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Further Education Funding

Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has received about the consistency of the allocation process of funds by the Further Education Funding Council to further education colleges in Manchester, as part of the national settlement; and if he will make a statement. [131415]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 19 July 2000]: My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations about the allocation of funds by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) to further education colleges in Manchester. The representations raise a series of complex technical points which the FEFC is now pursuing urgently. I will write to my hon. Friend when the FEFC has responded to the concerns raised.

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the possibility of legal liability arising from the overruling and reversal of advice given by officers acting for the Further Education Funding Council. [131359]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 19 July 2000]: Any potential liability arising in the circumstances described in the question would be an issue between the Further Education Funding Council and any colleges affected.

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those colleges of further education which are in dispute with the Further Education Funding Council over the interpretation of the Council's two per cent. tolerance policy based on the 1996-97 funding agreement; and what assessment he has made of the impact on those colleges' financial planning and policies of advice on interpretation of the two per cent. tolerance policy given by the Council's officers. [131358]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 19 July 2000]: One college, Eastleigh, has lodged a formal complaint with the Further Education Funding Council and others are in discussion with the Council. A college which had assumed it could write off a 2 per cent. shortfall should now aim to make up the difference either by repaying the funds or absorbing some unfunded growth. The Council has offered flexible terms to assist any college in this position.

Performance Tables

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make it his policy to include the publication of pupil achievements at entry and foundation level in the annual publication of the school performance league tables. [130870]

Jacqui Smith: The achievements of pupils at foundation level are already included in the annual secondary school performance tables. The first results in Entry Level qualifications are available this year, following accreditation of courses from 1998. We have recently sought advice from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority on the suitability of Entry Level qualifications for inclusion in the calculation of measures

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of value added for publication in the performance tables. Doing so would ensure increased coverage of the achievements of pupils with special educational needs in our measurement of pupils' progress in schools from one stage of education to another, in line with our overall policy of inclusion for these pupils.

Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to adjust the reporting of data in the school performance tables to provide a more accurate picture of schools which take in pupils from overseas with English language difficulties. [132063]

Jacqui Smith: The Government have considered very carefully the representations they have received from schools which take in significant numbers of pupils form overseas, including refugee and asylum seeker children, who have difficulties with the English language. Until they have had an opportunity to improve their language skills and to become familiar with the English curriculum, such pupils will not do their best in National Curriculum tests and in public examinations.

We have therefore decided that pupils recently arrived from overseas, with English language difficulties, should not be counted as being on school rolls when performance is calculated for the purpose of producing the primary and secondary school performance tables. This change will apply with effect from this year's performance tables, which will be published towards the end of the year. It will apply to all pupils from overseas whose first language is not English and who were admitted to an English school for the first time on or after the start of Year 5 (for the primary school tables) or Year 10 (for the secondary school tables).

Schools will be invited in the autumn to provide officials in the Department for Education and Employment with information about those pupils who fall into the category described above and who should not be counted as being on the school roll for performance tables purposes. Further details will be made available to schools early in the autumn term.

This change will apply only to school and local educational authority level data in the performance tables. National data will continue to be reported on the same basis as in previous years, with overseas pupils included.

TREASURY

National Health Service

10. Ms Drown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the changes made to the level of NHS spending as a result of his Budget announcements. [130137]

Mr. Andrew Smith: In Budget 2000, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the biggest, most sustained growth in funding of any 4-year period in the history of the NHS, with annual average real terms growth of 6.1 per cent. in the UK, over double the rate achieved under the last Government. Table 5.1 in the Economic and Financial Strategy Report gives NHS spending plans.

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Children's Tax Credit

15. Mr. Browne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Scotland will benefit from the Children's Tax Credit when it is introduced next April. [130142]

Dawn Primarolo: We estimate that 400,000 families in Scotland could benefit from the Children's Tax Credit.

24. Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in the West Midlands region will benefit from the Children's Tax Credit. [130152]

Dawn Primarolo: We estimate that 450,000 families in the West Midlands region could benefit from the Children's Tax Credit.

30. Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in the North-west region will benefit from the Children's Tax Credit when it is introduced in April 2001. [130158]

Dawn Primarolo: We estimate that 625,000 families in the North-west region could benefit from the Children's Tax Credit.

Financial Products (Mis-selling)

16. Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Financial Services Authority's role in respect of the mis-selling of endowment mortgages. [130143]

Mr. Timms: Where mortgage borrowers have been mis-sold an endowment, the regulators have powers to take disciplinary action which can result in firms being directed to make compensation. Lower inflation has meant that the proceeds of an endowment may be lower than initially hoped for, but that does not necessarily mean that there has been mis-selling. The borrower will also of course have benefited from lower mortgage interest payments.

22. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals he has to reduce the mis-selling of financial products. [130150]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Financial Services and Markets Act puts in place a single regulator, with statutory objectives to maintain market confidence, protect customers, promote consumer awareness and reduce financial crime.

Single Currency

17. Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to measure public opinion on the question of the United Kingdom joining the single European currency. [130144]

Mr. Timms: The Government receive a large number of letters from members of the public expressing their views about UK membership of the single currency. The Government also have access to independent surveys of public opinion on UK membership, which are in the public domain.

The Government's policy on membership of the single currency remains as set out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his statement to the house in October 1997 and restated recently in his speech at the Mansion House.

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25. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary about the UK's eventual membership of a European single currency. [130153]

Miss Melanie Johnson: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer meets Cabinet colleagues to discuss a range of issues. The Government's policy towards the single currency has not changed and will not change. We will only recommend joining a successful single currency if it is in our national economic interest to do so, and if the economic case for the UK joining is clear and unambiguous. The Treasury will make another assessment of the five economic tests early in the next Parliament.

29. Mr. Brooke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues concerning his policy on the euro. [130157]

Mr. Timms: The Chancellor meets with his colleagues to discuss a range of issues.

35. Tony Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will commission an independent assessment at the appropriate time of whether the five economic tests for entry into the single currency have been met. [130163]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 5 July 2000, Official Report, column 200W.

36. Mr. Fallon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on his policy on the euro. [130164]

Mr. Timms: I frequently receive representations on a range of Government policies including the Government's policy on the euro.

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