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Extraditions (Switzerland)
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests by Her Majesty's Government to the Swiss authorities for the extradition of a Swiss national to the UK have been refused since 1981; and how many UK nationals have been extradited to Switzerland in the same period. [147951]
Mr. Straw: No central record is kept as to the nationality of a person whose extradition has been sought. Statistical information is only available since 1997. Since then, no United Kingdom extradition request to Switzerland has been refused; and 11 fugitives have been surrendered to Switzerland.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Learning and Skills Councils (Northumberland)
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much is deducted from the budget of Northumberland county council for the funding of learning and skills councils; and what his estimate is of the amount of these funds which will be returned to Northumberland county council or otherwise disbursed within the county of Northumberland. [147161]
Mr. Wicks: There has been no deduction made from the budget of Northumberland county council: its Education SSA will rise by £4.75 million to £139.66 million, an increase of some 3.75 per cent. for 2001-02. From 2000-01 to 2001-02 total funding for education in Northumberland increased by 5.69 per cent. We estimate that Northumberland's share of direct grant in 2001-02 will be £5.09 million. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 29 January that he would be making available an extra £52 million in grant to authorities with lower than average increases in their Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) in 2001-02, and who face pressures from the change of responsibility for adult education to the Learning and Skills Council from April. Northumberland local education authority's share of the additional grant will be £1.35 million.
The £142 million being allocated via the Learning and Skills Council means that all authorities have an increase of some 6 per cent. on what they are spending on Adult and Community Learning in 2000-01. For Northumberland, with current spend of £92,000, the provisional Learning and Skills Council allocation for 2001-02 is £98,000.
Within the county of Northumberland, Wansbeck local authority has been allocated £3.1 million over the next three years from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund distributed by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
New Deal
Paddy Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will rank each parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom by the latest estimate of the number of people on the New Deal in each, indicating in each case the number of people on each of the four New Deal options; and if he will make a statement. [147315]
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Ms Jowell: The information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Library. Nationally, New Deal has helped almost 270,000 young people into work. Research has shown that the New Deal benefits the labour market because young people leave it better equipped, motivated and more skilled.
University Tuition Fees
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students make contributions towards their university education of (a) the full cost, (b) more than £500, and (c) less than £500; and how many make no such contribution. [147535]
Mr. Wicks [holding answer 26 January 2001]: Undergraduates taking their first degree course are expected to make a contribution towards their higher education only if they can afford to do so. From 2001-02, we expect around 50 per cent. of students to make no contribution to tuition fees, as a result of the rise in the income threshold. Over 85 per cent. of mature students do not pay fees. No student pays the full amount of tuition as the maximum fee set amounts to 28 per cent. of the average cost of an undergraduate course.
In 1998-99, the latest year for which data are available, there were 241,000 English and Welsh higher education students liable for fees under the Education (Student Support) Regulations. Of these, 45 per cent. were exempt from making a contribution towards fees, 20 per cent. of students made a partial contribution, and only 35 per cent. were expected to make a full contribution towards fees. Of the 20 per cent. of students making a partial contribution, it is estimated some 58 per cent. paid £500 or less and 42 per cent. paid more than £500.
Computers for Teachers
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many Key Stage 3 maths teachers will qualify to apply for the second phase of the scheme for £500 subsidy for the purchase of a laptop or personal computer. [147552]
Mr. Wills [holding answer 26 January 2001]: There is £12 million available for the second phase of the Computers for Teachers scheme. These funds will enable a maximum of 17,000 Key Stage 3 mathematics teachers, who register and meet the eligibility criteria, to receive a subsidy of up to £500.
A further £3 million will be available for further education teachers, 4,000 of whom will benefit.
Schoolchildren (Downham Market)
Mrs. Shephard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the cost to public funds is of educating and transporting the 25 eligible pupils who were not found places at Downham Market High School in the present academic year. [147866]
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 31 January 2001]: Of 26 pupils whose applications for admission to Downham Market High School were turned down in appeals between April 1999 and July 2000, seven have subsequently been admitted to the school. The alternative schools of 14 out of the remaining 19 pupils are known; there is no reason to suppose that the cost of educating
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them at other schools is significantly different, and no extra teaching costs are known to have been directly incurred as a result of their going to other schools.
The education authority is providing support for transport for 12 out of the 26 pupils at a cost of £10,972 per annum. It is not possible to say how this compares with the costs which might have been incurred had all the pupils attended Downham Market High School, because that depends on individual pupil addresses and such hypothetical costs have not been calculated.
Higher Education
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the situation regarding applications for admission to higher education institutions in autumn 2001. [147867]
Mr. Wicks: The total number of home and overseas students applying for university and college places this year has increased by 0.7 per cent. since the same time last year, according to the latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). There has been a 1.4 per cent. increase in the number of young (under 21) home applicants and an increase of 1.0 per cent. in the number of mature (21 and over) home applicants.
Standards Fund
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what the final 2001-02 Standards Fund allocations made to local education authorities are by (a) constituency and (b) region; what the total local education authority contributions were to the Standards Fund for 2001-02, broken down by constituency; and what the total value of the Standards Fund was in 2000-01; [148059]
- (2) what total amount of (a) grants and (b) capital spending is incorporated in the Standards Fund for 2001-02; [148060]
(3) what the percentage increase is in (a) local education authority contributions and (b) DfEE contributions to the Standards Fund for 2001-02. [148061]
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 31 January 2001]: The table shows, by region, the amounts allocated so far through the Standards Fund to each local education authority for 2001-02, including the local education authorities' contributions. Allocations cannot be given at constituency level. Some allocations remain to be made as they depend on data not yet available. All allocations requiring a local authority contribution have been made. Of the £2,492 million so far allocated, £1,837 million is recurrent and £655 million is for capital spending.
Following the announcement in the pre-Budget statement of an extra £143 million DfEE grant for capital spending this year, the Standards Fund for 2000-01 totals £2,488 million. For 2001-02 the Standards Fund will eventually total around £2,870 million. This is an increase in local education authority contributions of around £150 million (25 per cent.), and an increase of around £230 million (14 per cent.) in DfEE contributions.
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The figures include all grants paid through the Standards Fund, other than New Deal for Schools capital, which is paid through the Standards Fund mechanism but is not considered part of the programme.
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