---

School Meals

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average cost of school meals in each local education authority in England and Wales. [3707]

Mrs. Gillan: Information on the cost of school meals in schools in England has not been collected centrally since 1993.

The cost of school meals in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 304

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the average cost of school meals in England has been for each year since 1978. [3706]

Mrs. Gillan: Information on local authorities' charging arrangements, which was collected centrally between January 1990 and 1993, is shown in the table:

School meals charging arrangements(23) in maintained schools in England 1990-1993 Position as at January each year

	Pence per day Primary		Pence per day secondary
Year	Fixed(24) charge	Authorised(25) spend	Fixed(24) charge	Authorised(25) spend
1990	62	63	65	74
1991	73	75	78	82
1992	83	88	89	94
1993	92	92	96	103

(23)1993 data collected from maintained schools. Data for earlier years

collected from local education authorities.

(24)The fixed charge is the charge for a standard meal in schools

operating dining centres.

(25)The authorised spend is the amount allowed for each pupil receiving

a free meal in schools operating a cash cafeteria service.

Information Technology

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools now have access to a qualified computer technician. [3846]

Mr. Robin Squire: Technical support is provided by a range of public and commercial contractors and is a matter for individual schools. Surveys recently carried out do not differentiate between general and computer technicians.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers in United Kingdom schools have knowledge of, and the ability to use, computers. [3915]

Mr. Squire: The competencies set out in departmental circulars 9/92 and 14/93 require all newly qualified teachers to be able to make constructive use of information technology. The Teacher Training Agency is targeting the use of IT to improve pupils' achievements as a national priority area for the continuing professional development of teachers.

Details of staff trained in the use of information technology in schools in England are contained within the Department's statistical bulletin 3/95, reporting on a survey in March 1994. This indicates that seven in 10 staff in primary schools had undertaken one or more short in-service training courses in the use of IT. In secondary schools, 32 per cent. of teachers had received initial awareness training in the use of IT; 24 per cent. had attended one additional short in-service course; a further 27 per cent. of teachers had attended more than one additional short in-service course.

Information about schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State concerned.

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 305

Unemployment Benefit

Ms Gordon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action the Government plan to take to remove obstacles to people who wish to study or train while remaining unemployed and claiming benefit. [4093]

Mr. Paice: The rules for unemployed people who wish to study or train while claiming benefits will be updated when Jobseeker's allowance is introduced on 7 October 1996.

Certain unemployed people, in particular those who have been unemployed for six months or more, will continue to be eligible to train full or part-time under training for work. Participants on TFW receive an allowance instead of benefit, and so are not subject to the benefit tests of availability or actively seeking employment.

As now, full-time students will not generally be able to claim JSA. People receiving JSA will be able to study part-time, as long as they meet the entitlement conditions, which include being available for and actively seeking employment. This carries existing arrangements. Courses funded by the Further Education Funding Council are not defined as full or part-time. For JSA purposes, therefore, courses funded in whole or in part by the FEFC will be considered to be part-time if they are of no more than 16 guided learning hours per week. There will be no change in higher education, where the distinction between full and part-time remains, or in other sectors.

Unemployed people claiming JSA will be able to undertake full-time, employment-related courses for up to two weeks a year with the prior agreement of the Employment Service. They will not have to be available for or actively seeking employment while on the course.

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 306

These new rules on part-time study will provide more clarity and are designed to allow the same number of people to study part-time while unemployed and receiving benefit as do so under the current rules.

Assisted Places

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 21 November 1995, Official Report, column 101, if she will make a statement on the procedures in place to cross-check the income of parents seeking help under the assisted place scheme with other Government-held records. [4196]

Mrs. Gillan: Schools participating in the assisted places scheme administer means testing within the regulations and guidance provided by the Department. Parents are required to supply to the schools full corroborative documentary evidence of their income, for example, by means of a P60 or schedule D tax assessment. Schools are expected to satisfy themselves that it is complete and accurate, and may ask parents to obtain written confirmation from the Inland Revenue or other source where necessary. The Department conducts regular audit surveys of random samples of parental income assessments carried out by participating schools to check compliance with the regulations and guidance.

