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Mr. Portillo : Of the bodies for which the Chancellor is responsible that are listed in "Public Bodies 1992" only appointments to the Top Salaries Review Body require a submission to the Prime Minister.
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European Investment Fund
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 10 February, Official Report, columns 631-32, if he will list projects that are to be financed through the European investment fund and the total level of the loan facilities to be provided.
Mr. Nelson : The United Kingdom, together with other EC member states, is currently taking forward the administrative and legal procedures necessary to establish the European investment fund. Individual projects will not be put forward for financing until the fund is established. It is envisaged that the EIF will provide guarantees on loans to trans-European networks and to small and medium-sized enterprises within the Community. The total amount of lending which the fund may guarantee is under consideration.
European Monetary Institute
Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a decision has been taken on the location of the seat of the European Monetary Institute in accordance with article 13 of the protocol on the European Monetary Institute of the treaty on European union, p188, Cm. 1934 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nelson : No decision has yet been reached as to the location of the seat of the European Monetary Institute, but we continue to press the strong market case for locating both the EMI and the future European central bank in the United Kingdom.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Haselhurst : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what procedures contract award procedures applied by Government Departments already implementing Council directive 92/50/EEC may be reviewed and challenged.
Mr. Portillo : Government Departments and other public bodies have no obligation to comply with directive 92/50/EEC until it comes into force on 1 July 1993 and equally until then there will be no procedures under which their decisions can be challenged and reviewed.
Public Sector Borrowing Requirement
Mr. Jopling : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions for economic growth, inflation and interest rates were built for each year until 1997-98 into his estimates for the public sector borrowing requirement and other economic trends, published at the time of his Budget.
Mr. Portillo : Table 2.2 of the 1993-94 "Financial Statement and Budget Report" provides illustrative assumptions for output, inflation and money GDP growth for each year until 1997-98. These assumptions are set out in the table. It is not our practice to publish assumptions for interest rates.
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Table 2.2 Money GDP growth, output growth and inflation<1>
|1992-93|1993-94|1994-95|1995-96|1996-97|1997-98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Money GDP |3¬ |43/4 |7 |6" |5" |43/4
Real GDP:
Non-North Sea |-¬ |1" |2¬ |23/4 |3 |3
Total |- |2 |2" |23/4 |23/4 |23/4
Inflation:
GDP deflator |3" |23/4 |4¬ |33/4 |2" |2
RPI excluding MIPs<2> |33/4 |33/4 |33/4 |3¬ |2" |2
<1> Percentage changes on previous financial year; forecasts for 1993-94 and
assumptions thereafter.
<2> Percentage change in year to 1992q4 1993q4; percentage change on previous
financial year thereafter.
VAT
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to charge a positive rate of VAT on a proportion only of each domestic electricity bill based on the proportion of the national electricity consumption generated from fossil fuels.
Recruitment Policies
Mr. Pope : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to promote the use of school leavers' records of achievement in the recruitment policies of Government Departments.
Mr. Portillo : As from 4 May, Departments and agencies will be given delegated responsibility for setting recruitment criteria for entrants to all but their senior grades. When the delegation is made, guidance will be issued to encourage the use of individuals' records of achievement as a valuable source of information, both of their academic and vocational qualifications and their attainments in other areas.
Civil Service Relocation
Mr. Janner : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil service relocations have been agreed (a) to Nottingham and (b) Leicester, in each of the last five years.
Mr. Portillo : Since March 1988 departmental Ministers have announced the following relocations or locations to Nottingham and Leicester :--
Year |Posts |Department |Designation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988 |180 |Land Registry |Leicester
|8 |OFFER |Nottingham
1989 |120 |Transport |Nottingham
|1,800 |Inland Revenue|Nottingham
1990 |125 |Inland Revenue|Leicester
Mr. Janner : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account is being taken on decisions on civil service relocations of the quality of Leicester's transport links and of its need for investment.
Mr. Portillo : The key factors in deciding whether and where to relocate civil service work are achieving best value for money and operational efficiency. Under the Treasury's guidance on relocation of work initiative, Departments considering relocating consult the
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Department of Trade and Industry about possible locations to ensure that the Government's regional and inner city policies are taken into account.Business Rents
Mr. Battle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tenancies established under business expansion scheme funding contain clauses stating that on the fifth anniversary of the contract of assured tenancy the rent will increase by more than 25 per cent.
Mr. Dorrell : This information is not available.
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make available to hon. Members the customary notes on the Finance (No. 2) Bill's clauses.
Mr. Dorrell : Yes. Notes on clauses are today being placed in the Vote Office and in the Library of the House of Commons.
PRIME MINISTER
Green Minister
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Prime Minister how many times the green Ministers nominated from each Government Department have met as a group during the past year.
The Prime Minister : It is a fundamental principle of our approach to green issues that environmental considerations are taken into account in all policies and at every level. Green Ministers are charged with integrating environmental considerations into the strategy and policies of their own Departments. They have met once in the past year. Mechanisms for co-ordinating policies between Departments include the annual White Paper process and official networks. There is a separate Ministerial Committee on the Environment, EDE, to handle major cross-departmental issues.
Irish Republic
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Prime Minister what representations he plans to make to the Irish Government regarding the present policy in the Irish Republic of bail for terrorists, following the murder of Special Constable Glenn Goodman and the attempted murder of Police Constable Sandy Kelly.
The Prime Minister : We have made clear to the Irish Government the very serious implications of judicial
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decisions in extradition cases in which bail has been granted. The Irish Government have informed us that, while decisions on bail applications in individual cases are a matter for the courts, Irish law relating to bail is governed by the provisions of the constitution. We will continue to express our concerns on this subject, with a view to a wider area of discretionary judgment being afforded to the judiciary in such cases, for the greater protection of the public.Mr. Beggs : To ask the Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of security co-operation with the Irish Republic following the murder of Special Constable Glenn Goodman and the attempted murder of Police Constable Sandy Kelly ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : Security co-operation between the RUC and Garda Siochana is at a high level. British and Irish Ministers are determined to maximise the effectiveness of co-operation and will continue to seek ways to enhance it.
Nuclear Test Veterans
Mr. Churchill : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy that all files relevant to the claim for compensation by United Kingdom nuclear test veterans will be released ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister : Much information about the British nuclear test programme is already in the public domain and further files are being reviewed for possible release in due course. Dose records and medical data on each participant are available to the individual concerned. Successive Governments have confirmed that appropriate safety precautions were taken at the time of the tests to protect the participants from harm.
Service Pensions
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to amend levels of service pensions to take account of the effect of pay restrictions in force from 1976 to 1978.
The Prime Minister : The retired pay or pensions awarded to personnel of the armed forces whose service ended during the period of pay restraint from 1976 to 1978 were calculated in accordance with the rules of the armed forces pension scheme in force at the time. We have no plans to modify the awards that were made.
Market Testing
Mr. Michael : To ask the Prime Minister which businesses have been identified for market testing by more than four Government Departments since January 1992 ; and what percentage of the work force in each Department is (a) female, (b) part-time and (c) clerical or administrative grade.
The Prime Minister : Departments are responsible for their own market testing programmes and definitive information is not held in the form requested. However, the information available centrally indicates that the following broad areas are included in the programmes of more than four Departments.
Accountancy
Estate and Building Management
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Information TechnologyHardware Maintenance
Software Design and Maintenance
Internal Audit
Legal
Conveyancing
Library Services
Office Services
Payroll
Record Storage and Retrieval
Recruitment
Reprographic
Security Guarding
Statistical Surveys
Training
Typing
The information on staff numbers cannot be given except at disproportionate cost, but statistics on staff, including breakdowns by gender, grade and department, are contained in "Civil Service Statistics 1992 Edition", published by Her Majesty's Treasury.
Egypt
Mr. Alton : To ask the Prime Minister what steps he took during his recent discussions with President Mubarak, of Egypt to raise the issue of human rights abuses and curtailment of religious practices among Coptic Christians in Egypt.
The Prime Minister [holding answer 2 April 1993] : I discussed a wide range of subjects with President Mubarak, including the situtation in Egypt. He is determined to maintain law and order in Egypt in the interests of all Egyptians. The position of the Copts was discussed with the Egyptian Foreign Minister who accompanied President Mubarak.
Mr. Hunter : To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has made to President Mubarak about the Egyptian authorities' refusal to redress the grievances of the United Kingdom company WENA Hotels.
The Prime Minister [holding answer 2 April 1993] : The Foreign Secretary raised the question of WENA Hotels with the Egyptian Foreign Minister during President Mubarak's recent visit to London, urging the Egyptian authorities to encourage the Egyptian party to the dispute to go to arbitration as soon as possible. Our embassy in Cairo is following this up.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Prime Minister what recent communications he has received from Dr. Radovan Karadzic regarding the current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina ; and if he will make a statement.
The Prime Minister [holding answer 2 April 1993] : Dr. Karadzic wrote to me on 31 March about the peace process under the international conference on the former Yugoslavia and about the ban on flights in the airspace of Bosnia-Herzegovina. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is replying to Dr. Karadzic, stressing the urgent need for a peaceful settlement and the importance of the Bosnian Serbs signing the peace package. He is also emphasising the further pressure which will be put on the Serbs if they refuse to sign.
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WALES
Environmental Digest for Wales
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he plans to take to improve the quality and currency of data in his Department's next Environmental Digest for Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : The digest is reviewed on an annual basis. The edition published last month contained 18 new tables and four new diagrams with an improved format being adopted for all tables. I shall certainly consider possible additions and improvements to the publication to be produced next year.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many copies of his Department's Environmental Digest for Wales 1992 have been published ; at what cost ; and what steps have been taken to distribute the digest to interested organisations.
Mr. David Hunt : A total of 430 copies of the latest "Environmental Digest for Wales" have been printed at a cost of £3,800. The cost to the Welsh Office and other organisations of preparing material for inclusion in this publication cannot be identified separately. Publicity for the digest is arranged through advertisements, brochures, and the issue of a statistical press notice which coincides with the issue of the publication.
Mink Farms
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many mink farms are currently licensed in Wales ; and in which counties they are located.
EDUCATION
Further Education
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will give the cost of publishing and distributing his speech given on 9 December 1992 on further education in its printed form as a leaflet ; and how many copies were printed.
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Mr. Boswell : Five thousand copies of the leaflet were printed at a cost of £420. The cost of the initial distribution was £144.
Teachers' Pay
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish the data from the Secondary School Staffing Survey 1992 showing teachers' pay scales and allowances by length of teaching experience ; what assessment his Department has made of the data in respect of updating the conclusions in paragraph 28 of the Statistical Bulletin No. 18/91, in respect of the difference in promotion rates of men and women ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Boswell : The table shows the distribution of full-time secondary school teachers by pay scale and allowance, length of teaching experience and sex. It is derived from the 1992 secondary school staffing survey which covered a representative sample of teachers in maintained secondary schools in England.
The proportion of male full-time secondary teachers paid as heads, deputies or higher allowance holders--D or E--is 37 per cent., compared with 16 per cent. of women. The proportion of men in these posts is therefore 2.3 times greater than the proportion of women ; compared with a ratio of 2.6 in 1988. After standardising by length of teaching experience, the ratio becomes 1.9, compared with a standardised ratio of 2.0 in 1988. Excluding those teachers who have taken a career break, by restricting the analysis to those whose age minus their years of teaching experience comes to less than 25, the standardised ratio becomes 1.7, the same as in 1988.
Decisions on promotion to head, deputy head and higher allowance posts are taken by local education authorities and, under LMS, by the governing bodies of schools with delegated budgets. The Department's guides for school governors stress the importance of equal opportunities issues.
The most recent figures for new promotions to head and deputy head show that 35 per cent. of such promotees in the secondary sector were women ; since women hold 28 per cent. of existing head and deputy head posts-- reflecting previous promotions, going back over several years--the outlook for the future of women in the profession looks more encouraging.
