---

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 237

Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 15 January 1997

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Departmental Nurseries

Mr. Allen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which Ministers of the Crown currently make use of the departmental nursery for their children. [10806]

The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 4 November 1996, Official Report, column 333.

Information on the parents who use departmental nurseries is not held centrally.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Research Institutes

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Roslin Institute; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10106]

(2) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10138]

(3) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Institute of Arable Crops Research; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10042]

(4) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Silsoe Research Institute; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10130]

(5) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Babraham Institute; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10110]

(6) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Institute of Food Research; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10046]

(7) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Institute for Animal Health; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10102]

(8) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the John Innes Centre; and from which budget these sums were paid. [10134]

Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 13 January 1997]: Work on these reviews has principally involved existing staff in the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council which is funded from the science budget. BBSRC estimates the total staff and other incidental costs as £240,000. It is not possible to quantify

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 238

the costs incurred by the several Government Departments involved in the prior options procedures without incurring disproportionate cost.

Fairtrade Foundation

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent representations he has received from the Fairtrade Foundation; and if he will take steps to introduce products marketed by the foundation into the cafeterias in his Department. [10892]

Mr. Nelson: I have not received any representations recently from the Fairtrade Foundation. The foundation is free to compete with other suppliers to Halliday Catering Services, who hold the contract to run my Department's catering facilities.

Science Budget

Dr. Twinn: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the allocation of the science budget. [11469]

Mr. Lang: I have discussed the allocations with the director general of research councils and have decided that, subject to parliamentary approval of the supply estimates in due course, the science budget of £1,330.327 million should be allocated as follows:

Science budget allocations and planning assumptions

			£ Million
	Allocation	Planning figures
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
BBSRC	183.300	185.445	184.193
ESRC	64.896	66.021	65.132
EPSRC	386.373	381.098	379.050
MRC	289.070	288.949	287.618
NERC	165.116	169.131	168.295
PPARC	191.850	194.289	194.094
International Sub.Reserve	8.800	13.000	13.000
CCLRC	1.450	1.450	1.000
Pensions	11.530	9.547	9.547
Royal Society	22.271	22.621	22.871
Royal Academy	3.370	3.436	3.486
OST Initiatives	2.302	2.381	2.381
Foresight Challenge	--	1.000	2.000
Total	1,330.327	1,338.367	1,332.667

These allocations will enable the research councils and other funded bodies to maintain the momentum in the key areas identified for national research and to carry forward the policies set out in the 1993 White Paper, "Realising Our Potential". An additional £17 million over three years has been allocated for urgent additional research into transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

Further details are available in the paper, "Allocation of the Science Budget 1997-98", which I have placed in the Library of the House.

Telecommunications Council

Mr. Mark Robinson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EC Telecommunications Council on 18 December 1996. [11408]

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 239

Mr. Page: I represented the UK at the Telecommunications Council held in Brussels on 18 December, arranged at short notice to discuss the postal services directive.

The Council reached political agreement on the further liberalisation of postal services. The UK supported the final compromise on the directive's further liberalisation proposals after successfully invoking the Ioannina agreement to secure improvements. Netherlands, Sweden and Finland voted against the agreement.

Under the agreement direct mail and cross-border mail will stay in the reserved area for the time being. The Commission will come forward with a proposal for further liberalisation by end 1998. The Council and the European Parliament will decide by 1.1.2000 on further liberalisation measures, in particular with a view to liberalisation of cross-border and direct mail as well as a further review of the price and weight limits, with effect from 1 January 2003. The directive will end in 2004 if no decisions have been made.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Pupil Costs

Mr. Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list (a) the actual unit cost per full-time equivalent student, (b) the equivalent figure at constant 1996-97 prices and (c) the consequent efficiency improvement for each of the years from 1989-90 to 1996-97 and the projected figures for the years 1997-98 to 1999-2000 assumed in the Budget for (i) higher education institutions, (ii) further education colleges, (iii) maintained secondary schools and (iv) assisted places in independent secondary schools. [8844]

Mr. Forth [holding answer 19 December 1996]: The relevant information is set out in the following text and tables. Figures for each education sector are, however, not directly comparable.