Training for Work

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the number of training for work programme participants in each month of 1995 (a) in total and (b) by standard region; and what was the number of training for work programme participants regarded as special needs trainees in the same periods and regions. [4317]

Mr. Paice: August 1995 is the latest month for which figures are available. It is only possible to estimate the percentage of starts by special needs trainees, not the actual numbers. The information available is given in tables 1 and 2:

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 305

Training for Work England and Wales and Regions 1995 up to August Special Needs Groups by Region(26)

		Starts(27) during January-March 1995			Starts(27) during April-June 1995
	People with disabilities	Literacy/numeracy problems	English for speakers of other languages	People with disabilities	Literacy/numeracy problems	English for speakers of other languages
South East	15	4	2	15	7	1
London	10	5	4	10	10	5
Eastern England	13	4	1	15	4	1
South West	17	5	1	17	7	2
West Midlands	18	4	1	15	4	1
East Midlands	18	5	1	16	4	2
Yorkshire and Humberside	18	8	2	15	8	2
Greater Manchester(26)	17	9	4	16	8	3
North West(26)	14	7	2	13	7	1
North East	17	7	1	13	7	1
Wales	14	5	1	14	4	1
England and Wales	16	6	2	15	7	2

Notes:

(26)The regional breakdown here differs from the standard Government Office regions, in that the TECs covered by the new North West

and Merseyside regions are shown under the previous North West and Greater Manchester regional definitions. The database does not cover Scotland.

(27)The database gives information on those starting in a given time period. In order for there to be sufficient records to give reliable estimates,

the figures are given for quarters rather than individual months. April-June 1995 is the latest available quarter. Source: TFW national starts database.

Training for Work Great Britain and regions 1995 up to August Number of participants in each period by region

		Number in training as at(28)
	1 January	30/27 January	26/24 February	26/31 March	23/28 April	21/26 May	18/30 June	16/28 July	13/25 August
South-east	7,600	8,400	8,500	7,300	5,900	5,600	5,300	4,600	4,000
London	16,000	16,600	16,800	11,700	10,100	10,900	10,700	10,200	9,500
Eastern England	7,000	7,400	7,600	6,700	6,000	6,000	5,500	4,800	4,600
South-west	8,600	8,700	8,300	7,400	6,500	6,500	6,400	5,900	5,500
West Midlands	10,900	11,700	11,700	10,400	8,100	7,800	7,400	6,800	6,400
East Midlands	8,100	8,300	8,400	8.000	6,400	5,900	5,700	5,500	5,300
Yorkshire and Humberside	14,000	14,200	14,700	13,200	10,000	9,600	9,000	7,900	7,500
Merseyside	6,700	7,200	8,000	8,500	6,300	5,800	5,600	5,300	5,500
North-west	10,700	11,000	11,600	10,500	9,000	8,300	7,800	7,500	7,400
North-east	10,800	11,200	11,400	10,500	8,600	8,300	8,000	7,600	7,600
England	99,800	105,100	106,700	94,400	77,000	74,600	71,400	66,200	63,200
Wales	9,500	10,100	9,800	8,600	6,700	6,300	6,100	5,100	4,800
Scotland(29)	n/a	14,400	14,600	14,400	14,100	13,800	13,600	13,100	12,800
Great Britain	n/a	129,600	131,000	117,300	97,800	94,700	91,200	84,400	80,700

Notes:

(28) The first date shown is for England and Wales, the second is for Scotland.

(29) In Scotland information is collected over 12 periods not 13 as in England and Wales.

Source: TEC management information returns, the Welsh Office, the Scottish Office.

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 307

6 Dec 1995 : Column: 307

---