational psychologists to provide advice on the management of behaviour in groups and in schools as a whole which meet with the standards expected by his Department.

Sir Wyn Roberts : This information is not available centrally.

Local Authority Borrowing

Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each of the boroughs and districts the borrowing limit for householders for 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94, giving the increase or decrease as a percentage.

Mr. David Hunt : Details of Welsh local authorities' annual borrowing are not held centrally. The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and regulations specify the sources from which each local authority may borrow and set parameters for temporary and longer term borrowing. The legislation requires the authority to determine annually the cash figure within which its borrowing is to be kept and the extent to which that may come from short term loans and from variable interest borrowing.

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School Management

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many local education authorities have schools which take formal account of ascertaining the views of pupils on matters relating to school management ; and whether these arrangements meet the standards expected by his Department.

Sir Wyn Roberts : This information is not available centrally.

Schools (Police Liaison Projects)

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he has taken to monitor the way in which local education authorities have assessed the number of schools in their areas which would particularly benefit from school-police liaison projects ; and what percentage of such schools in each local education authority have these projects.

Sir Wyn Roberts : The Education (No. 2) Act 1986 requires governing bodies to report annually to parents on steps taken to strengthen links with the community, including the police. Generally, I would expect them to foster good relationships with their local police force.

Education Targets

Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to establish national education and training targets for Wales to cover (a) foundation and (b) lifetime learning.

Mr. David Hunt : The national education and training targets, proposed by the CBI and others, have been endorsed by the Government. I shall be sending a letter today to education, training and employers' organisations throughout Wales emphasising the importance of the targets to the Welsh economy. My letter declares the need for Wales to sustain an ambitious rate of progress towards the Great Britain targets, and explains that I shall be encouraging progress and reviewing the position annually. A copy of my letter is being placed in the Library of the House.

Engineering and Technology Courses

Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the courses on engineering and technology available within each university college in Wales indicating the number of applicants for each course in each of the last five years.

Sir Wyn Roberts : The Department does not collect information on the applicants to courses for the University of Wales.

However, this information can be found in the guide "University Entrance" produced by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom from information supplied by the Universities Central Council on Admissions (UCCA), a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Partnership Sourcing Initiatives

Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the partnership sourcing initiatives currently established involving companies from Wales.

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Mr. David Hunt : This information is not readily available but the Welsh Development Agency administer a major relevant intiative known as Source Wales.

Counselling Skills

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many LEAs have provided courses on basic counselling skills in the last two years ; what information he has on the percentage of staff in each LEA which have been on such courses ; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such courses.

Sir Wyn Roberts : In the academic year 1991-92 nineteen counselling- related courses were run by colleges in seven local authorities in Wales. This is the latest year for which information is available.

No information is available centrally about the percentage of LEA staff which have been on such courses or about their effectiveness.

Rail Privatisation

Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the representations he has received from individuals and organisations in Wales in support of the Government's rail privatisation proposals.

Sir Wyn Roberts : There has been a fair degree of interest in the franchising of services in Wales but no details can be provided, for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Grant-maintained Schools

Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list those schools in Wales which have (a) balloted parents in pursuit of grant-maintained status, (b) received approval to pursue grant-maintained status from such a ballot and (c) been granted grant-maintained status.

Mr. David Hunt : Fifteen schools have held a ballot of parents. They are :

i. Primary Schools

Cefnpennar Infants, Mid Glamorgan

Llanerfyl, Powys

Caergeiliog, Gwynedd

Derwen, Clwyd

Penybryn, Clwyd

ii. Secondary Schools

Queens, Gwent

Cwmcarn, Gwent

Bishop Vaughan, West Glamorgan

Gowerton, West Glamorgan

Olchfa, West Glamorgan

Brynmawr, Gwent

Emrys ap Iwan, Clwyd (twice)

Maelor, Clwyd

Stanwell, South Glamorgan

John Beddoes, Powys

I refer the hon. Gentleman to my right hon. Friend the Minister of State's reply of 19 January 1993 to the hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mr. Jones), Official Report, columns. 193-94 , for details of those schools where the ballot was in favour of seeking grant-maintained status and of those schools whose proposals have been approved by my right hon. Friend.

