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School Transport (Disabled Children)

Mr. McMaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures are in place to ensure that the inaccessibility of school transport is not a restricting factor in integrating disabled children into mainstream schools; and if he will make a statement. [9258]

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 692

Mr. Forth: Parents of a child with a statement of special educational needs have a right to express a preference for any maintained school, mainstream or special; the local education authority must comply with that preference subject to certain conditions. One of these is that placement at the school would be compatible with the efficient use of resources, which could in some cases include the cost of transport.

The Government have recently introduced the school access initiative, which should mean that parents of disabled children have a wider choice of accessible mainstream schools. The initiative will help to reduce the need for long home-to-school journeys since one of the key criteria for demonstrating eligibility for funding is the reduction in disabled pupils' travelling times.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what sums have been spent, by grade, on staff costs for the jobseeker's allowance project in Lytham St. Annes. [9788]

Mr. Forth: The grade of staff undertaking work on the jobseeker's allowance project at Lytham St. Annes has varied depending on the work in hand. It would therefore involve disproportionate costs to provide the detailed information requested.

Around 110 staff from the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service between the grades of grade 6 to administrative assistant--or agency grade equivalents--have been involved at any one time. The salary costs since October 1994 have been £2,063,871.

There is also a contract with Information Technology Services Agency for work mainly on the JSA computer system. Staffing levels fluctuate, but about 135 people are involved. It is not possible to give the salary cost of ITSA staff since the departmental information technology/information systems financial regime means that salaries make up only part of the total paid to ITSA and are not identified separately.

Graduate Unemployment

Mr. McAvoy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the level of graduate unemployment in each of the last five years. [9599]

Mr. Forth: Information on the level of unemployment amongst newly qualified graduates and among all graduates in the labour force is given in the following table:

Unemployment rates for newly qualified graduates (Great Britain)

Year of qualification	Percentage unemployed six months after graduation
1990	8
1991	12
1992	13
1993	12
1994	10

Source:

Surveys of first destinations of graduates.

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 693

Unemployment rates for all graduates in the labour force (UK)

Year	Percentage unemployed
1991	3.7
1992	4.4
1993	5.0
1994	4.3
1995	4.2

Source:

Labour Force Survey.

Non-teaching Days

Mr. Merchant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will estimate the cost to the Education Service of the five non-teaching days for which teachers are contracted. [9923]

Mr. Robin Squire: Full-time teachers are employed throughout the year, although their conditions of employment provide that they must be available for work for 195 days in any school year, of which 190 days shall be days on which they may be required to teach pupils. Consequently there is no specific cost associated with the five non-teaching days.

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 694

Local Education Authorities

Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is for each local education authority in England the total (a) number of pupils, (b) education standard spending assessment for 1995-96 and 1996-97, (c) education budget set for 1995-96 and (d) delegated schools budget for 1995-96. [8688]

Mr. Robin Squire: The following table shows for each local education authority (a) the latest available full-time equivalent pupil numbers in LEA-maintained schools; (b) standard spending assessment allocations for 1995-96 and provisionally for 1996-97; (c) education budget set for 1995-96; and (d) the delegated schools budget for 1995-96. Pupil numbers in column (A) and delegated schools budgets in column (D) exclude pupils and funding for the grant-maintained sector, but standard spending assessments in column (B) and education budget in column (C) include provision for grant-maintained schools which are funded by recoupment from the relevant LEA.

