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Teacher Training Agency
26. Mr. Gunnell : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received concerning his proposals for the financing of educational research through the Teacher Training Agency.
Mr. Robin Squire : We have received some 60 representations on this issue from a wide range of bodies. Our proposals will be given full parliamentary scrutiny during the passage of the Education Bill which last week was given a Second Reading in another place.
Parental Choice
27. Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on parental choice of school.
Mr. Robin Squire : All parents have the right, in accordance with the principles of the parents charter, to express a preference for a choice of school. In an estimated 90 per cent. of cases that preference is met. The Government's policies aim to extend choice and diversity throughout the education system.
Departmental Staff
28. Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his policy towards recruitment and retention of senior staff in his Department.
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Mr. Boswell : Most senior appointments in the Department are filled by internal moves and promotions or by staff transferring from other Departments. The Department for Education's personnel policies aim to retain and develop staff to do the work which is required in a Department of this size.
The Government's response to the recommendations of the recent efficiency unit report on career management and succession planning, due in the spring, will have a bearing on future arrangements.
Higher Education
29. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to introduce a corporate levy as a means of funding expansion in higher education.
Mr. Boswell : The Government have no plans to do so. As announced in his statement at the time of the unified Budget on 30 November, my right hon. Friend has decided that the current level of participation in higher education, which is close to the target for the end of the decade, can be funded through an adjustment in the sharing of the overall cost of student maintenance between taxpayer and students.
Technology Grants
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what criteria Stratford school was judged in its successful bid for a technology grant ; what other schools in Newham made a bid ; and which were successful.
Mr. Robin Squire : Bids for awards under the technology schools initiative, including the one from Stratford school, were judged on behalf of the Department by a team of professional technologists using the same national criteria. In the two years in which TSI awards were made, Newham local education authority put forward three bids on behalf of its schools. The bid from Sarah Bonnell school was successful.
School Day
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the length of the school day in each European Union state ; and what evidence he has about the link between the length of the school day and standards as achieved by students in each EU country.
Mr. Robin Squire : Comparable information on the length of the school day in other countries is not held centrally. Some relevant information can be found in the National Foundation for Educational Research's 1992 report "Learning Mathematics and Science : The Second International Assessment of Educational Progress in England", a copy of which is in the Library. Further information will be available in a forthcoming Eurydice publication, "Organisation of School Time in Member States of the European Community", which is expected to be published by the end of the year.
Initial work carried out in my Department indicates on average a small but statistically significant positive correlation between the length of the taught week--as opposed to the length of the school day or week--and educational performance as measured by public examinations and national tests.
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Details of relevant research carried out in other EU member states are not held centrally.Corporal Punishment
Mr. Robathan : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to review the position of corporal punishment in local authority schools.
Mr. Robathan : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received from parents requesting the reintroduction of corporal punishment into local authority schools.
Mr. Robin Squire : My right hon. Friend receives occasional representations from parents and others on the subject of corporal punishment, both for and against its reintroduction in maintained schools.
Greater London Schools
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the schools he has visited in the Greater London area since his appointment as Secretary of State.
Mr. Patten : Since April 1992, I have visited eleven schools in the Greater London area. These are the Archbishop Tennison Secondary School, Croydon ; Bishop Thomas Grant Secondary School, Streatham, Lambeth ; Chingford Hall Primary School, Waltham Forest ; Compton Secondary School, Finchley, Barnet ; Greenvale Primary School, Croydon ; The Hague Primary School, Tower Hamlets ; Hasmonean School, Barnet ; Islamia Primary School, Brent ; Marymount International Secondary School, Kingston ; Mulberry School for Girls, Tower Hamlets, and Wimbledon College, Merton.
Further Education Funding Council
Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total budget for the Further Education Funding Council for 1992-93 and for 1993-94 ; and what is the planned budget for 1994-95.
Mr. Boswell : The figures requested for grant to the Further Education Funding Council are as follows :
|£ million
|1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95 (planned)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recurrent |24.5 |2,549.2 |2,679.5
Capital |- |151.8 |157.0
|--- |--- |---
Total |24.5 |2,701.0 |2,836.5
The funding made available in 1992-93, prior to the establishment of the new further education sector on 1 April 1993, provided transitional funds to help institutions prepare for independence and to meet the costs of establishing the council.
