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Column 95

Minister of State, Home Office

Paymaster General

Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence Minister of State, Scottish Office

Minister of State, Department for Education

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Welsh Office

Others, including the Minister for Overseas Development and Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State from the Departments of the Environment and Employment, may be invited to attend as appropriate and receive all papers.

Terms of reference

"To coordinate the Government's national and international policies for tackling drugs misuse, and report as necessary to the Ministerial Committee on Home and Social Affairs"

Ministerial Sub-committee on Women's Issues (EDH (W))

Composition

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (chairman)

Secretary of State for Education

Minister of State, Home Office

Paymaster General

Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Minister for Construction and Planning)

Minister of State, Scottish Office

Minister of State, Department of Employment

Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Welsh Office

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence, and Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, also receive papers and may be invited to attend as necessary. The Minister without Portfolio also receives papers.

Terms of reference

"To review and develop the Government's policy and strategy on issues of special concern to women: to oversee their implementation; and to report as necessary to the Ministerial Committee on Home and Social Affairs".

Ministerial Sub-committee on London (EDL(L))

Composition

Secretary of State for the Environment (chairman)

Minister without Portfolio

Minister of State, Home Office

Financial Secretary, Treasury

Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Minister for Industry and Energy)

Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration)

Minister of State, Department of Health (Minister for Health) Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State, Department of Employment Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage

Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Minister for Transport in London)

Terms of reference

"To coordinate the Government's policies on London"

Ministerial Group on Sanctions Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Gen 27)

Composition

Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (chairman) Paymaster General

Minister of State, Treasury

Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Minister for Trade)

Minister of State for Defence Procurement, Ministry of Defence Minister of State, Department of Transport


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Terms of Reference

"To keep under review the implementation of the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia imposed under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 757, 787 and 820, and to report to the Ministerial Committee on Overseas and Defence Policy as necessary." Ministerial Group on Competitiveness (GEN 29)

Composition

President of the Board of Trade (chairman)

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Secretary of State for the Environment

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Secretary of State for Scotland

Secretary of State for Education

Secretary of State for Employment

Secretary of State for Wales

Secretary of State for Transport

Representatives of other Departments may be invited to attend as necessary. The Minister without Portfolio also receives papers. Terms of Reference

"To keep issues affecting the United Kingdom's competitiveness under review; and to update, in whole or part, as appropriate, from time to time the White Paper on Competitiveness for consideration by the Ministerial Committee on Economic and Domestic Policy." Ministerial Group on Card Technology (GEN 34)

Composition

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (chairman)

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Secretary of State for the Home Department

President of the Board of Trade

Lord President of the Council

Secretary of State for Social Security

Secretary of State for Scotland

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Secretary of State for Health

Secretary of State for Employment

Secretary of State for Wales

Secretary of State for Transport

Chief Secretary, Treasury

Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science The Minister without Portfolio also receives papers.

Terms of Reference

"To consider the developing technology of card systems, and the potential demand for such systems from Government Departments, to ensure a co- ordinated approach across the Government taking account of the impact on the individual citizen".

Hillsborough Castle

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Prime Minister if he, or the Cabinet Secretary, was consulted and gave prior approval to the making available of Hillsborough castle for an event organised by the Conservative Political Centre on 4 November.

The Prime Minister [holding answer 21 November 1994]: Advice from officials is confidential. The use of Hillsborough castle for this event was in accordance with the conventions governing the use of ministerial residences.

Student Maintenance Awards

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the latest available figure for the total assessed parental contribution to student maintenance awards.

Mr. Boswell: The total assessed parental contribution to mandatory awards made by local education authorities in England and Wales for the academic year 1992 93 was £208 million in respect of partial maintenance grants and £392 million in respect of nil maintenance grants.


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Access Funds

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will publish the results of the monitoring returns from higher education institutions on their use of discretionary access funds in 1993 94.

Mr. Boswell: My right hon. Friend has no plans to do so. However, if the hon. Member has particular questions about the returns, I shall see whether we can answer them.

Student Loans Company

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what guidelines her Department issues to institutions of higher education regarding their responsibility to notify the Students Loans Company Ltd. of students who have ceased attendance on a course; (2) what provisions exist for notifying the Student Loans Company of the circumstances of students who have temporarily withdrawn or deferred attendance on a higher education course but who have not permanently ceased to attend.

Mr. Boswell: Under the Education (Student Loans) (No.2) Regulations 1993, higher education institutions have a duty to notify the Student Loans Company promptly if a borrower ceases to be an eligible student before the end of his course. The guidelines issued to institutions state that when considering whether a student has ceased to attend a course, an institution should have regard to any internal regulations governing attendance. Institutions therefore have discretion to decide when a student has permanently ceased to attend.

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what action she is taking to ensure the ongoing educational value of section 11 activity now that much of the funding is contained within the single regeneration budget.

Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend will continue to monitor, through Ofsted, the standard of educational provision in all maintained schools, including provision for those pupils for whom English is not their first language. Additional support for the latter category through section 11 and single regeneration budget grants is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, respectively.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what moneys are allocated within grants for education support and training to provide for the needs of those teaching bilingual pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds; and what monitoring is planned on how it is spent.

Mr. Robin Squire: The size of the grants for education support and training--GEST--programme for 1995 96, and the grants within it, will be considered in the light of decisions on education standard spending generally following the unified budget on 29 November. The GEST programme will include a new grant to provide in-service training for mainstream teachers of bilingual pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. LEAs will be required to report by 30 June 1996 on the training provided under this activity. In addition, Ofsted will be invited to inspect a sample of courses and report to the Department.


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Higher Education Review

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what are the terms of reference of her Department's review of higher education.

Mr. Boswell: The review of higher education is part of the normal programme of reviews which the Department undertakes from time to time. It has no formal terms of reference, but will begin by looking at the aims and purposes of higher education with a view to determining its appropriate size and shape at the turn of the century and beyond. Later on, the review will address the appropriate funding and student support arrangements.

Officials wrote last week to invite views on the first of those matters from organisations with an interest in the development of higher education. I am arranging for the text of the letter and the list of bodies formally consulted to be placed in the Library.

Funding Bids

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what input she has had with regard to the bidding guidance issued for single regeneration budget bids concerning existing educational initiatives.

Mr. Robin Squire: The bidding guidance for the single regeneration budget, which was issued in April, took account of advice from the Department. Education figures prominently among the objectives.

Further Education

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will publish a table showing the number of students in each local education authority in England undertaking courses of further education (a) aged 16 to 18 years and (b) 19 years and over; and what proportion of each of these age groups was not in receipt of any discretionary award.

Mr. Boswell: The number of students in each LEA in England who are undertaking further education (a) aged 16 to 18 years and (b) 19 years and over and the estimated proportion of each of these age groups who do not receive an award under section 2 of the Education Act 1962, are shown in the following table.


Numbers of FE students by home LEA showing proportion of students             

not receiving grants under section 2 of the 1962 Education Act                

(England 1992-93)                                                             

                                              FE students not                 

                                              in                              

                        Total numbers of      receipt of                      

                        FE         section 2                                  

                        students by           discretionary                   

                                   awards                                     

                        LEA of domicile       Percentage of age               

                                   group                                      

LEA                    |Aged 16-18|Aged 19+  |Aged 16-18|Aged 19+             

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corporation of London  |24        |147       |96        |99                   

