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Press Releases
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press releases his Department issued from 1995 to 1999. [108183]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 February 2000, Official Report, column 636W.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Child Care
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact of planned Ofsted inspections of child minders on the provision of child minding services. [105988]
Ms Hodge: Transferring the responsibility for child minding and day care regulation to the new and distinct Early Years Directorate in Ofsted will enable the best of the present regulatory system for child care to be brought together with that for nursery education inspections. This will help create greater coherence and integration and will lead to improvements in the quality of child care and early years education services. The new Directorate will deliver its services through a national and regional structure supported by a local presence.
Establishing new national standards will ensure consistency across the country. The present system has led to widely varying interpretations; a national framework delivered at a local level will ensure greater clarity and consistency for providers, including child minders. In addition, local authorities will continue to provide training, guidance and advice to child minders and prospective child minders to encourage them to meet the relevant standards for registration.
Parents will have access to open information from Ofsted reports and this will enable them to make better informed choices. This will ensure that parents have greater trust and confidence in the quality of the child care services available locally.
Mr. Beith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon- Tweed dated 12 October 1999, relating to a constituent living in Shilbottle, Northumberland, on the subject of a student loan. [107286]
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 692W
Mr. Blunkett:
A reply was sent on 1 February 2000. I am sorry for the delay in replying to the right hon. Member.
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the total allocation of Seed Challenge Capital for schools within Essex County Council in the next financial year; and how many schools within Essex County Council are eligible to bid for funds under the scheme. [107758]
Jacqui Smith:
The total allocation of Seed Challenge Capital for schools within Essex County Council in the next financial year is £650,909. All maintained schools are eligible to bid for funds under the scheme. The next financial year, 2000-01, is a pilot year for Seed Challenge. If it is successful in building partnerships and raising additional funding, we will consider expanding the scheme in future years.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on how many occasions in each of the past five years computer systems in his Department have been illegally accessed by computer hackers (a) within and (b) outside his Department. [106223]
Mr. Wills:
There have been no successful attempts to gain illegal access to DfEE systems in the past five years from either within or outside my Department.
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students enrolled for degree courses in each year since 1995. [108009]
Mr. Wicks:
The available information is given in the table. 1997 entrant numbers may have been inflated because entrants who might otherwise have taken a gap year decided not to as they were influenced by the knowledge that fees would be introduced with effect from 1998. Comparable data for 1999-2000 will be published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in April.
| Year of entry | Entrants |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 348,211 |
| 1996 | 349,130 |
| 1997 | 358,560 |
| 1998 | 350,321 |
(7) Full-time and part-time courses, excluding the Open University and HE students in FE colleges
UCAS figures covering full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses only, show that the number of UK domiciled applicants accepted for entry increased by 1.6 per cent. between autumn 1998 and autumn 1999.
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 693W
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many foreign seamen have received work permits in the last 12 months. [108022]
Ms Hodge:
No foreign seamen have received work permits during the last 12 months.
Mr. MacShane:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many inner-city schools have access to playing fields for sport. [108134]
Jacqui Smith:
The Department does not collect this information.
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 694W
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of graduates in the UK gained full-time employment within two years of graduating in each year since 1995. [108008]
Mr. Wicks:
Information on the destinations of graduates is collected annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), and shows the employment position of students six months after graduation. This information is given in the table.
Recent research undertaken by the Institute for Employment Research which tracked the longer term career paths of graduates was published in "Moving On--Graduate Careers Three Years after Graduation" and showed that approximately 90 per cent. of students graduating in July 1995 were in employment in December 1998.
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 693W
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage(8) | Number | Percentage(8) | Number | Percentage(8) | Number | Percentage(8) | |
| Full-time employment | 78,940 | 44.5 | 93,561 | 49.2 | 97,163 | 50.2 | 99,982 | 51.0 |
| Part-time employment | 8,099 | 4.6 | 8,297 | 4.4 | 8,167 | 4.2 | 8,317 | 4.2 |
| Further training | 36,848 | 20.8 | 37,612 | 19.8 | 36,858 | 19.1 | 37,338 | 19.1 |
| Unemployed | 15,194 | 8.6 | 14,381 | 7.6 | 12,354 | 6.4 | 10,440 | 5.3 |
| Other(9) | 38,443 | 21.7 | 36,405 | 19.1 | 38,928 | 20.1 | 39,833 | 20.3 |
| Total number of graduates with known destination | 177,524 | 100.0 | 190,256 | 100.0 | 193,470 | 100.0 | 195,910 | 100.0 |
(8) Constituent parts may not sum to total because of rounding
(9) Includes overseas students returning overseas and graduates not available for employment
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 693W
Montserrat
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what discussions he has had with the British Council regarding the higher education awards to students from Montserrat studying in the United Kingdom. [108139]
Mr. Wicks: Officials from my Department meet from time to time with the British Council, who administer the Montserrat Emergency Award Scheme, to discuss the scheme's effectiveness, guidance on eligibility criteria, numbers of Montserrat students involved and the associated funding required. The scheme began in 1997, following volcanic activity on Montserrat, and provides students with bursaries to help meet the costs of their higher education tuition in England and Wales. My Department is providing £1.322 million to support 198 students in the current financial year.