Participation in higher education has risen substantially. One in three young people now attend university full time, compared with only one in eight in 1979. The expansion in student numbers has been accompanied by substantial improvements in efficiency and continuing high quality as demonstrated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England's quality assessments. Participation is planned to continue at record levels in the future and planned expenditure on higher education will increase by £200 million over the next two years.

Higher education institutions

Financial year	(a) public funding per full-time equivalent student	(b) public funding per full-time equivalent student at 1996-97 prices	(c) efficiency improvement
	(£)	(£)	Per cent.
1989-90	5,350	7,050	--
1990-91	5,310	6,480	8.1
1991-92	5,350	6,130	5.4
1992-93	5,110	5,620	8.4
1993-94	5,010	5,360	4.5
1994-95	4,970	5,230	2.6
1995-96	4,970	5,100	2.4
1996-97	4,800	4,800	5.8
1997-98	4,860	4,760	0.8
1998-99	4,840	4,650	2.4
1999-00	4,720	4,450	4.3

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 240

Since the transfer of responsibility for the further education sector from local education authorities to the Further Education Funding Council on 1 April 1993, both expenditure on further education and the number of full-time equivalent student numbers have increased. Colleges have also made significant improvements in their efficiency. The Government will make available an extra £80 million over the next two years.

Further education colleges

Financial year	(a) public funding per full-time equivalent student	(b) public funding per full-time equivalent student at 1996-97 prices	(c) efficiency improvement
	(£)	(£)	Per cent.
1993-94	2,820	3,020	--
1994-95	2,810	2,950	2.4
1995-96	2,750	2,810	4.8
1996-97	2,650	2,650	6.2
1997-98	2,560	2,510	5.6
1998-99	2,490	2,390	4.9
1999-00	2,410	2,270	5.3

Comparable figures before 1993-94 are not available because of the transfer of responsibility for funding the further education sector from local education authorities to the FEFC from 1 April 1993.

LEAs are responsible for the allocation of resources to pre-primary, primary and secondary schools which they maintain. Since 1979 spending per pupil has increased in real terms by 48 per cent. For 1996-97 and 1997-98 total additional funds of £1.7 billion have been provided for maintained schools. Since spending depends upon decisions made by individual LEAs, the Government do not make projections for future years and does not set targets for efficiency gains.

LEA-maintained schools

Financial year	(a) LEA-maintained NIE(1) per pupil (£)	(b) LEA-maintained NIE(1) per pupil at 1996-97 prices (£)
1989-90	1,490	1,960
1990-91	1,620	1,980
1991-92	1,750	2,010
1992-93	1,860	2,040
1993-94	1,870	1,990
1994-95	1,890	1,990

(1) NIE--net institutional expenditure--represents the direct costs in schools of salaries and wages, premises and certain supplies and services, and from 1990-91 includes unspent balances held by schools under local management schemes.

LEA-maintained schools include pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. The figures have not been adjusted for any changes in the functions of LEAs, such as, for example, the transfer of sixth-form colleges to the new further education sector on 1 April 1993.

Spending on the assisted places scheme has increased since 1989-90. The amount of spending per assisted pupil depends upon a number of factors, including changes in approved fees and in parental incomes and contributions. Net expenditure per place has risen in real terms as the

15 Jan 1997 : Column: 241

scheme has included an increasing proportion of lower income families whose contributions are smaller. Forecasting the relevant factors is subject to a range of uncertainty, and the Department does not publish projections of spending per pupil. Similarly, for these reasons it is not possible to calculate efficiency changes.

Assisted places scheme

Financial year	(a) spending per pupil (£)	(b) spending per pupil at 1996-97 prices (£)
1989-90	2,280	3,000
1990-91	2,580	3,140
1991-92	2,960	3,390
1992-93	3,300	3,630
1993-94	3,490	3,740
1994-95	3,640	3,820
1995-96	3,770	3,860
1996-97	3,880	3,880

All tables use GDP deflators published December 1996. All figures have been rounded to the nearest £10.

---