| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Prohibited Weapons
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prohibited weapons are held by private individuals in England by permission of the Secretary of State. [119870]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Secretary of State's authority to possess prohibited weapons is only granted to those people who can show they have a genuine need to possess them, almost always to allow them to follow their trade or profession. Authorities are conditioned to limit holdings of prohibited firearms to the minimum number required and specify stringent security conditions under which the weapons are to be kept.
The vast majority of authorities are held by companies who either manufacture, sell or transport such weapons or who need them for research, development or testing purposes.
There are only five private individuals in England authorised by the Secretary of State to possess a total of 1,282 prohibited weapons. The vast majority of these are held by one person in one of the most comprehensive private collections of historic firearms in the world. The remaining firearms are held by a forensic firearms expert; a lecturer and technical consultant; the owner of a private museum; and a professional trapper of dangerous animals who is called in by the police to deal with such animals as escaped big cats.
PRIME MINISTER
Royal Prerogative
Mr. Baker: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions in the last three months when powers under the Royal Prerogative were exercised on advice from him. [118412]
The Prime Minister: As Prime Minister and Minister for the Civil Service, a number of powers under the Royal Prerogative are exercised on my advice. These include a range of public appointments, the conduct of foreign affairs and defence, and the management and regulation of the Civil Service. Records are not kept of the individual occasions on which such powers are exercised.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of the use his Office, its agencies and public bodies will make of the powers relating to the authorised obtaining of communications data in Part I, Chapter II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill once the Bill is enacted. [119505]
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 19 April 2000, Official Report, column 509W.
20 Apr 2000 : Column: 596W
British Nuclear Fuels
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will make it his policy in answering questions tabled by hon. Members to indicate in each case whether British Nuclear Fuels assisted in the preparation of the reply; [120047]
- (2) if he will list each of the (a) oral and (b) written parliamentary answers he has provided since May 1997 which were based on information provided by British Nuclear Fuels. [120049]
The Prime Minister: Internal advice and the source of such advice is not made public in line with exemption 2 of the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information".
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
Millennium Bug
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the President of the Council if she will make a final statement on the impact of the Millennium Bug on Government Departments and Agencies. [120545]
Mrs. Beckett: I am pleased to report that, as I predicted in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Plaskitt) on 28 February 2000, Official Report, columns 135-36W, thanks to the hard work carried out in Government Departments and Agencies, the Leap Year date change had a negligible impact on them. Very few incidents were reported, and none of them had any impact on the public. Completed questionnaires will be placed, as usual, in the Libraries of the House and published on the internet, as had been the Government's practice throughout. This degree of openness and transparency has been one of the distinguishing features of the Year 2000 programme.
These will be the last questionnaires. My assessment of the impact of the Bug is that is has been very slight, both for central Government and for all the essential services in the national infrastructure. As I have said before, and repeat now, this success was not a matter of chance. Many people worked long and hard to bring it about. Government and businesses will continue to be vigilant throughout the year; but there is no longer any need for systematic monitoring.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
New Deal for Schools
Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he will announce the funding available following bids under the most recent phase of the New Deal for Schools; and if he will make a statement. [118336]
Jacqui Smith: Allocations to local education authorities were announced on 11 April 2000.
Pupil Behaviour
Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what new measures he will
20 Apr 2000 : Column: 597W
make available to the city academies to help ensure high standards of behaviour by pupils; and if he will make a statement. [118679]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 11 April 2000]: The first City Academies to be established under the Education Act 1996 will be operating under funding arrangements agreed with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. They are due to be set up in the autumn of 2001. Detailed arrangements for managing behaviour will be for the schools themselves to determine, but they will have access to my Department's guidance on a range of behaviour issues.
School Sixth Forms
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the schools in England and Wales with sixth forms and the relevant LEA giving the number of pupils in year (a) 12, (b) 13 and (c) 14+ for each of the past three years and the cost per full-time student in each of these schools. [119690]
Ms Estelle Morris: The Department does not publish information on maintained schools with a sixth form in England at individual school level. Information held at local education authority area is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
The Department is currently collecting information on sixth forms in maintained secondary schools for January 2000 and this data will be published in a statistical volume in September.
For information on sixth forms in Wales, I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Special Schools
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) maintained and (b) independent special schools there were in (a) 1970 and (b) 1999; how many children attending those schools came from broken homes; and what was the cost of the maintained special schools in both years. [119769]
Jacqui Smith: In 1999 there were 1,148 maintained special schools and 84 independent approved schools. Latest expenditure available for costs in relation to maintained special schools is for 1998-99 and shows a unit cost of £10,350 per pupil. We do not have comparable figures for 1970 and we do not collect information on the domestic arrangements for children who attend these schools.
Exclusions
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools were excluded in (i) 1970, (ii) 1980 and (iii) 1999; and if he will estimate how many of those came from broken homes. [119768]
Ms Estelle Morris: The number of permanent exclusions from maintained schools (except special schools) submitting returns under the voluntary national exclusions reporting system which covered the period from April 1990 to April 1992 was 2,910 in year one and 3,833 in year two.
20 Apr 2000 : Column: 598W
Figures on permanent exclusions were first collected by my Department in January 1996 in respect of the academic year 1994-95 and have since been collected annually. Data on permanently excluded pupils' family background have not been collected. The figures currently available are shown in the following table.
Information on permanent exclusions for the academic year 1994-95, and academic years 1995-96 to 1997-98, were also published in two separate statistical releases, entitled "Permanent Exclusions from schools in England" on the 30 September 1998 and 16 June 1999, respectively. Both releases are available in the Library.
Provisional figures for permanent exclusions from schools in England for the academic year 1998-99 will be published in a statistical first release in May.
| Primary | Secondary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994-95(5) | 1,365 | 9,197 |
| 1995-96 | 1,068 | 10,344 |
| 1996-97 | 1,575 | 10,463 |
| 1997-98 | 1,539 | 10,187 |
(5) The number of permanent exclusions was estimated to take account of a small number of schools that did not provide any information on their permanent exclusions
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |