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European Social Funds

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps his Department is taking to consult voluntary sector organisations over changes to the mechanisms by which they can apply for European Social Fund grants. [R] [139125]

Ms Jowell: We have published a consultation document, "The European Social Fund: proposals for co-financing in England". We have sent a summary version to providers. The summary and full documents are also available on the ESF News website. The consultation was launched at a conference hosted by TEN (Training and Employment Network); that conference was attended mainly by representatives of voluntary and community organisations. The TEN website also carries the consultation documents. Voluntary and community organisations have been invited to attend regional consultation events. Officials are also holding more informal discussions with providers from the voluntary sector.

Objective 3 Grants

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the voluntary sector's use of ESF Objective 3 grants; and if he will make a statement. [R] [139127]

Ms Jowell: Our evaluation strategy for the ESF Objective 3 programme, which has been agreed with the European Commission and the Great Britain Monitoring Committee, has been primarily concerned with assessing

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the extent to which ESF has helped disadvantaged groups compete for jobs. There has not been any assessment of the voluntary sector's use of ESF assistance.

Expenditure

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the total amount of private sector revenue and capital promised to each Education Action Zone in (a) phase I, (b) phase II and (c) the audited accounts for 1998-99 and 1999-2000; and what was the total amount of revenue and capital actually provided by the private sector for each Education Action Zone. [138852]

Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 17 November 2000]: The total amount of private sector sponsorship pledge to all Education Action Zones (EAZs) (including small zones created under the Excellence in Cities initiative) in their first three years of operation is currently £34.8 million. The breakdown of information per large Education Action Zone is published in zone annual accounts once the amounts have been audited and confirmed. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is writing to the hon. Member separately about this, in response to his letter of 1 November.

The audited annual accounts for the first 25 zones for the period 1998-99, ie the first seven months (12 zones) or three months (13 zones) of their existence, confirm that a total amount of over £1.3 million private sector sponsorship was received. The figures for each zone, together with the total pledged figures to date, are contained in the following Table 1.

Details of pledged sponsorship to date for Round 2 zones are contained in the following Table 2. These have not yet been audited or checked against DfEE match funding rules.

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Table 1--round 1 zones

Name of zone	Start date	Amount as reflected in NAO audited accounts for FY 1998-99 (£)	Total amount pledged to date (unaudited)
Aston (B'ham)	January 1999	0	803,500
Barnsley	September 1998	20,000	493,164
Blackburn	September 1998	150,521	378,650
Brighton	January 1999	0	369,425
East Basildon	January 1999	5,012	163,054
Halifax	January 1999	0	833,200
Herefordshire	September 1998	28,043	80,233
Kingston Upon Hull	January 1999	5,100	747,979
Lambeth	September 1998	41,000	350,230
Leicester	September 1998	3,000	705,012
Leigh (Wigan)	January 1999	50,000	209,339
Middlesbrough	September 1998	56,500	703,137
New Addington	September 1998	12,087	249,865
Newcastle	September 1998	120,000	151,600
Newham	September 1998	400,000	1,007,000
Next Steps, Grimsby	September 1998	111,000	292,505
North Somerset (Weston)	September 1998	33,006	119,124
Nottingham	January 1999	19,000	329,000
Plymouth	January 1999	1,050	191,950
Salford and Trafford	September 1998	63,164	299,495
Shard End/Kitts (B'ham)	January 1999	6,500	467,750
Sheffield NE	January 1999	6,000	841,000
South Tyneside	January 1999	34,000	59,622
Southwark	January 1999	116,000	260,207
Thetford (Norfolk)	January 1999	19,779	438,070
Total		1,300,762	10,544,111

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Table 2--round 2 zones

Name of zone	Start date	Pledged sponsorship to date
Ashington	January 2000	198,600
Barrow-in-Furness	January 2000	425,837
Bedford	January 2000	1,335,459
Bolton	January 2000	188,438
Bridgwater	January 2000	138,912
Bristol	April 2000	469,500
Camborne, Pool and Redruth	January 2000	292,260
Clacton and Harwich	January 2000	314,810
Corby	January 2000	305,000
Coventry Millennium	January 2000	542,480
Derby North	April 2000	750,150
Dingle, Toxteth and Granby	January 2000	876,000
Downham and Bellingham	January 2000	389,746
Dudley	December 1999	1,505,482
Easington and Seaham	January 2000	208,950
East Cleveland	January 2000	670,499
East Manchester	December 1999	355,000
Epicenter Leap (Ellesmere Port)	January 2000	739,460
Gloucester	January 2000	195,350
Great Yarmouth	April 2000	611,898
Greenwich	September 1999	862,250
Hackney	January 2000	415,500
Hamilton Oxford Schools	September 1999	975,000
Hastings and St. Leonards	January 2000	1,271,640
Heart of Slough	January 2000	247,094
Kent/Somerset Virtual	December 1999	181,200
Leigh Park (Havant)	January 2000	566,270
North East Derbyshire Coalfields	December 1999	196,040
North Gillingham	January 2000	301,515
North Islington	January 2000	1,050,000
North Stockton	April 2000	244,800
North West Shropshire	April 2000	2,697
Peterlee	January 2000	243,370
Preston	December 1999	167,280
Rainbow Zone (Stoke-on-Trent)	January 2000	447,000
South Bradford	January 2000	455,500
South East England Virtual	April 2000	405,260
South East Sheffield	April 2000	0
Southend	December 1999	308,498
Speke Garston	January 2000	287,484
Sunderland	January 2000	827,650
Telford and Wrekin	December 1999	361,603
Wakefield	January 2000	189,605
Wednesbury	December 1999	556,130
Westminster	May 2000	450,000
Withernsea and Southern Holderness	January 2000	447,442
Wolverhampton	January 2000	868,500
Wythenshawe	December 1999	781,814
Total		23,624,973

Audited annual accounts for all 73 zones for the period 1999-2000 are not yet published. The National Audit Office expects to lay the first of these before Parliament in the near future.

"Partners in Europe"

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what discussions he has had with teachers' representatives and local education authorities about his information pack, Partners in Europe. [139474]

Mr. Wicks: The information pack for schools, Partners in Europe, was issued in January 1998 as an initiative supported by the four education departments in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the UK's last Presidency of the European Union. The decision to distribute it was influenced by requests from teachers to update materials already in existence and to provide examples of good

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practice to those teachers wishing to incorporate the European dimension into classroom activities. Since its distribution there has been no formal discussion of the pack with teachers' representatives and local education authorities, but informal feedback suggests it was well received by teachers.

SSA (Stoke)

Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the education Standard Spending Assessment per pupil for the primary and secondary sectors in Stoke-on-Trent local education authority for each year since 1997-98. [139512]

Ms Estelle Morris: The following table shows the primary and secondary Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) per pupil and the DfEE special and specific grants per pupil for Stoke-on-Trent local education authority for each year since 1997-98.

£

	Primary			Secondary
Per pupil funding	SSA	Grants	Total	SSA	Grants	Total
1997-98	2,040	30	2,080	2,690	30	2,720
1998-99	2,160	40	2,200	2,820	40	2,850
1999-2000	2,280	120	2,400	2,940	90	3,030
2000-01	2,400	290	2,690	3,100	230	3,340

Note:

All figures have been rounded to the nearest £10

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