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Table 12
Teachers by years of teaching experience<1>
Full-time teachers
Pay scale
Head Deputy heaStandard scale Standard sOther no
with allowance
|teacher |teacher |E |D |C |B |A |allowance|scales<2>|Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total teaching experience:
Men:
Less than 1 year |- |- |- |- |1 |- |1 |14 |4 |3
1 year |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |8 |23 |2
2 years |- |- |- |- |- |1 |4 |7 |5 |2
3 years |- |- |- |- |- |2 |5 |6 |4 |2
4 years |- |- |- |- |1 |2 |4 |4 |6 |2
5 years |- |- |- |- |1 |2 |5 |4 |4 |2
6 to 10 years |1 |1 |2 |7 |15 |17 |23 |15 |13 |12
11 to 15 years |3 |12 |11 |18 |27 |21 |23 |13 |11 |18
16 or more years |95 |86 |87 |75 |54 |55 |35 |30 |30 |57
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100
All men (thousands) |3.5 |6.2 |6.5 |17.3 |10.6 |18.9 |9.0 |18.8 |0.4
Women:
Less than 1 year |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |12 |- |4
1 year |- |- |- |- |- |1 |2 |8 |33 |3
2 years |- |- |- |- |1 |1 |5 |7 |14 |4
3 years |- |- |- |- |1 |2 |4 |5 |9 |3
4 years |- |- |1 |- |2 |3 |4 |4 |12 |3
5 years |2 |- |- |1 |2 |4 |5 |3 |5 |3
6 to 10 years |- |4 |4 |12 |16 |18 |19 |16 |11 |16
11 to 15 years |6 |12 |21 |24 |30 |24 |26 |20 |12 |23
16 or more years |92 |85 |73 |64 |48 |47 |35 |26 |5 |41
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100 |100
All women (thousands) |0.7 |3.0 |2.1 |7.6 |8.1 |19.0 |14.0 |29.4 |0.7
All teachers (thousands) |4.2 |9.1 |8.5 |24.9 |18.6 |37.9 |23.0 |48.3 |1.2 |175.8
<1>Including full and part-time service.
<2>Includes scales for unqualified teachers.
- Less than 0.5.
National Curriculum
Ms Abbott : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to implement a code of ethics in the national curriculum.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. Friend is consulting about his proposal to require schools to include within their prospectus a statement on schools' ethos and values, including details of the way in which they meet their duty to secure the moral, spiritual, social and cultural development of their pupils, through the national curriculum, through religious education, and more generally.
Local Management of Schools
Mr. Don Foster : To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether consultation with a view to making new or revised local management of schools schemes for schools in local education authorities in England which are to undergo a structural reorganisation following the Local Government Commission recommendations will be undertaken before or after such a reorganisation ; under which statutory provisions such consultations will take place ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : It is too soon to assess the impact of local government reorganisation on LMS ; it will differ from area to area, depending on the Local Government Commission's recommendations on structure.
Nursery Education
Mr. Dowd : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what are the latest figures his Department has on the number of three and four-year-olds in each London borough ; and how many of them are in nursery schools and classes.
Mr. Forth : The information requested is given in the following table.
Column 544
Estimated 3 and 4 year old population and pupil numbers and
participation rates in maintained nursery and primary schools in
London at January 1992
|Population |Pupil numbers|Participation
|estimates<1> |rates<2>
|(percentage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Camden |4,000 |1,012 |26
Greenwich |6,600 |3,103 |47
Hackney |6,200 |2,212 |36
Hammersmith and Fulham |3,600 |1,509 |42
Islington |4,700 |1,797 |38
Kensington and Chelsea |2,800 |826 |29
Lambeth |7,400 |2,294 |31
Lewisham |6,900 |2,569 |37
Southwark |6,900 |2,707 |39
Tower Hamlets |6,100 |2,687 |44
Wandsworth |6,000 |2,211 |37
Westminster<3> |3,400 |1,078 |31
Barking and Dagenham |4,400 |1,750 |40
Barnet |8,000 |2,351 |29
Bexley |6,000 |1,127 |19
Brent |6,800 |2,390 |35
Bromley |7,200 |154 |2
Croydon |8,800 |1,159 |13
Ealing |7,600 |3,246 |43
Enfield |7,200 |1,484 |21
Haringey |5,900 |2,546 |43
Harrow |5,500 |958 |17
Havering |6,000 |247 |4
Hillingdon |6,500 |3,150 |48
Hounslow |5,900 |2,469 |42
Kingston upon Thames |3,300 |1,173 |35
Merton |4,500 |2,593 |57
Newham |7,700 |4,445 |58
Redbridge |6,000 |987 |16
Richmond upon Thames |4,000 |706 |18
Sutton |4,700 |1,684 |36
Waltham Forest |6,200 |2,502 |40
Greater London |186,700 |61,126 |33
<1> Rounded to the nearest 100.