Sex Education (Primary Schools)
Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what academic studies he has consulted on the effects on children of sex education in primary schools ; and if these studies showed the effects on children of this age to have been beneficial or detrimental and over what period.
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Mr. Robin Squire : Research findings in this area show that the majority of parents support the provision of some form of sex education in primary school, but the evidence for its effects is inconclusive. We believe that in this sensitive area the decision whether, and from what age, to offer sex education in maintained primary schools is best left to the discretion of the governing body of each school and that parents should have the right to withdraw their children from sex education if they so wish.
Higher Education Funding Council
Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total budget for the Higher Education Funding Council for 1992-93 and 1993-94 ; and what is the planned budget for 1994-95.
Mr. Boswell : The Higher Education Funding Council for England assumed responsibility for funding universities and colleges in England from 1 April 1993. The planned capital and recurrent grant for the council announced in the Budget is £2,789 million for 1993-94 and £3,418 million for 1994-95. The latter includes compensation for the reduction in publicly funded tuition fees in 1994-95.
School Inspection
Mrs. Currie : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when the revision of the OFSTED framework for school inspection will be complete ; what the policy for inspection of religious education will be ; what the proposals are for the inspection of sex education within the framework ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : Inspections of schools under the Education (Schools) Act 1992, are required to report on the quality of education and standards achieved, and that in curricular and other matters, schools meet legal requirements.
The detailed content of the framework for inspection is a matter for Professor Sutherland.
I have asked Professor Sutherland to write to my hon. Friend.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total budget for grant-maintained schools for (a) 1992-93 and (b) 1993- 94 ; and what is the planned budget for 1994-95.
Mr. Robin Squire : The information is set out in the table.
|1992-93 (outturn) |1993-94 (estimated|1994-95 (projected
|outturn) |outturn)
|£ million |£ million |£ million
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Spending on
GM Schools<1> |485 |1,150 |2,000
<1> Figures include annual maintenance grant, which is recovered from local authorities,
special purpose grants and capital grants.
<2> Actual spending will depend on the number and size of grant maintained schools.
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Exam Results
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to publish schools' GCSE and A-level results by chronological age rather than by school year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : The 1993 school and college performance tables show the examination results of students at schools and further education sector colleges by age group only. My right hon. Friend will give further consideration in due course to this and other issues relating to the future publication of comparative tables, and will be consulting interested parties.
Schools Visits, Bolton
Mr. David Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Education who issued the invitations to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools to visit Bolton schools on 2 December ; who was informed of the visit ; and if he will set out the protocol for informing the local authority of future ministerial visits to Bolton.
Mr. Forth : I visited a number of schools in Bolton at the invitation of my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham). The programme for my visit was organised by my hon. Friend's office and I was very happy to follow it. The authority was informed of my forthcoming visit by a headteacher of one of the schools involved. If visits are arranged by my office, it is normal practice to involve the local education authority from the start.
Tuition Fees
Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what plans he has to make students responsible for meeting any or all of the costs of tuition fees ; what is the time scale for these plans ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what estimates his Department has made of the debt students are likely to incur during each year of their academic studies if they are required to take out additional loans to pay tuition fees ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Boswell : The Government's plans for higher education were set out in the Budget. Public funding will be over £4.6 billion next year. The costs of higher education will in future be shared more fairly between graduates and the taxpayer by accelerating the shift in the balance of student maintenance support from grant to loan. The Government will continue to reimburse tuition fees through the mandatory awards system up to specified maximum levels. We have no plans to make students contribute to tuition fees.
Voluntary-aided Schools (Transport)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to prevent local education authorities from withdrawing financial assistance towards transport from children in voluntary-aided schools on purely denominational grounds.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Government attach importance to the preservation of the opportunity to choose a school in accordance with religious convictions. Since 1 October,
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local education authorities have been obliged to have regard, in considering whether or not to provide a child with free school transport, to--among other things--the parent's wishes for him to attend a school of the denomination to which the parent adheres.Fitzherbert School, Brighton
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what legal and other expenses were incurred in acquiring and disposing of the site of the former Fitzherbert school, Brighton.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department has reimbursed the CTC Trust some £91,300 for expenses connected with acquiring and disposing of this site.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support Agency
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many representations he has received on the operation of the Child Support Agency ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt : Between April 1993 and November 1993 the Department of Social Security headquarters and the Child Support Agency headquarters received in the region of 6,400 written representations covering a range of views about child support policy and Child Support Agency operations.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will instruct the Child Support Agency to take into account, when deciding maintenance payments, the costs of an absent parent's contact with their child ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt : The assessment formula used by the Child Support Agency allows for essential expenses. To make allowances for specific items of expenditure would be to give these costs precedence over a child's basic maintenance. Most absent parents will retain between 70 per cent. and 85 per cent. of their net income after paying maintenance.
