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Stoke Lane Allotments, Gedling

Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what contact his Department has had with Gedling Borough Council regarding the proposed sale of part of the Stoke Lane Allotments. [121946]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The Department has had no contact with Gedling Borough Council regarding the proposed sale of part of the Stoke Lane Allotments.

Whitley Way, Hampshire

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 2 May 2000, Official Report, column 4W, on Whitley Way, if he will list the representations he has received about this road. [122300]

Ms Beverley Hughes: There have been six separate representations on this matter. In addition to the reply that the then Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) sent the hon. Member on 19 August 1998 in response to representations on this issue, one further representation was received from Winchester City Council in September 1999. Representations were made by three local members of the public between April and June 1999. More recently, representations have been received from one further member of the public.

Landfill Tax

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proposals

15 May 2000 : Column: 5W

he has to return moneys collected from the landfill tax to local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [121023]

Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.

There are no such proposals. Revenues raised from the landfill tax contribute to general Government revenue. The Government are considering the question of resources for local authorities as part of the overall 2000 spending review.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Human Rights Act 1998

Sir George Young: To ask the President of the Council what plans she has to introduce mechanisms to oversee the use of statutory instruments to amend primary legislation under the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998. [121505]

Mrs. Beckett: The Government intend to invite the House to give the proposed Joint Committee on Human Rights the task of scrutinising remedial orders shortly.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Computers for Teachers Scheme

Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what steps he will take to ensure that teachers can obtain a response from his Department about receiving their subsidy under the Computers for Teachers scheme; [121948]

(2) what assessment he has made of the operation of the Computers for Teachers scheme; and if he will make a statement. [121947]

Mr. Wills [holding answer 12 May 2000]: The Computers for Teachers Initiative was launched on 12 January 2000. Due to high teacher take-up, the first phase of the scheme was closed on 30 April, with a deadline for receipt of applications of 5 June. Some 17,000 applications have been received, with over 2,200 teachers already having received their subsidies. The Department has put in place a range of measures to answer teachers' inquiries, including the recruitment of extra staff, opening further telephone lines and arranging a dedicated Computers for Teachers e-mail address.

Higher Education (Cheltenham)

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people resident in the Cheltenham constituency have (a) applied for, (b) been accepted into and (c) graduated from full-time courses in higher education in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [122004]

Mr. Wicks: The available data for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are given in the following table; the data on student postcodes from which these figures are derived is not sufficiently complete to allow similar figures to be produced for earlier years.

15 May 2000 : Column: 6W

Full-time undergraduates whose normal residence prior to entry was Cheltenham constituency

Academic year	Entrants	Graduates
1998-99	920	710
1999-2000	905	(1)n/a

(1) Data on 1999-2000 graduates will be available in February 2001

Student Support Contributions

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for what reason changes were made to the calculations for parental income in assessing liability for student support contributions whereby MIRAS relief was disapplied in 2000-01; and for what reason life assurance premiums were similarly disapplied. [121339]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 11 May 2000]: The removal of the disregard of parental income in student support for mortgage interest that attracts tax relief follows the wider Government decision to abolish tax relief for mortgage payments from April 2000. The abolition of MIRAS has been public for some time and the families of students entering higher education this year will be well aware of it. We will ensure that the families of students already in higher education are not asked to pay any more as a result of the abolition of MIRAS in the 2000-01 academic year. From the 2001-02 academic year, we are raising the contribution threshold from £17,805 to £20,000, as announced by the Secretary of State on 25 January. This increase is well above the rate of inflation and will benefit both mortgage payers and those who do not have mortgages.

The Government keep the student support system under review to ensure that support is targeted at those students who need it most. The disregard for life assurance premiums which attract tax relief has been removed because it gave a limited group of parents with certain life assurance policies a double benefit of tax relief on payments and a disregard from their income in determining their contribution to their children's support.

Supply Teachers

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations he has received from schools that are having to fund the use of supply teachers in place of teachers who are on jury service; and if he will make a statement. [121730]

Ms Estelle Morris: No such representations have been received.

Fresh Start Schools

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on progress at each of the Fresh Start schools. [121970]

Ms Estelle Morris: Fresh Start policy is in its infancy--only 15 schools have undergone a fresh start to date, 11 secondary and four primary. Three opened in September 1998, eight in September 1999, two in January 2000, one in April 2000 and one in May 2000.

15 May 2000 : Column: 7W

Former school name	New school name	Phase	LEA area
September 1998
Blakelaw School	Firfield Community School	Secondary	Newcastle
Earl Marshal School	Fir Vale School	Secondary	Sheffield
The King's CE School	Regis County Secondary	Secondary	Wolverhampton
September 1999
The Marina High School	East Brighton College of Media Arts	Secondary	Brighton
George Orwell School	Islington Arts and Media	Secondary	Islington
Perronet Thompson School	Kingswood High School	Secondary	Kingston Upon Hull
Hatcham Wood School	Telegraph Hill	Secondary	Lewisham
Watermeads High School	Bishopsford Community School	Secondary	Merton
Alderman Derbyshire School	River Leen School	Secondary	Nottingham City
New College	News Park Community College	Secondary	Leicester City
Park View Academy	Langham School	Secondary	Haringey
January 2000
Kevington Primary School	Manor Oak Primary	Primary	Bromley
Heathcote County Primary	The Richard Heathcote Community Primary	Primary	Staffordshire
April/May 2000
Christ Church CEVC Primary	New Christ Church CE VC Primary	Primary	Reading
Grove Vale Primary	Goose Green Primary	Primary	Southwark

These schools all present major challenges, and we are working with them to support them and learn from the early experiences of the process. All currently have a substantive or acting headteacher in place and Ofsted is monitoring the schools progress on a termly basis. There are no performance data on the schools that fresh started since September 1999 but there are early signs of improvement in the first three schools. Exam results are up and truancy down--to a marked degree.

	5+ A*-G GCSEs		Unauthorised absence
School/Year	1997	1999	1997	1999
Firvale	57	80	6.9	3.2
Firfield Community School	43	74	12.6	3.3
The King's School	81	91	13.2	8.5

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