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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Departmental Policies (Bournemouth)
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the effect of her Department's policies on the residents of Bournemouth since 1992, with special reference to the effects of changes in the resources provided in real terms. [14953]
Mr. Paice: The Department's policies have been aimed at supporting economic growth and improving the nation's competitiveness and quality of life by raising standards of educational achievement and skill and by promoting an efficient, effective and flexible labour market.
We are creating new opportunities and acting to raise standards for every child in Bournemouth; extending
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choice and diversity throughout the education system; and ensuring that more power is in the hands of governors and parents.
Total funding for schools will increase by £833 million in 1997-98; 4.4 per cent. higher than 1996-97 levels.
The new unitary authority of Bournemouth will receive £49,533 million in 1996-97, an increase of 3.4 per cent. over last year.
Sound macro-economic policies have led to a continuous fall in unemployment over the last four years by over a million in the United Kingdom, and by 4,481 within the Bournemouth travel-to-work area.
The Department has provided funding to the Dorset training and enterprise council which has enabled them to offer a full range of training programmes and business services for the people living in Dorset. For 1996-97, the level of funding was £16 million. Dorset TEC has been successful in the modern apprenticeship programme and there are 650 young people in the county currently training to NVQ level 3 or above.
There are a number of single regeneration budget projects under way in Dorset, including a community focus scheme to develop the areas of Turlin moor in Poole and Boscombe in Bournemouth. This four-year project costing nearly £800,000 aims to raise and sustain the levels of persona, social and economic achievement of those living in these areas and to also reintegrate the two communities into the main urban economy.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage and how many children (i) sat and (ii) obtained grades A to C for the first time in (a) maths and (b) English language GCSE in England in the latest year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [17155]
Mrs. Gillan
[holding answer 24 February 1997]: The information is not available in the precise form requested. However, the following table shows the number and percentage of 15-year-old pupils who attempted GCSE and achieved grades A* to C in (1) mathematics and (2) English in England in 1994-95.
| Mathematics | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Number attempted (thousands) | 522.3 | 524.3 |
| Number attempted as a percentage of 15-year-old pupils | 90 | 91 |
| Number achieved grades A* to C (thousands) | 232.5 | 291.4 |
| Number achieved grades A* to C as a percentage of 15-year-old pupils | 40 | 50 |
Further Education Funding
Mr. Timms:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on what date she was informed that the Further Education Funding Council
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intended to issue its letter to colleges dated 27 January, indicating the abolition of the demand-led element of further education funding. [17268]
Mr. Timms:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she had made of the impact of abolishing the demand-led element of funding on the numbers of students in further education. [17269]
Mr. Paice:
The Government's spending plans are intended to provide for the continuing growth of the further education sector. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I look to the Further Education Funding Council for England to review the options open to it in consultation with the further education sector.
Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 13 February, Official Report, columns 266-67, on skills shortages, if she will publish the results of her Department's monitoring of skills shortages surveys. [17649]
Mr. Paice:
The results have been published in an article entitled "Skill Needs in Britain: 1996 Report" which appears on pages 73 to 76 of the February 1997 edition of "Labour Market Trends".
Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 13 February, Official Report, columns 266-67, on skills shortages when (a) the last and (b) the next funded survey of employers' recruitment difficulties will be produced. [17648]
Mr. Paice:
The last funded survey covering employers' difficulties was published as "Skill Needs in Britain 1996" on 15 January 1997. The next survey is expected to be published in October 1997.
Developing Countries (Aid)
Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current UN target for aid for developing countries; how many countries currently meet this target; and if he will make a statement. [17286]
Dr. Liam Fox:
The UN target for official development assistance to developing countries, which are on part 1 of the OECD development assistance committee list, remains at 0.7 per cent. of GNP. Only four countries currently meet it: Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. In 1995, the United Kingdom development programme accounted for 0.28 per cent. of GNP, slightly above the average for all donors of 0.27 per cent. Among the G7, the UK provides a greater proportion of GNP than the US, Japan and Italy.
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The UK exceeds the UN target of 1 per cent. of GNP for combined official and private sector flows to developing countries, providing 1.38 per cent. of GNP for such assistance--second only to the Netherlands. These substantial resource flows, coupled with the UK's record of support for international debt relief initiatives, represent a significant contribution to reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development in the world's poorest countries.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much United Kingdom overseas aid is devoted to each of the 10 countries his Department estimates to be the poorest in the world.[17435]
Dr. Liam Fox:
In 1995-96, the UK provided over £175 million in bilateral development assistance to the world's 10 poorest countries, as defined by GNP per capita in the 1996 world development report. This figure, which represents about 13 per cent. of the bilateral assistance programme, breaks down as follows--figures rounded up/down:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Uganda | 39.98 |
| Malawi | 35.71 |
| Tanzania | 29.72 |
| Ethiopia | 25.72 |
| Mozambique | 22.03 |
| Rwanda | 11.95 |
| Sierra Leone | 8.69 |
| Burundi | 0.79 |
| Madagascar | 0.64 |
| Chad | 0.11 |
| Total | 175.60 |
These countries also benefit from the UK's substantial contributions to the multilateral development institutions. Imputed UK share of multilateral disbursements to the countries listed totalled over £163 million in 1994, the last year for which figures are available.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollution
Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the cost of incremental damage per tonne emitted of (a) benzene, (b) 1.3 butadiene, (c) carbon monoxide and (d) carbon dioxide. [17122]
Mr. Clappison:
(a) Benzene, (b) 1.3 butadiene and (c) carbon monoxide are three of the air pollutants covered by the forthcoming UK national air quality strategy. No robust data are currently available for computing, in precise terms, the incremental damage per tonne emitted for each of the three pollutants. There has been much less work by academics on these three pollutants than for other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and fine particles. However, a programme of work is being put in place to improve on the current information on costs and benefits, including information
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on incremental damage costs per tonne of pollutant emitted, for the first review of the national air quality strategy in 1999.
On (d) carbon dioxide, the UK has taken a very active part in the work of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. At the end of 1995, the report of the IPCC working group three was published, which reviewed and consolidated all the relevant literature on the economic and social dimensions of climate change. The marginal or incremental damages per tonne of CO2 emitted were estimated to lie between $5 and $125. This range of marginal damage estimate is associated with an aggregated monetised damage due to climate change of 1.5 to 2 per cent. of world gross national product. There will be future work to refine these estimates.
Mr. Meacher:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what evaluation his Department has made of the levels of (a) sulphur dioxide emissions and (b) nitrogen oxide emissions resulting from the combustion of petroleum coke in power stations; [17189]
Mr. Gummer:
My Department has not made or commissioned any studies on petroleum coke burning, since regulation of such burning is the responsibility of the Environment Agency. I understand that the agency has examined National Power's recent application to carry out limited trial burning of petroleum coke at Drax power station and that, having concluded that emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide will be within currently authorised limits for Drax, the agency has authorised the trial. I further understand that the Environment Agency spoke with its US counterparts in deciding whether to authorise the trials, to confirm that it had properly considered all relevant issues, and that the agency will be closely monitoring the trial results from Drax.
(2) what studies his Department has (a) made and (b) commissioned into petroleum coke fuels; what assessment it has made of the environmental effects of petroleum coke burned in United States power plants; and which EU regulations cover emissions resulting from the combustion of petroleum coke. [17188]
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