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Judicial Review
Ms Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on how many occasions in each Session since 1991-92 legislation has been introduced into Parliament by her Department, with the purpose of (a) removing the effects of a judicial review decision or (b) implementing a judicial review decision; and if she will list the relevant legislative provisions. [33584]
Mr. Robin Squire: No central record of this is retained, but the Department is not aware of any such in respect of either the DFEE or the former Departments in relation to current functions.
School Funding
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what additional resources her Department has made available under the headings of school improvement and school effectiveness in recent years to (a) local education authorities and (b) grant-maintained schools; and, in each case, under what headings resources have been reduced to meet the additional costs. [33747]
Mr. Robin Squire: Support for school improvement and effectiveness is available to LEA-maintained schools through the grant for education support and training programme. With this programme, total expenditure on school effectiveness grants supported in 1995-96 was £121.5 million; this has risen to £134 million in the current financial year.
Support for the same purposes is available to grant-maintained schools through special purpose grants (development). It is for the schools themselves, as self-governing institutions, to decide how best to target these and other resources. The grants are paid by the Funding Agency for Schools, and I have asked the chairman of the Funding Agency for Schools to write to the hon. Member.
Resources for school effectiveness and improvement for publicly funded schools are provided within the totals provided by Parliament for education, and not at the expense of other headings.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what funding is provided by her Department specifically for governor training and support to enhance school effectiveness in (a) local education authority schools and (b) grant-maintained schools. [33745]
Mr. Squire:
As regards local education authority schools, the school effectiveness grant within the grant for education support and training programme includes governor training and support to enhance effectiveness. It is for individual local education authorities and schools to determine how to apportion expenditure between the eligible categories defined in regulations (No. 734) and described in the Department's circular 8/95, in the light of local priorities.
As regards grant-maintained schools, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier. These schools may use special purpose grants (development) to support governor training as well as school effectiveness.
21 Jun 1996 : Column: 636
Mr. Bernie Grant:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to improve the targeting of resources to assist the (a) black and (b) other ethnic minority unemployed. [33600]
Mrs. Gillan:
The targeting of all the Department's programmes and services, including those delivered by training and enterprise councils and the Employment Service, is kept under regular review.
Mr. Bryan Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what are the latest available statistics for student drop-out rates from higher education.[33718]
Mr. Forth:
Our latest estimate of the drop-out rate of students from full-time and sandwich first degree courses is 17 to 18 per cent. in the academic year 1993-94. A range is given because the introduction of a new data source has made it difficult to measure drop-out accurately. Drop-out covers all those leaving degree courses because of exam failure, ill health, personal and other reasons. It includes those switching to a lower level course, but excludes students transferring between degree courses or subjects at the same university. The rate reflects the progression of students through the whole length of the course.
Mr. Bryan Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the advantages of reducing the priority accorded to workplace competence assessments in the design and delivery of national vocational qualifications. [33739]
Mr. Paice:
Demonstration of competence in the workplace will remain a key feature of national vocational qualifications. As stated in our action plan in response to the Beaumont report, published on 27 March, the Government believe that a combination of assessment methods is desirable.
Mr. Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the progress of reform of the system of vocational qualifications. [33738]
Mr. Paice:
Following the Government's action plan in response to the Beaumont review, the National Council on Vocational Qualifications has been asked to undertake a review of each NVQ in line with its 1995 criteria and guidance and the points in the action plan. That review has now started and NVQs will be reviewed on a rolling basis until April 1998.
21 Jun 1996 : Column: 637
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average class size for the most recent year for which information is available at (a) key stage 3, (b) key stage 4 and (c) sixth forms in city technology colleges. [33919]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The available information is shown in the following list:
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 30 April, Official Report, columns 443-44, (1) on what basis the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were selected for an inspection by the Civil Aviation Authority, [33291]
Mr. Norris:
The disruption in the former Yugoslavia raised doubts as to that state's ability to comply with International Civil Aviation Organisation safety standards. In the case of Bulgaria, the assessment of compliance with ICAO standards was undertaken following a number of safety-related complaints received from passengers travelling on Bulgarian registered aircraft.
In both cases, the Department of Transport felt that an independent assessment was necessary to ensure that ICAO standards were being adhered to. The reports of such inspections are commercially confidential and could be released only with the consent of the country involved.
Sir Michael Marshall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies his Department has made of the potential benefits for the United Kingdom in the transition to the future global navigation satellite system. [33257]
Mr. Norris:
The Department of Transport has not carried out any studies of the potential benefits to the UK in the transition to the future global navigation satellite system. However, officials from the Department and the Civil Aviation Authority are participating in various European and international forums, including the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Eurocontrol, the European Space Agency, the International Maritime Organisation and the European Union. One of the main issues currently being examined in these forums is the benefits of future GNSS.
21 Jun 1996 : Column: 638
Sir Michael Marshall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will indicate the levels of his Department's funding allocated in current and future years to support United Kingdom participation in the European Space Agency satellite navigation development programme. [33256]
Mr. Norris:
My Department has allocated £1.043 million per year for 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 for satellite navigation development work. The proportion of this to be allocated to UK participation in the European Space Agency's satellite navigation development programme has yet to be decided.
Mr. Allen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he collates relating to trains leaving and arriving at domestic destinations; and if he will make a statement on trends over the last five years. [33110]
Mr. Watts:
My Department receives summary information concerning passenger train punctuality and reliability, collated by British Rail for the services under its overall control and by the franchising director for franchised services. The present arrangements were introduced with the British Rail passengers charter in 1992; annual results are therefore available only from 1992-93 onwards The data show that while there was deterioration during 1994, in part due to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers strike, overall there has been a slight improvement in both punctuality and reliability.
Average size of one teacher classes in city technology colleges in England--January 1995
Pupils aged mainly under 14: 23.0
Pupils aged mainly 14 and 15: 20.0
Pupils aged mainly 16 and over: 10.5
Source: Schools Census
(2) if he will place in the Library copies of the results of the inspections carried out in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. [33290]
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