Class Sizes
Mr. Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) primary school and (b) secondary school pupils are estimated to be in classes of 30 or more pupils for each year from 1990-91 to 2000-01; and if he will make a statement. [107790]
Ms Estelle Morris: The available information is shown in the table.
Information on class sizes in January is currently being collected for the year 1999-2000 and provisional estimates will be published in a Statistical First Release in April 2000. Figures for the year 2000-01 will not be collected until the next Annual census exercise is undertaken in January 2001.
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 694W
| Classes of 30 or more | All classes | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | ||
| 1999 | 1,827,600 | 4,051,806 |
| 1998 | 1,927,842 | 4,054,801 |
| 1997 | 1,842,141 | 4,025,162 |
| 1996 | 1,750,781 | 3,966,235 |
| 1995 | 1,625,305 | 3,908,390 |
| 1994 | 1,519,753 | 3,813,285 |
| 1993 | 1,412,153 | 3,719,076 |
| 1992 | 1,320,492 | 3,625,346 |
| 1991 | 1,306,768 | 3,577,523 |
| Secondary | ||
| 1999 | 571,634 | 2,890,610 |
| 1998 | 519,363 | 2,845,146 |
| 1997 | 461,780 | 2,808,509 |
| 1996 | 437,576 | 2,766,832 |
| 1995 | 399,990 | 2,735,880 |
| 1994 | 387,807 | 2,666,538 |
| 1993 | 355,731 | 2,572,728 |
| 1992 | 328,578 | 2,509,381 |
| 1991 | 308,747 | 2,466,025 |
Mr. Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will publish the available information on (a) primary and (b) secondary school class sizes in Somerset for each of the years 1995-96 to 1999-2000. [107791]
Ms Estelle Morris:
A summary of class size information in maintained Primary and Secondary schools in the Somerset local education authority area for
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 695W
the academic years 1995-96 to 1998-99 is shown in the tables. Similar information about classes in Somerset for the academic year 1999-2000 is currently being collected and will be available from September.
| Size of class | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-20 | ||||
| Number of classes | 113 | 129 | 134 | 137 |
| Number of pupils | 1,716 | 2,018 | 2,156 | 2,120 |
| 21-30 | ||||
| Number of classes | 793 | 759 | 787 | 786 |
| Number of pupils | 21,221 | 20,223 | 21,004 | 20,818 |
| 31 to 35 | ||||
| Number of classes | 412 | 417 | 385 | 396 |
| Number of pupils | 13,431 | 13,574 | 12,443 | 12,840 |
| 36 to 40 | ||||
| Number of classes | 53 | 45 | 45 | 21 |
| Number of pupils | 1,941 | 1,651 | 1,653 | 768 |
| 41 and over | ||||
| Number of classes | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Number of pupils | 0 | 83 | 0 | 41 |
| All classes | ||||
| Number of classes | 1,371 | 1,352 | 1,351 | 1,341 |
| Number of pupils | 38,309 | 37,549 | 37,256 | 36,587 |
| Size of class | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-20 | ||||
| Number of classes | 313 | 297 | 366 | 352 |
| Number of pupils | 4,431 | 4,296 | 5,324 | 5,128 |
| 21-30 | ||||
| Number of classes | 731 | 737 | 718 | 712 |
| Number of pupils | 19,172 | 19,230 | 18,722 | 18,572 |
| 31-35 | ||||
| Number of classes | 150 | 136 | 118 | 110 |
| Number of pupils | 4,855 | 4,340 | 3,803 | 3,504 |
| 36-40 | ||||
| Number of classes | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Number of pupils | 108 | 145 | 37 | 74 |
| 41 and over | ||||
| Number of classes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Number of pupils | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| All classes | ||||
| Number of classes | 1,197 | 1,174 | 1,203 | 1,177 |
| Number of pupils | 28,566 | 28,011 | 27,886 | 27,319 |
Mr. Ashdown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will estimate the number of pupils in (a) primary school classes and (b) secondary school classes with over 30 pupils for each English county from 1991-92 to 1999-2000; and what percentage these numbers represent of the total (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools population for each such county. [107792]
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 696W
Ms Estelle Morris:
The available information is shown in the tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
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