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give a breakdown of the representations received regarding the operation of the Child Support Agency on the basis of (a) sex of the applicant and (b) region ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Burt [pursuant to his reply, 30 November, col.429] : The information given was incorrect. The Department received in the region of 6,400 written representations about child support, and not 3,000 as previously stated.
Taxation
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate for 1993-94 of the numbers of (a) men and (b) women with earnings below (i) the tax threshold and (ii) the national insurance contribution thresholds, in (y) Great Britain and (z) Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hague : The information is in the table :
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(thousands)
|Great Britain |Northern Ireland
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Men |900 |30
Women |2,600 |70
(ii) Men |900 |30
Women |2,300 |60
Note: Figures for Great Britain are rounded to the nearest hundred
thousand.
Young People
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many 16 and 17-year-olds received housing benefit in (a) Dundee and (b) Scotland in each of the past five years for which figures are available.
Mr. Burt : It is estimated that about 1,000 16 and 17-year-olds received housing benefit in Scotland in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Figures for Scotland prior to 1990 and for Dundee are not available. Source : Housing Benefit Management Information System annual 1 per cent. sample survey.
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the amounts of income support to which (a) 16 and 17-year-olds with an automatic right to benefit, (b) 18 to 24-year-olds and (c) people aged 25 years or over were entitled in each of the past five years.
Mr. Burt : The information is in the table.
Income Support Rate
|For 16 to |For single 18 to 24|For people 25 years
|17-year-olds living|year-olds and 16 to|and over and 18 to
|at home |17-year olds living|24-year-old lone
|independently |parents
|£ |£ |£
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 1989 |20.80 |27.40 |34.90
April 1990 |21.90 |28.80 |36.70
April 1991 |23.65 |31.15 |39.65
October 1991 |23.90 |31.40 |39.65
April 1992 |25.55 |33.60 |42.45
April 1993 |26.45 |34.80 |44.00
Notes: The higher rate of IS for 16 to 17-year-olds is available only if claimants are living
independently out of necessity or if they are disabled. This rate became available to 16 to
17-year-olds on 10 July 1989.
Industrial Injuries
Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit as a result of vibration white finger have been rejected in each of the last five years because the process by which the claimant contracted the condition is not covered by the prescribed list of occupation diseases.
Mr. Scott : The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he expects the report of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council currently studying hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Mr. Scott : I understand that the council has not yet completed its study and does not expect to do so for some time.
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Lone Parents
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Secur-means- tested and non-contributory supplement to child benefit which is already available to all lone parents. It is currently received by nearly 1 million families.
Contributory Benefits
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will consider increasing contributory benefits for people aged over 80 years; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hague : We have no plans to increase contributory benefits for this group of pensioners over and above the proposed general increase in state retirement pension announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 1 December.
Pensions
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will consider restoring the links between pensions and average earnings; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hague : We have no such plans.
Social Fund
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many persons are now employed by the independent review service of the social fund ; and what is the annual cost to public funds of the services provided by that body.
Mr. Scott : I am informed by the social fund commissioner that there are currently 162 staff employed by the independent review service. The estimated running cost expenditure for 1993-94 is £3,960,000. Available information on previous years' running costs is published in the social fund commissioner's annual reports.
Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cases or appeals have been referred back to local offices by the independent review service in the most recent annual period for which figures are available ; and how many of these referrals have resulted in a change in the decision of local social fund officers.
Mr. Scott : I am informed by the social fund commissioner that in 1993-94--April to November--2,370 cases were referred back to the Benefits Agency for redetermination. Information on the number of such referrals that resulted in a change in the original social fund officer's decision is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Family Credit
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what proportion of lone parents with a child aged under 11 years and in receipt of family credit are receiving the maximum amount of family credit ;
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(2) what proportion of lone parents with a child aged under 11 years receiving less than the maximum amount for family credit are receiving between the maximum amount and £28 less than the maximum amount.Mr. Burt : The information is in the tables.
i
|All cases |Number receiving |Percentage receiving
|between maximum FC |between maxi mum FC
|and £28 less than |and £28 less than
|maximum FC |maximum FC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Credit lone
parents with
child aged
under 11 |134,760 |55,260 |41.01
Note: Information as at 30 April 1993. Based on 5 per cent. sample of awards.
i
|All cases |Number receiving |Percentage receiving
|between maximum FC |between maxi mum FC
|and £28 less than |and £28 less than
|maximum FC |maximum FC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Credit lone
parents with
child aged
under 11 |134,760 |55,260 |41.01
Note: Information as at 30 April 1993. Based on 5 per cent. sample of awards.