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Municipal Waste Water Directive

Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects to publish a list of the sensitive areas defined under the European municipal waste water directive.

Mr. Gwilym Jones : Under the terms of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive member states must identify sensitive areas by 31 December 1993.

EDUCATION

Higher Education

Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement outlining the mechanism by which tuition fees for students in higher education institutions are transferred from his Department via local authorities to the institutions, setting out the costs involved, and time scale of payments ; and if he will estimate the moneys outstanding to the institutions at the latest available date.

Mr. Boswell : The Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations specify the tuition fees to be paid by local education authorities on behalf of award-holding students. For most courses, the regulations require the fees to be paid promptly in termly instalments by specified dates or within one month of the receipt of a valid request for payment, whichever is the later. For academic year 1992-93, the specified dates are 10 December 1992, 10 February 1993 and 30 April 1993, and the total amount of fees payable is estimated to be nearly £1,590 million. Information is not routinely collected by the Department on the amounts of any fees outstanding at a particular date. The Department reimburses the whole of authorities' mandatory awards payments, under section 209 of the Education Reform Act 1988. Specific grant is paid to authorities in termly instalments for the fee elements, shortly before each specified date. The Department's administrative costs are met from within its overrall running cost provision. Authorities bear their own administrative costs. No current estimate is available of the administrative costs attributable to the payment of fees.

Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to his answer of 7 December 1992, Official Report, column 477, if he will make a statement on the reasons why he has not been able to publish an updated version of the table in annex 2 of "Higher Education : A New Framework" (Cm1541), setting out projections of home student numbers in Great Britain.

Mr. Boswell : The Government's policy, as set out at the time of the autumn statement, is to maintain the current record level of participation by young people in higher education over the next three years. The figures given by my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Forman) in his reply of 7 December 1992 at column 477 are consistent with that. Progress to a participation rate of one in three by 2000 will be at a rate determined in future public expenditure rounds.

Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his answers of 20 January, Official

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Report, columns 280-82, if he will list institutions not referred to in his answers which are funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council or Universities Funding Council together with the authorities which are authorised to award (a) degrees for higher courses and (b) degrees for research courses which commenced in September 1992 at those institutions.

Mr. Boswell : The following institutions, all of which are funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council, were not referred to in my reply of 20 January-- Official Report, columns 280-81. Bishop Grosseteste College

Bretton Hall

Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education

Camborne School of Mines

Central School of Speech and Drama

Chester College of Higher Education

Christ Church College of Higher Education

College of Ripon and York St. John

College of St. Mark and St. John

Dartington College of Arts

Edge Hill College of Higher Education

Falmouth School of Art and Design

Harper Adams Agricultural College

Homerton College

Kent Institute of Art and Design

King Alfred's College

La Sainte Union College of Higher Education

Liverpool Institute of Higher Education

Loughborough College of Art and Design

Nene College, Northampton

Newman College

North Riding College

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Roehampton Institute of Higher Education

Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama

Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Academy of Music

Salford College of Technology

Southampton Institute of Higher Education

St. Martin's College

St. Mary's College

The London Institute

Trinity and All Saints' College, Horsforth

Trinity College of Music

West London Institute of Higher Education

West Sussex Institute of Higher Education

Westhill College

Westminster College

Winchester School of Art

Worcester College of Higher Education

The Secretary of State publishes a list of recognised degree awarding bodies in The Education (Recognised Bodies) Order. Bodies listed in that order are authorised to award degrees in relation to any of the above institutions. The Education (Recognised Bodies) Order is currently being revised and we expect it to be re-issued by the end of February.

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