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Playgroups

Dr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he expects to announce the recipients of the DfEE/Pre-School Learning Alliance grants for playgroups. [65046]

Ms Hodge: A total of £407,000 has been paid to date in grants of up to £1,000 to 497 voluntary pre-schools and playgroups, including 5 in Oxfordshire. A few applications for which further information is required remain to be decided. A list of grant recipients will be placed in the Library in due course.

I am grateful to the Pre-school Learning Alliance, Playgroup Network, Gloucestershire Parents and Toddlers Association and many Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships for their help in the administration of this scheme for assisting pre-schools and playgroups in financial difficulty.

Astra Staff

Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in what circumstances ex-Astra staff are eligible to apply for Civil Service vacancies. [64697]

Mr. Mudie: Those ex-Astra employees who were former civil servants can, like any other former civil servants, apply for reappointment into the Civil Service. Reappointment is not automatic and depends on there being suitable vacancies. Applicants must also meet the current competencies required for the job in question. Those ex-Astra staff who were not former civil servants can, like anyone else, apply for any advertised vacancies, subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Order in Council 1995.

Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on outstanding issues concerning ex-Astra employees. [64696]

Mr. Mudie: There are no outstanding issues but I am currently considering representations made on behalf of employees of the former Astra Training Services Ltd.

This Government introduced a package of special measure, both financial and non-financial, that helped those who were potentially worse affected by this failed privatisation. The administrators of the Astra Pension Scheme, Fountain Trustee Ltd., have confirmed that all ex-Astra staff are getting their full accrued pensions as they reach the retirement age of 60.

Disability Rights Commission

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out the basis of the estimated annual running cost of the proposed Disability Rights Commission. [65113]

Ms Hodge: The estimated budget for the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was calculated by examining its proposed functions and assessing the associated costs using the best information available. This involved drawing on information about the running costs of the existing commissions where their functions are similar and taking account of issues arising specifically in the context of disability. We believe the estimate is realistic

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and reflects the important work the DRC will be expected to undertake. In due course, we will review the DRC's funding in the light of its operational experience.

PFI Projects

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which local education authorities have requested funding for PFI projects additional to their original estimates. [65189]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The local education authorities that have requested funding additional to their original estimates for PFI projects are as follows:

Birmingham

Cornwall

Dorset

Dudley

Kingston upon Hull

Leeds

Manchester

North Yorkshire

Sheffield

Staffordshire

Stoke on Trent

Tower Hamlets

Westminster.

Many of these projects are very early Pathfinders and the original estimates of costs were based on limited information. However, in all cases, local education authorities have been required to demonstrate that the projects continue to provide value for money at the increased level of funding. The initial assessment of PFI project costs has improved as greater experience of schools PFI has been gained.

Schools (Temporary Classrooms)

Mr. Michael J. Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the Government's policy towards the use of temporary classrooms in schools. [63444]

Ms Estelle Morris: Temporary classrooms can provide a suitable solution to accommodation issues in schools. Whether they are appropriate in any particular instance is usually a matter for the local education authority or the grant-maintained school. However, we have made clear that, where additional accommodation is required to implement our class size pledge, LEAs should seek to provide permanent and not temporary classrooms.

Teachers' Salaries

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the median salary of a secondary school teacher with 10 years' experience was as a percentage of (a) average industrial male earnings, (b) the salary of a police sergeant with 10 years service in that rank and (c) the salary of a middle-ranking member

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of the professional, administrative and managerial grade in local authority service in 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and currently. [62084]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The median salary of a secondary school teacher with 10 years' experience is not available for the years before 1985. Since 1985, the median salary of secondary school teachers with 10 years' experience as a percentage of the other groups of workers was as follows:

			Percentage
Year	All occupations: full-time males paid on adult rates	Police sergeant with 10 years' service(15)	Local government officers: full-time staff on adult rates(16)
1985	96	78	n.a.
1990	101	86	78
1995	113	89	94
1997	111	88	89

(15) The salary of a police sergeant excludes London weighting and allowances, housing emoluments, overtime payments and any other additions to basic salary.

(16) Local government officers have been identified from the New Earnings Survey as SOC group 102. Information is not readily available for 1985. The small samples on which this group is based may make the data unreliable.

Agricultural Colleges

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will review the future structure and funding of the land-based and agricultural colleges. [63814]

Mr. Mudie: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no plans to do so. The Further Education Funding Council is due to publish soon a report reviewing the adequacy and sufficiency of facilities for further education provision for agriculture.

New Deal (Hampshire)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 7 December 1998, Official Report, column 82, on the New Deal in Portsmouth, if the figure for clients who secured unsubsidised jobs is included in the total figure of those who entered the Gateway; and what were the destinations for the people not accounted for under the four options. [64260]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The 143 young people who secured unsubsidised jobs are included in the figure of 1,094 young people who had entered the Gateway by the end of September 1998. 217 young people had joined one of the four options; 633 were in the Gateway; 18 had left New Deal to claim other benefits; 19 had left for other known destinations, including other training, travelling abroad, imprisonment; and 64 had left for unknown destinations.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people have entered the New Deal Gateway in the Rushmoor Borough Council area since its inception; and how many took up each New Deal option. [64255]

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Mr. Andrew Smith: It is not possible to provide separate figures for individual towns or council areas. The latest Government Statistical Service figures for the Guildford Unit of Delivery, which covers Rushmoor, show that, to the end of September 1998, (a) 416 young people had entered the Gateway and 82 secured unsubsidised employment; (b) 48 had joined one of the four options: 6 on the Employment option; 6 on the Voluntary Sector option; 1 on the Environment Task Force; and 35 on the Full-Time Education and Training option. 229 young people were on the Gateway, 16 had left New Deal to claim other benefits, 9 had gone to other known destinations, including other training, travelling abroad, imprisonment; and 32 had gone to unknown destinations.

Education (Staffordshire)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures his Department has taken since May 1997 to improve the provision of education in Staffordshire. [64506]

Ms Estelle Morris: The table sets out details of the financial support that Staffordshire has received since May 1997, through the education SSA system, the Standards Fund, Schools Capital and the New Deal for Schools. Details of the Standards Fund allocations and support for capital funding for schools for 1999-2000 will be announced in due course.

Staffordshire LEA	£ million
Education SSA increase	17.6
Standards fund	8.5
Capital support	6.2
New Deal for schools	3.5
Provisional education SSA 1999-2000	18.3
Total allocation	54.1

Notes:

1. Capital Support includes both Annual Capital Guideline (ACG) and Supplementary Credit Approval (SCA).

2. The Standards Fund figures include both the LEA and government grant contributions.

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