Nude Models
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his policy on the suggestion to benefit recipients that they should seek work as nude models; whether this policy applies to women only; how many (a) men and (b) women have received such advice from benefits office staff; and what information on vacancies for such work is held centrally.
Mr. Scott : The administration of benefit is a matter for Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Gentleman with such information as is available.
Letter from Tony Laurence to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 13 December 1993 :
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is the responsibility of Mr. Michael Bichard to answer questions about relevant operational matters. However, as Mr. Bichard is away on annual leave at the moment, I am replying on his behalf to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security, about the suggestion to benefit recipients that they should seek work as nude models.
A person in receipt of an incapacity benefit may be considered capable of suitable work following a medical examination. Such decisions are made by Adjudication Officers (AO), who are independent adjudicating authorities.
If the AO decides that a person is capable of work, then, as a result of a long standing Commissioner's decision, the AO is required to specify the type of work that person is considered capable of doing.
Although a job description of "Artists model", which included that of nude modelling, was contained in a previous publication used by AOs as a source of job example, that source was superseded in February 1993 by the Standard Occupational Classification. This publication, which is in the Library, does not include a description of the variety of work possibly undertaken by an "Artists model". The specific information asked for is, therefore, not available in the format requested.
I hope my reply has been helpful.
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DEFENCE
Plutonium
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to raise the matter of the safeguarding of surplus military plutonium at the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on 9 and 10December.
Mr. Aitken : A range of issues was discussed at the Defence Planning Committee and Nuclear Planning Group meetings on 8 and 9December. A copy of the communique issued after the meetings has been placed in the Library of the House.
Artillery Systems
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) of 1 December, Official Report , column 605 , on 14 Calibre Artillery systems, if the SPLLS were delivered to the British Army of the Rhine via the United Kingdom.
Aircraft Accidents
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what categories of damage are included in aircraft accident rates per 10, 000 flying hours listed in "UK Defence Statistics 1993", table 3.8 ; and if the recalculation of the numbers of accidents referred to in footnote 1 to table 3.8 applies to Royal Navy and Army aircraft as well as those of the Royal Air Force.
Mr. Hanley : The categories of damage included in aircraft accident routes per 10,000 flying hours noted in UK Defence Statistics 1993, table 3.8, are categories 4 and 5. No recalculation was necessary for Royal Navy or Army aircraft.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what form the data on aircraft accidents and accident rates forming the basis of table 3.8 of the publication "United Kingdom Defence Statistics 1993" were supplied by the service safety organisations to his Department's statistical services ; and what are the differences in format since the 1992 edition of the document.
Mr. Hanley : Data on serious aircraft accidents are passed to the Defence Analytical Services Agency by signal immediately after the event. Written confirmation of the contents of tables 3.8 and 3.9 is sought from the service flight safety organisations before publication of "Defence Statistics". Flying hours, by aircraft type, are provided by the services.
There are no differences in the formats of table 3.8 and 3.9 since the 1992 edition.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why aircraft accident rate information for the years 1975 and 1980, in table 3.8 of "United Kingdom Defence Statistics 1993", is only available for some aircraft types ; what records exist within his Department on the number of flying hours and the number of major accidents for each aircraft type for the years 1975 and
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hin sp ; and what plans he has to include additional information in the 1994 edition of "United Kingdom Defence Statistics". Mr. HanleyThere are no plans to include additional information in table 3.8 of the 1994 edition of the United Kingdom Defence Statistics. The accident rate information for 1980 in table 3.8 of United Kingdom Defence Statistics 1993 is complete. The numbers of accidents in 1975 in each service are published in the first part of table 3.8. The flying hours for individual aircraft types flown by the Royal Navy and Army are not readily available.Upavon Army Base
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the designated role and purpose of the new Army base at Upavon, Wiltshire ; and if he will make a statement.
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