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 693

Expenditure on education and latest pupil numbers

	(A) Pupil numbers	(B) Education standard spending assessment		(C) Education budget	(D) Delegated schools
LEAs	(January 1995)	1995-96 £ million	1996-97 (provisional) £ million	1995-96 £ million	budget 1995-96 £ million
Corporation of London	212	0.8	0.8	2.9	0.7
Camden	19,546	78.8	78.3	79.4	47.1
Greenwich	35,025	114.3	113.9	112	81.9
Hackney	25,184	92.8	92.1	101	56.0
Hammersmith and Fulham	14,655	57.2	56.0	62.5	34.9
Islington	23,675	80.4	81.1	82.7	56.6
Kensington and Chelsea	8,603	37.3	34.2	45.8	23.8
Lambeth	19,839	102.1	100.8	105.9	50.4
Lewisham	31,225	108	109.0	109.6	69.8
Southwark	27,686	109.9	108.8	109.1	60.6
Tower Hamlets	34,046	120.2	122.8	125.7	77.4
Wandsworth	19,683	88.7	86.3	91.4	46.8
City of Westminster	17,013	59.9	58.1	68.9	40.5
Barking	26,354	65.7	69.9	72.3	52.4
Barnet	32,349	113.7	116.7	120.5	64.0
Bexley	30,891	84.5	88.7	80	52.6
Brent	22,949	106.3	109.0	95.5	42.9
Bromley	27,055	99.6	103.8	108.1	42.7
Croydon	34,374	114.3	118.4	119.6	66.6
Ealing	31,653	108.9	112.2	109.2	61.9
Enfield	36,459	112.2	117.8	113.2	68.6
Haringey	29,737	89.1	93.4	96.9	63.5
Harrow	27,152	70.4	73.0	76.8	55.7
Havering	31,355	84.1	87.2	85.8	58.4
Hillingdon	19,190	88.9	93.8	87.2	37.4
Hounslow	31,752	90.2	94.8	89.4	63.2
Kingston upon Thames	15,360	45.9	47.1	47.3	28.1
Merton	21,398	56.3	58.1	56.4	41.9
Newham	40,598	123.8	130.4	115.2	74.9
Redbridge	34,137	94.2	98.3	95.8	67.2
Richmond upon Thames	18,427	44.3	45.9	48	37.6
Sutton	17,388	64.5	67.8	65.4	32.5
Waltham Forest	29,695	94.1	97.4	94.4	62.3
Birmingham	158,041	427.2	448.7	456.4	301.7
Coventry	49,334	115.7	119.9	130.3	94.5
Dudley	42,496	98.9	104.2	107.6	71.5
Sandwell	48,668	113.8	118.1	120.7	85.1
Solihull	33,499	69.2	73.1	76.6	61.2
Walsall	39,829	103.7	108.6	108	67.1
Wolverhampton	38,926	96.1	99.9	101.6	68.3
Knowsley	27,929	69.6	73.1	70.3	50.7
Liverpool	77,629	202.7	209.3	200.7	139.5
St. Helens	29,284	63.3	66.6	73.2	52.1
Sefton	46,673	102.3	106.9	110	81.6
Wirral	51,099	124.1	132.3	123.8	89.4
Bolton	41,762	95.7	100.9	101.9	70.0
Bury	27,793	57.8	61.6	65.2	47.7
Manchester	69,828	182.5	188.3	174	129.3
Oldham	41,373	90.3	94.8	96.6	73.3
Rochdale	31,691	79.7	82.8	80.1	51.8
Salford	36,071	78.7	82.5	85.8	62.8
Stockport	42,537	86.1	89.8	95.4	73.4
Tameside	34,462	76.3	80.6	84.2	53.6
Trafford	29,452	72.5	76.8	78.9	46.8
Wigan	49,912	104.9	110.2	113.2	92.0
Barnsley	33,528	73.1	76.9	73.5	52.8
Doncaster	50,796	113.7	119.7	115.3	88.9
Rotherham	43,428	96.3	102.5	97.1	74.3
Sheffield	68,029	162.8	171.0	172.4	112.7
Bradford	79,325	201.9	209.9	196.1	133.8
Calderdale	24,427	72.8	77.2	75.4	39.4
Kirklees	61,082	136.7	141.6	147	101.1
Leeds	110,256	240.4	252.6	282.5	198.1
Wakefield	50,576	106.4	111.6	112.4	83.3
Gateshead	29,859	68.2	70.9	75.9	53.5
Newcastle upon Tyne	40,348	97.3	99.7	101.4	71.9
North Tyneside	30,569	65.4	68.8	69	52.5
South Tyneside	25,697	56.3	59.0	59.9	41.5
Sunderland	49,699	110.9	114.9	114	86.8
Isles of Scilly	283	1.2	1.2	1.3	0.8
Avon	136,628	298	n/a	338.8	249.7
Bedfordshire	79,193	212	220.2	209.8	135.7
Berkshire	100,175	273.3	282.3	270.4	174.8
Buckinghamshire	88,106	244.5	247.6	245.9	149.9
Cambridgeshire	84,413	226.1	237.3	243.6	139.2
Cheshire	151,947	219	349.1	222	261.9
Cleveland	99,191	332	n/a	355	167.8
Cornwall	69,254	156.2	164.9	153.6	116.4
Cumbria	59,985	161.5	170.9	172.8	99.8
Derbyshire	123,012	302.8	320.0	322.9	195.2
Devon	138,352	328.4	345.8	330.3	235.5
Dorset	77,399	198	207.5	213.5	124.3
Durham	94,876	206.9	216.7	220.2	154.2
East Sussex	88,056	212.5	219.8	221.3	163.9
Essex	137,154	540.5	566.7	548.6	241.1
Gloucesteshire	51,420	174.5	183.8	175.4	80.0
Hampshire	200,172	502.6	525.3	545.6	362.2
Hereford and Worcester	95,640	219.8	228.9	217.7	157.3
Hertfordshire	129,636	371.4	387.3	380	244.6
Humberside	141,168	310.8	n/a	340.6	248.3
Isle of Wight	18,104	43.6	45.2	44.2	31.9
Kent	175,151	559.1	581.8	555.5	298.7
Lancashire	213,307	484	510.6	520.5	344.4
Leicestershire	138,244	316.4	333.3	328	237.4
Lincolnshire	64,949	199.2	213.1	221	114.3
Norfolk	92,797	234.8	243.4	255.5	162.3
North Yorkshire	105,026	223.6	185.9	243.9	185.9
Northamptonshire	84,884	209.8	222.3	216.8	145.0
Northumberland	49,842	107.6	113.6	114.5	84.7
Nottinghamshire	152,190	346.7	365.2	373.5	263.7
Oxfordshire	78,725	186.6	192.6	186.7	138.0
Shropshire	56,657	137.1	145.4	146.6	93.9
Somerset	65,039	143.5	150.9	158.6	112.7
Staffordshire	162,669	348.8	366.1	361.1	259.0
Suffolk	93,659	205.9	217.5	219.7	168.3
Surrey	103,483	299.4	307.6	306.8	187.7
Warwickshire	68,292	156.2	164.1	164.6	113.5
West Sussex	96,023	226.8	235.5	242.3	176.0
Wiltshire	67,163	188.6	197.6	201	110.9
Bath and North East Somerset	--	--	54.4	--	--
Bristol	--	--	120.0	--	--
North Somerset	--	--	58.6	--	--
South Gloucestershire	--	--	78.6	--	--
Hartlepool	--	--	37.0	--	--
Middlesbrough	--	--	61.5	--	--
Redcar and Cleveland	--	--	59.6	--	--
Stockton on Tees	--	--	71.8	--	--
Kingston upon Hull	--	--	102.7	--	--
East Riding of Yorkshire	--	--	103.0	--	--
North East Lincolnshire	--	--	64.9	--	--
North Lincolnshire	--	--	56.4	--	--
York	--	--	52.8	--	--
Total	6,612,808	17024.4	17758.9	17821.4	11705.9

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 697

18 Jan 1996 : Column: 697

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