<2> Calculated on unrounded population estimates.
<3> Includes City LEA.
Column 545
National Curriculum English Order
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he will publish proposals for a new National Curriculum English Order ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Patten : With my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, I am publishing tomorrow proposals for a revised English curriculum, as the basis for extensive consultation. They are based on the recommendations for attainment targets and programmes of study made in the report of the National Curriculum Council, which will be published with the proposals.
As required by the Education Reform Act, I am asking the National Curriculum Council to conduct the consultation exercise in England. The schools, education authorities, professional organisations and other bodies consulted will have until 30 July 1993 to submit their views and make representations to the NCC. A parallel consultation will take place in Wales. Subject to further advice from the NCC and the Curriculum Council for Wales, my right hon. Friend and I will then publish in November a draft order for further consultation. Copies of the report, the proposals, and my letter to the chairman of the NCC will be placed in the Library of the House.
Education Staff
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each local education authority in England (a) the number of teachers employed and (b) the number of non-teaching staff employed ; and if he will express each figure as a percentage of the total staff of each local education authority.
Mr. Boswell : The first column of the table shows the full-time equivalent number of teaching staff employed in the LEA-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools sector in England at January 1992. The second column shows the number of full-time equivalent education support, administrative and clerical staff employed in LEA-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in England at January 1992. Information for other types of non-teaching staff, such as school meals or premises-related staff or LEA central administrative staff, is not centrally recorded. It is therefore not possible to express the figures in the table as a percentage of total staff in the schools sector.
Full-time equivalent numbers of teachers, education support staff and
administration/clerical staff in LEA-maintained nursery, primary and
secondary schools in each LEA in England, January 1992
|Teachers |Education
|support
|and
|administration/clerical
|staff
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
City |11 |4
Camden |1,299 |279
Greenwich |2,234 |464
Hackney |1,604 |402
Hammersmith |950 |233
Islington |1,338 |360
Kensington and Chelsea |753 |184
Lambeth |1,502 |418
Lewisham |1,411 |320
Southwark |1,661 |457
Tower Hamlets |2,063 |523
Wandsworth |1,544 |481
Westminster |1,147 |305
Barking |1,322 |302
Barnet |2,456 |502
Bexley |1,711 |268
Brent |1,967 |364
Bromley |1,554 |255
Croydon |2,436 |487
Ealing |2,143 |558
Enfield |2,292 |423
Haringey |1,605 |462
Harrow |1,570 |348
Havering |2,049 |344
Hillingdon |1,348 |405
Hounslow |1,891 |444
Kingston upon Thames |988 |219
Merton |1,268 |261
Newham |1,994 |489
Redbridge |1,796 |297
Richmond upon Thames |1,135 |187
Sutton |1,147 |219
Waltham Forest |1,909 |377
Birmingham |9,031 |1,728
Coventry |2,795 |630
Dudley |2,738 |423
Sandwell |2,870 |620
Solihull |1,795 |381
Walsall |2,619 |615
Wolverhampton |2,514 |496
Knowsley |1,398 |325
Liverpool |4,152 |712
St. Helens |1,656 |286
Sefton |2,479 |442
Wirral |2,924 |408
Bolton |2,446 |417
Bury |1,461 |268
Manchester |3,974 |899
Oldham |2,253 |402
Rochdale |1,987 |353
Salford |2,052 |487
Stockport |2,332 |521
Tameside |2,037 |404
Trafford |1,611 |226
Wigan |3,015 |381
Barnsley |1,714 |414
Doncaster |2,691 |506
Rotherham |2,464 |431
Sheffield |3,937 |813
Bradford |5,027 |1,346
Calderdale |1,717 |390
Kirklees |3,519 |653
Leeds |6,300 |1,490
Wakefield |2,748 |589
Gateshead |1,731 |279
Newcastle upon
Tyne |2,285 |493
North Tyneside |1,768 |357
South Tyneside |1,385 |203
Sunderland |2,692 |502
Isles of Scilly |27 |6
Avon |7,900 |1,721
Bedfordshire |4,908 |1,119
Berkshire |5,532 |1,224
Buckinghamshire |4,756 |1,252
Cambridgeshire |5,409 |1,483
Cheshire |7,934 |1,551
Cleveland |5,546 |994
Cornwall |3,697 |947
Cumbria |4,052 |788
Derbyshire |7,771 |1,677
Devon |7,044 |1,720
Dorset |4,343 |803
