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Adult Literacy and Numeracy

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she will make available the findings of the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study on adult literacy and numeracy skills. [11185]

Mr. Paice [holding answer 20 January 1997]: The national report for the international adult literacy survey will be published as soon as possible after the Office for National Statistics receives the data from Statistics Canada, the body co-ordinating the survey, and checks and analyses have been carried out to ensure we are satisfied with the accuracy and quality of the figures. We expect this to be by the autumn of this year, which is in line with the time scale originally planned for this complex international survey.

Medical School (Southern England)

Sir Robert Hicks: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects to announce the proposed location of a new medical school in the south of England; and if she will make a statement. [11102]

Mr. Forth [holding answer 20 January 1997]: My right hon. Friend has no plans to announce the setting up of a new medical school. It is the Government's view that the planned increases in medical student intakes recommended in the 1995 report of the Medical Workforce Standing Advisory Committee can be accommodated within the existing medical schools.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the performance of TECs in England and Wales to date in respect of achieving the 100 per cent. plan target in relation to financial systems management information, the collection of evidence, audit and supplies. [11367]

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 545

Mr. Paice: TECs have made significance progress in addressing the former shortcomings in financial control relating to training and enterprise programmes identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General in reports on the Department's appropriation accounts up to 1991-92. It was these which gave rise to the commitment to the Public Accounts Committee in January 1992 that the Department would institute a plan to achieve 100 per cent. effectiveness in financial control in TECs and, through them, their providers of training and other activities. All TECs in England are currently assessed as low risk for financial control purposes. The Comptroller and Auditor General's latest report ¹ acknowledges that the priority given by the Department to financial control has resulted in a substantial reduction in incorrect and uncertain payments to TECs and their providers. The Government continue to set rigorous financial control standards for TECs to safeguard the large amounts of public funding provided to them and to refine these standards to build upon the progress made through the original 100 per cent. plan. The responsibility for the TECs in Wales falls to the Secretary of State for Wales. The Welsh Office has confirmed that, on the most recently completed risk assessment audits, all the TECs in Wales had also achieved low-risk status.

¹ Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General: "Department for Education and Employment: Financial Control of Payments made under the Training for Work and Youth Training Programmes in England" (HC 402 Session 1995-96, published 12 June 1995).

Class Sizes (Primary Schools)

Mr. Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children in primary schools are currently in classes of more than 30 pupils. [11895]

Mr. Robin Squire: The information requested is shown in the following table.

Number of pupils in one teacher classes of size 31 or more in maintained primary schools in each local education authority area in England: January 1996

Corporation of London	0
Camden	447
Greenwich	1,412
Hackney	664
Hammersmith	1,036
Islington	982
Kensington and Chelsea	187
Lambeth	857
Lewisham	917
Southwark	2,051
Tower Hamlets	859
Wandsworth	2,373
Westminster	544
Barking	1,603
Barnet	1,848
Bexley	8,821
Brent	2,259
Bromley	11,850
Croydon	6,341
Ealing	5,508
Enfield	8,840
Haringey	984
Harrow	3,833
Havering	5,678
Hillingdon	4,820
Hounslow	5,674
Kingston upon Thames	7,095
Merton	3,955
Newham	2,381
Redbridge	9,060
Richmond upon Thames	2,309
Sutton	4,235
Waltham Forest	3,282
Birmingham	25,642
Coventry	7,638
Dudley	6,618
Sandwell	11,812
Solihull	8,403
Walsall	7,241
Wolverhampton	6,762
Knowsley	5,254
Liverpool	12,051
St. Helens	5,563
Sefton	10,670
Wirral	6,987
Bolton	11,719
Bury	6,968
Manchester	9,687
Oldham	9,434
Rochdale	8,316
Salford	6,997
Stockport	8,247
Tameside	11,508
Trafford	9,389
Wigan	11,087
Barnsley	8,677
Doncaster	9,609
Rotherham	5,732
Sheffield	11,181
Bradford	11,449
Calderdale	6,331
Kirklees	14,395
Leeds	21,455
Wakefield	10,673
Gateshead	2,443
Newcastle upon Tyne	6,792
North Tyneside	4,897
South Tyneside	4,067
Sunderland	4,148
Isles of Scilly	0
Avon	26,647
Bedfordshire	11,867
Berkshire	18,309
Buckinghamshire	22,753
Cambridgeshire	18,065
Cheshire	32,225
Cleveland	13,869
Cornwall	14,936
Cumbria	11,382
Derbyshire	41,217
Devon	28,078
Dorset	19,654
Durham	19,881
East Sussex	20,971
Essex	34,741
Gloucestershire	14,246
Hampshire	44,938
Hereford and Worcester	13,225
Hertfordshire	23,396
Humberside	27,832
Isle of Wight	2,243
Kent	44,212
Lancashire	54,099
Leicestershire	21,784
Lincolnshire	13,962
Norfolk	13,224
North Yorkshire	18,663
Northamptonshire	11,089
Northumberland	8,478
Nottinghamshire	32,931
Oxfordshire	10,608
Shropshire	13,425
Somerset	13,649
Staffordshire	32,163
Suffolk	7,940
Surrey	14,197
Warwickshire	17,566
West Sussex	14,447
Wiltshire	15,128
England	1,260,587

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 547

National Funding Formula

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make it her policy not to introduce a national funding formula. [12065]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Government published a discussion paper on national funding for grant-maintained schools in May 1996. The Government are analysing the responses, which have raised a number of issues.

Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations

Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to link the home fee status classification of students and the rules of eligibility that may be adopted for awards specified in the Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1994, as amended, to those who are settled in the United Kingdom under the immigration laws. [12262]

Mr. Forth: Further to the account of the outcome of the programme of work arising from the scrutiny on enforcement of the immigration laws on 24 October 1996 by the Minister of State, Home Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone (Miss Widdecombe), Official Report, column 2, I confirm that revised Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations will be laid before Parliament to add a requirement of being settled in the United Kingdom under the immigration laws to the existing criteria for establishing a "relevant connection" for the purpose of student fee classifications by institutions and to the rules of candidate eligibility for certain awards which may be adopted by education authorities and other specified bodies.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Public Appointments

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many of the individuals appointed by his Department to public positions in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit. [8534]

Mr. Boswell [holding answer 10 December 1996]: None of those appointed in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit.

Chief Medical Officer

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many times he has met the chief medical officer over the last six months; and if he will list the issues discussed. [9634]

Mr. Douglas Hogg: I and my officials have regularly met the chief medical officer over the last six months to discuss issues of importance to human health and food safety.

Personalised Number Plates (Executive Agencies)

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many personalised number plates there are in the ownership of the executive agencies operated by his Department; and if he will list them. [11411]

21 Jan 1997 : Column: 548

Mr. Boswell: The executive agencies operated by this Ministry do not have any personalised number plates.

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