Camden                 |1,051     |7,494     |100       |100                  

Greenwich              |1,812     |2,751     |76        |93                   

Hackney                |2,228     |4,325     |69        |98                   

Hammersmith            |1,093     |3,712     |68        |97                   

Islington              |1,224     |3,487     |47        |98                   

Kensington             |694       |6,346     |100       |98                   

Lambeth                |2,493     |6,811     |100       |99                   

Lewisham               |2,157     |4,690     |85        |100                  

Southwark              |2,082     |4,393     |98        |99                   

Tower Hamlets          |2,583     |3,981     |100       |98                   

Wandsworth             |2,245     |5,794     |48        |100                  

Westminster            |1,028     |3,897     |100       |100                  

Barking                |1,344     |1,657     |71        |97                   

Barnet                 |2,736     |12,827    |85        |97                   

Bexley                 |2,258     |2,247     |90        |86                   

Brent                  |2,519     |7,642     |99        |98                   

Bromley                |2,228     |2,768     |91        |98                   

Croydon                |2,893     |4,271     |72        |98                   

Ealing                 |3,894     |5,942     |93        |95                   

Enfield                |2,695     |9,830     |91        |98                   

Haringey               |2,052     |7,338     |100       |100                  

Harrow                 |3,628     |8,749     |100       |100                  

Havering               |2,724     |3,215     |65        |93                   

Hillingdon             |2,379     |3,842     |100       |100                  

Hounslow               |2,041     |3,282     |76        |100                  

Kingston upon Thames   |1,123     |1,868     |84        |99                   

Merton                 |1,584     |3,041     |75        |96                   

Newham                 |2,738     |6,119     |100       |100                  

Redbridge              |2,207     |4,257     |100       |99                   

Richmond upon Thames   |2,154     |12,901    |86        |100                  

Sutton                 |1,684     |9,227     |84        |98                   

Waltham Forest         |2,065     |4,733     |83        |94                   

Birmingham             |10,133    |22,910    |100       |92                   

Coventry               |3,381     |7,820     |83        |98                   

Dudley                 |4,752     |12,614    |72        |99                   

Sandwell               |3,221     |5,931     |97        |95                   

Solihull               |2,240     |5,434     |100       |95                   

Walsall                |2,569     |5,238     |63        |89                   

Wolverhampton          |2,716     |6,878     |100       |100                  

Knowsley               |1,965     |3,581     |40        |85                   

Liverpool              |3,954     |14,704    |79        |93                   

St Helens              |2,231     |5,803     |57        |96                   

Sefton                 |3,411     |8,690     |84        |99                   

Wirral                 |3,068     |11,676    |80        |95                   

Bolton                 |2,723     |4,257     |61        |88                   

Bury                   |2,715     |3,095     |62        |82                   

Manchester             |3,787     |9,922     |56        |87                   

Oldham                 |2,313     |2,460     |70        |87                   

Rochdale               |2,903     |4,776     |71        |76                   

Salford                |1,633     |7,030     |83        |97                   

Stockport              |2,200     |4,159     |64        |81                   

Tameside               |2,350     |6,446     |82        |95                   

Trafford               |2,760     |9,393     |76        |97                   

Wigan                  |4,541     |6,715     |46        |97                   

Barnsley               |3,372     |4,961     |32        |65                   

Doncaster              |2,827     |12,114    |72        |94                   

Rotherham              |2,954     |11,039    |62        |95                   

Sheffield              |6,806     |21,729    |79        |97                   

Bradford               |4,786     |21,092    |100       |95                   

Calderdale             |2,148     |4,103     |95        |97                   

Kirklees               |4,931     |15,486    |43        |94                   

Leeds                  |7,530     |19,318    |98        |91                   

Wakefield              |3,313     |9,803     |29        |99                   

Gateshead              |2,107     |4,515     |97        |97                   

Newcastle upon Tyne    |2,079     |4,428     |77        |93                   

North Tyneside         |1,726     |3,456     |68        |85                   

South Tyneside         |2,325     |3,660     |100       |95                   

Sunderland             |4,290     |7,076     |100       |100                  

Avon                   |9,994     |28,355    |72        |94                   

Bedfordshire           |5,980     |13,260    |93        |92                   

Berkshire              |8,060     |23,794    |99        |99                   

Buckinghamshire        |6,627     |9,960     |96        |98                   

Cambridgeshire         |7,234     |12,063    |100       |97                   

Cheshire               |11,094    |29,702    |90        |91                   

Cleveland              |6,743     |16,134    |84        |98                   

Cornwall and IoS       |6,040     |4,919     |71        |85                   

Cumbria                |5,117     |8,794     |82        |100                  

Derbyshire             |12,438    |20,284    |33        |93                   

Devon                  |11,989    |16,421    |100       |68                   

Dorset                 |7,131     |9,763     |78        |84                   

Durham                 |6,803     |15,031    |100       |89                   

East Sussex            |5,922     |22,689    |63        |94                   

Essex                  |15,906    |24,038    |64        |91                   

Gloucestershire        |6,495     |19,123    |80        |95                   

Hampshire              |18,111    |30,650    |100       |94                   

Hereford and Worcester |7,597     |23,326    |100       |98                   

Hertfordshire          |11,032    |40,626    |98        |99                   

Humberside             |9,856     |21,461    |72        |87                   

Isle of Wight          |1,467     |4,268     |85        |95                   

Kent                   |15,611    |14,574    |59        |78                   

Lancashire             |21,166    |60,468    |100       |86                   

Leicestershire         |8,313     |17,532    |80        |79                   

Lincolnshire           |7,255     |8,579     |94        |87                   

Norfolk                |7,460     |8,537     |77        |86                   

North Yorkshire        |7,617     |22,480    |59        |89                   

Northamptonshire       |6,689     |17,099    |100       |98                   

Northumberland         |2,419     |3,666     |69        |72                   

Nottinghamshire        |11,265    |42,538    |87        |89                   

Oxfordshire            |6,282     |13,752    |100       |98                   

Shropshire             |5,178     |15,328    |92        |96                   

Somerset               |6,708     |13,801    |88        |93                   

Staffordshire          |12,731    |27,327    |87        |98                   

Suffolk                |6,270     |18,242    |90        |96                   

Surrey                 |8,710     |10,137    |95        |92                   

Warwickshire           |6,479     |16,441    |100       |100                  

West Sussex            |6,458     |7,602     |71        |81                   

Wiltshire              |7,932     |22,567    |85        |96                   

Student Loans Scheme

Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when she now expects total levels of borrowing and repayments under the student loans scheme to be brought into balance.

Mr. Boswell: It has been understood from the outset that repayments will never equal loan outgoings. That would assume no deferment of repayments or cancellation of debt, as concessions allowed under the scheme, and no default.

The loans scheme produced public expenditure savings, when compared with previous policies, in the first full financial year of its operation. On present estimates, the effect of the loan scheme will be to produce public expenditure savings again as from the academic year 2001 02 and annually thereafter.


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