18 May 2000 : Column: 191W
Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 18 May 2000
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Students (A-levels)
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proportion of leavers aged 16 to 18 years entered higher education following completion of A-levels from (a) sixth forms in independent schools, (b) sixth forms in maintained schools, (c) sixth form colleges and (d) other further education colleges in the last year for which figures are available. [120920]
Mr. Wicks: The available information, for entry to full-time higher education, is given in the table. Equivalent data for part-time admissions are not available.
| Previous establishment | Number of acceptances | Percentage of total |
|---|---|---|
| Sixth Form Centre | 1,780 | 1.5 |
| Independent School | 19,906 | 16.6 |
| Sixth Form College | 18,763 | 15.6 |
| Maintained Schools | 67,819 | 56.5 |
| Other (2) | 10,777 | 9.0 |
| Not known | 924 | 0.8 |
| Total | 119,969 | 100.0 |
(1) A-level being the highest qualification on entry
(2) Includes Other FE/HE establishments
Connexions Service
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the timetable is for the mapping of current provision of services to be undertaken by the Connexions Service as referred to in paragraph 7.20 of "Connexions: the best start in life for every young person". [122453]
Mr. Wicks: As part of their proposals, each pilot area has been asked to submit a timetable for completing their mapping exercise. We expect all pilots to complete an initial exercise by September 2000. In submitting proposals for the wider introduction of the Connexions Service from April 2001 we expect further mapping will have started before the end of the year.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if personal advisers will be provided for pupils in independent schools through the Connexions Service. [122702]
Mr. Wicks: The Connexions Service will provide access to high quality guidance and support to all 13-19 year olds, giving particular priority to those young people who are most at risk of encountering obstacles to a successful transition to adulthood.
18 May 2000 : Column: 192W
Civil Servants
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the average percentage increase in salaries of non-industrial civil servants, excluding members of the senior Civil Service, in his Department for 1999-2000; and to what extent the pay awards were staged. [121649]
Mr. Wills: The headline pay settlement was 2.5 per cent. on the pay bill and, together with the additional funds from staff turnover, staff in post received performance-related increases averaging 3.9 per cent. The increases were not staged.
Open Government
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many applications for information he received under the Open Government: Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in the last parliamentary session; and how many were granted. [121853]
Ms Hodge: The Home Office holds responsibility for the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and monitoring its operation and effectiveness, and will respond to this question on behalf of Government as a whole. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Secretary of State for the Home Department today, Official Report, columns 216-17W.
University Buildings
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he has taken to assess the structural integrity of university buildings constructed in the 1960s. [122696]
Mr. Wicks: Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies. Each university is responsible for the maintenance and repair of its own estate. No survey has been carried out to look specifically at 1960s buildings, but in 1997 the Higher Education Funding Council for England commissioned a survey to review the condition of the whole higher education estate. As a result of the survey, the Higher Education Funding Council for England introduced a "poor estates" initiative, setting aside £200 million for higher education estates funding up to 2000.
Teachers
Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teaching posts are (a) vacant and (b) filled by supply, temporary and agency teachers in (i) state primary schools and (ii) state secondary schools in (1) Barnet Local Education Authority and (2) Greater London areas; and what proportions of the total the figures represent. [122735]
Ms Estelle Morris: The following table shows the number of vacant teaching posts and the number of posts covered by teachers in occasional service in the maintained nursery, primary and secondary sector in Barnet local education authority and Greater London at January 2000.
Note:
Totals may not sum to component parts because of rounding
18 May 2000 : Column: 193W
18 May 2000 : Column: 193W
A qualified teacher vacancy refers to a full-time permanent appointment (or an appointment of at least one term's duration) at 20 January 2000 which was advertised but not filled. Vacancies include those filled on a temporary basis unless filled by someone with a fixed term contract of one term or more. Supply, temporary and agency teachers on a contract of at least one month cannot be separately identified from teachers in regular service.
Teachers in occasional service collected on Form 618G provide cover for a variety of reasons e.g. vacancies, training courses and sickness absence.
Further Education Funding Council
Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he expects the Further Education Funding Council to publish its tariff value of courses for 2000-01. [122734]
Mr. Wicks: The tariff document for 2000-01 is due to be published on 22 May 2000.
Funding and Research Council
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the terms of reference for the review of the funding and research council. [122138]
Ms Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
Overall responsibility for funding university infrastructure in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is with the devolved Administrations. For England, the responsibility is with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
In addition, my Department, together with the Wellcome Trust and the HEFCE, is responsible for the £750 million Joint Infrastructure Fund initiative, which provides for research infrastructure and equipment in UK universities. My Department is also responsible, together with the Higher Education Funding Councils and the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment, for the Joint Research Equipment Initiative for university research equipment.
Competition for funds from the JIF has been very strong. There have been many high quality applications
18 May 2000 : Column: 194W
and we have been able to fund only the most outstanding. Under the terms of the JIF scheme there can be no re-submission of unsuccessful applications.
JIF was set up as a one-off fund to boost university infrastructure. The Government are giving careful consideration to the need for a follow-on programme. This includes exploration of options other than allocation based on competition through bidding.
The 1997 Dearing Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education drew attention to the need to invest in university research infrastructure in order to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of scientific research. Dearing's recommendations were based on the 1996 "Survey of Research Equipment in UK Universities" undertaken by the Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Unit at the University of Manchester (PREST). Dearing also drew on Segal Quince and Wicksteed's 1997 "Review of Dual Support: The Funding Gap" study of overall research funding in universities.
I understand that the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom expects to publish shortly an updated study by PREST, part funded by CVCP and HEFCE, of the present state of research equipment provision and needs in UK universities.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |