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Universities (Staff:Student Ratio)

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average staff:student ratio in the United Kingdom university system (a) in the current year, and (b) in each of the past 15 years. [6551]

Mr. Forth: Information on the student:staff ratio in higher education institutions in England for the years 1990-91 to 1993-94 are as follows:


Information on the same basis for earlier years is not available.

Postgraduate Students

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many postgraduate students in United Kingdom universities are (a) from the United Kingdom, (b) from other European Union countries, and (c) from other countries. [6549]

Mr. Forth: Figures for the academic year 1994-95 show that as at 31 December 1994 there were 290,000 full-time and part-time postgraduate students in UK higher education institutions--including the Open University--of whom 80 per cent. were domiciled in the United Kingdom, 6 per cent. were from other European Union countries and 14 per cent. were from other countries.

Nursery Schools

Ms Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many staff work in maintained nursery schools; and how many have qualified teacher status; [6526]

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Mr. Robin Squire: In January 1995, the latest date for which information is available, the pupil: teacher ratio in maintained nursery schools in England was 19.41:1; the pupil:staff ratio was 8.8:1. There were 1,596 full-time equivalent teaching staff, of whom 1,577 were qualified and, in addition, there were 1,901 full-time equivalent nursery assistants.

Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in what circumstances local education authorities may institute a system of charging for nursery provision in (a) nursery classes in schools (b) and nursery schools; which local education authorities currently do this; and what are the scales of charges. [6432]

Mr. Squire: Education, including nursery provision, offered by any grant-maintained or local education authority maintained school must by law be free of charge if it takes place wholly or mainly during school hours. Independent and privately run nursery schools may set whatever level of charges they consider to be appropriate.

Undergraduate Students

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many United Kingdom undergraduate students there are in United Kingdom universities in the current academic year; and how many she forecasts will be studying at United Kingdom universities in each of the next three years. [6550]

Mr. Forth: We do not yet have comprehensive figures on the number of undergraduate students in the United Kingdom in the current academic year. Our best estimate is based on the November 1995 Budget projection, which took account of latest data available from the universities and colleges admissions services--UCAS--and from local education authorities. This projects 1.119 million full-time equivalent United Kingdom domiciled undergraduate students, both full-time and part-time, in United Kingdom institutions in the current academic year.

The projected numbers for the three subsequent academic years are 1.112 million, 1.116 million and 1.138 million.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many undergraduate students in United Kingdom universities are (a) from the United Kingdom, (b) from other European Union countries, and (c) from other countries. [6548]

Mr. Forth: Figures for the academic year 1994-95 show that as at 31 December 1994 there were 1,213,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students in UK higher education institutions, including the Open University, of whom 92 per cent. were domiciled in the UK, 4 per cent. were from other European Union countries and 4 per cent. were from other countries.

Nursery Vouchers

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her policy in respect of the role for Capita Managed Services Ltd. in the inspection of the nursery voucher scheme. [6044]

Mr. Robin Squire: Capita Managed Services Ltd. has a contract to administer the issue and redemption of vouchers in phase one of the nursery education voucher

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scheme. The company will not exercise any judgment about the quality of provision in institutions which apply to redeem vouchers.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if nursery vouchers will be issued on a termly basis. [6280]

Mr. Squire: Nursery vouchers will be issued termly.

Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of how children with special needs will be affected by the nursery voucher scheme. [6281]

Mr. Squire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Nottingham, East (Mr. Heppell) on 13 December, Official Report, columns 978-79.

Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the cost has been of promoting and explaining the nursery voucher scheme. [6282]

Mr. Squire: The cost to date for publicising and explaining the nursery voucher scheme to parents and providers is some £150,000.

Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many extra nursery places she expects the nursery voucher scheme to create. [6283]

Mr. Squire: The number of additional places created through the nursery voucher scheme will depend on the response of providers to parental demand. I am confident that providers of all types, either alone or in partnership with each other, will satisfy parental demand over time, given the extra funding which the voucher scheme provides.

Academic Standards

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the academic standard of (a) five GCSE passes at grades a-c and (b) the French Baccalaureat. [6045]

Mr. Paice: Even if such comparisons could reliably be made, there would be little to be gained by trying to compare standards in an examination taken by 16-year-olds in England with an examination taken by 18-year-olds in France.

School Budgets

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to raise the level of the potential schools' budget from 85 per cent. to 100 per cent. for (a) all schools and (b) by category of school. [6124]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Government have no plans at present to raise the proportion of the potential schools budget which must be delegated to schools by local education authorities. This was, however, one of the several options in respect of voluntary aided schools identified in the consultation paper issues on 27 October, the responses to which are still being considered.

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Captial Spending

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what amounts have been requested by way of capital spending in 1996-97 (a) by each local education authority and (b) in England as a whole. [6476]

Mrs. Gillan: The following table shows the size of 1996-97 bids for annual capital guidelines by each local education authority in England.

I shall be making an announcement on 1996-97 education ACG totals for each LEA in England shortly.

ACG Bids 1996-97

£000
Barking3,435
Barnet8,003
Bexley4,680
Brent8,573
Bromley4,841
Croydon9,562
Ealing9,338
Enfield17,666
Haringey18,516
Harrow16,375
Havering10,297
Hillingdon8,471
Hounslow8,448
Kingston4,178
Merton6,673
Newham17,083
Redbridge7,371
Richmond7,403
Sutton8,673
Waltham14,150
City0
Camden6,510
Westminster4,238
Greenwich7,095
Hackney7,940
Hammersmith6,400
Islington10,600
Kensington2,287
Lambeth15,642
Lewisham28,266
Southwark4,504
Wandsworth7,052
Tower Hamlets14,442
Birmingham59,837
Coventry6,701
Dudley6,138
Sandwell10,422
Solihull4,642
Walsall8,123
Wolverhampton13,005
Knowsley4,917
Liverpool24,311
St. Helens7,012
Sefton4,197
Wirral9,464
Bolton5,965
Bury1,997
Manchester50,963
Oldham6,434
Rochdale10,858
Salford35,655
Stockport5,217
Tameside5,259
Trafford7,003
Wigan11,009
Barnsley5,767
Doncaster7,524
Rotherham6,354
Sheffield49,913
Bradford48,734
Calderdale6,483
Kirklees9,102
Leeds39,002
Wakefield34,035
Gateshead10,454
Newcastle26,029
North Tyneside8,966
South Tyneside7,019
Sunderland9,586
Isle of Scilly47
Bath, North East Somerset4,382
Bedfordshire6,619
Berkshire10,567
Bristol7,986
Bucks19,114
Cambridge27,991
Cheshire35,182
Cornwall16,045
Cumbria21,470
Derbyshire39,148
Devon36,346
Dorset28,328
Durham55,904
East Riding11,625
East Sussex33,943
Essex79,677
Gloucester37,110
Hampshire38,013
Hartlepool1,586
Hereford, Worcester13,935
Hertford29,391
Hull9,401
Isle of Wight10,791
Kent57,365
Lancashire37,227
Leicester7,963
Lincoln15,630
Middlesbrough5,000
North Lincolnshire7,278
North-east Lincolnshire6,546
North Somerset6,501
Norfolk20,678
North Yorkshire25,471
Northampton22,027
Northumberland2,908
Nottinghamshire21,057
Oxfordshire20,430
Redcar, Cleveland2,985
Shropshire8,355
South Gloucestershire7,376
Somerset10,970
Staffordshire26,213
Stockton3,772
Suffolk21,635
Surrey22,359
Warwick20,266
West Sussex10,925
Wiltshire9,507
York3,440
Total1,855,297


18 Dec 1995 : Column: 978

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