Durham |5,007 |967
East Sussex |4,673 |931
Essex |12,047 |2,335
Gloucestershire |3,856 |790
Hampshire |11,403 |2,793
Hereford and Worcester |5,451 |771
Hertfordshire |7,850 |1,794
Humberside |7,676 |1,592
Isle of Wight |1,021 |267
Kent |10,896 |2,048
Lancashire |11,509 |1,978
Leicestershire |7,807 |1,723
Lincolnshire |4,270 |803
Norfolk |5,585 |1,067
North Yorkshire |5,803 |943
Northamptonshire |5,236 |984
Northumberland |2,791 |487
Nottinghamshire |8,530 |1,691
Oxfordshire |4,150 |1,120
Shropshire |3,681 |743
Somerset |3,524 |952
Staffordshire |8,798 |1,726
Suffolk |5,277 |1,021
Surrey |6,235 |1,502
Warwickshire |3,816 |713
West Sussex |5,210 |1,214
Wiltshire |4,525 |927
England |387,753 |80,699
Pupil Exclusions
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the statutory provisions governing the position of parents whose children do not attend school because they are permanently excluded.
Mr. Forth : Under section 36 of the Education Act 1944, parents of children of compulsory school age are responsible for ensuring that they receive education, whether by attendance at school or otherwise. The fact that a pupil has been permanently excluded does not release parents from this obligation. Failure to comply can lead to prosecution under section 40 of the 1944 Act. Early application should therefore be made to a neighbouring school or, if necessary, arrangements made for the child to be educated otherwise than at school, for example, in a unit. The Government have announced their intention to place local education authorities under a duty to provide education otherwise than at school where necessary to meet a pupil's individual needs : amendments to the Education Bill will be tabled shortly.
Data Protection Act 1984
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many certificates have been signed under the terms of section 27 of the Data Protection Act 1984 for each year since 1987.
Column 548
Mr. Boswell : There have been no certificates issued by this Department under section 27 of the Data Protection Act 1984 since 1987.
Medical Students
Ms Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will require medical schools to publish the number of applicants each year to medical school by ethnic origin and sex and the number who are eventually successful in their application.
Mr. Boswell : We have no plans to require medical schools to publish this information.
Education Expenditure
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each local education authority, in the last year for which figures are available, (a) the budgeted expenditure and (b) the standard spending assessment for (i) under-fives, (ii) five to 11, (iii) 11 to 16 and (iv) post-16 education.
Mr. Forth : Reliable information on local education authorities' budgeted expenditure is available nationally only at the level of their overall education budgets and is taken from their own returns to the Department of the Environment. For the purpose of determining standard spending assessments, the education component of standard spending, net of specific grants, is divided into five
sub-blocks--under fives, 5-10, 11-15, 16 , and other education. The figures for local authorities' education budgets for 1992-93, together with the figures for their overall education standard spending assessments, are set out in the table.
For several reasons, it is necessary to be cautious when drawing conclusions from the figures. First, the budget figures were provided at the beginning of the 1992-93 financial year. Outturn expenditure may well be different. Local education authorities may also not recognise the budget figures because their budget returns have been adjusted by the Department of the Environment to make them comparable with their education standard spending assessments. Secondly, the standard spending assessment system is a mechanism for distributing grant between authorities. Because authorities have discretion to decide their own spending priorities between and within services, the sub-blocks are in no sense spending targets. Thirdly, the sub -blocks notionally include provision for children in the relevant age groups in special schools, related central services and related functions such as home to school transport which do not have to be delegated to schools. Therefore, they are not comparable with the budgets of primary or secondary schools.
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