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Education Funding (Doncaster)

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what the value was of Government financial support for education in Doncaster for each year from 1996-97 to 2000-01; [149072]

Ms Estelle Morris: The allocations for education in Doncaster local education authority for each year from 1996-97 to 2000-01 are set out in the following table:

£000
Education SSA
1996-97119,700
1997-98118,600
1998-99130,300
1999-2000136,100
2000-01141,700
Funding allocations
1996-977,413
1997-986,794
1998-993,792
1999-20009,667
2000-0124,967

Outside the education SSA, the main elements of funding in 2000-01 are schools capital, standards fund and school standards grant. In addition, Doncaster local education authority will receive in 2000-01 special grant funding to support elements of the teachers pay reform packages. These are demand-led and will depend on the claims that Doncaster local education authority make for each grant.

Doncaster local education authority has received financial support from the standards fund each year since the fund was created in 1998-99. All maintained schools in Doncaster local education authority would receive a share of that support, including those in the Don Valley constituency.

Prior to 1999-2000, grant maintained schools did not receive financial support through the standards fund. They were funded for similar activities through a special grant paid by the Funding Agency for Schools.

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Under this Government, funding per pupil has already increased by over £300 in real terms, and it will increase by a further £150 per pupil for 2001-02. Under the last Government, funding per pupil fell by £60 in real terms between 1994-95 and 1997-98. There will be further increases in funding following the year 2000 spending review: a further £370 per pupil over the three-year period, taking the total increase to nearly £700 between 1997-98 and 2003-04.

Higher Education

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which higher education institutions failed to meet their maximum allowable student number by more than 2 per cent., for the recruitment year 2000-01. [149474]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 8 February 2001]: For the academic year 2000-01, 51 higher education institutions under-recruited by more than 2 per cent. of their maximum student number allocation and 14 institutions over-recruited by more than 2 per cent. The institutions are listed as follows.







































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Teachers Pay Grant (Gloucestershire)

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what criteria were used to determine the size of the grant given to Gloucestershire, as part of the package to fund teachers' pay awards; and if he will make a statement. [149680]

Ms Estelle Morris: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 7 February 2001, Official Report, columns 578-79W.

Free School Dinners

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will rank the constituencies in England by the number of children eligible for free school dinners as a percentage of the number of children attending day schools. [149771]

Ms Estelle Morris: The information requested is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Salaried Defence Offices

Mr. Singh: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department which salaried defence offices will be open in April; what plans he has to monitor the

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relative quality and cost of the salaried defence offices; and if there will be independent research into the piloted schemes. [149291]

Mr. Lock: The first salaried defenders offices will open at the beginning of May. The recruitment process for the office heads has taken a little longer than we hoped. An independent research team headed by Professor Lee Bridges, the Legal Research Institute, University of Warwick has been appointed to monitor and assess, among other things, the relative cost and quality of salaried defence offices compared with private practitioners.

Community Legal Service

Mr. Singh: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to introduce assistance for representation from the Community Legal Service legal services fund for applicants to employment tribunals in England and Wales [149293]

Mr. Lock: Public funding is not generally available for representation before employment tribunals. However, under the legal help scheme, funding is available for applicants to get legal advice when preparing a case to be brought before an employment tribunal.

Sir Andrew Leggatt is conducting a review of tribunals which will assess the extent to which the administrative and practical arrangements, including representation, meet the needs of the user and the requirements of the ECHR for independence and impartiality. It would be premature to make any decisions on extending publicly funded representation in tribunal proceedings until Sir Andrew's review has been completed.

Mr. Singh: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how the money saved from removing personal injury cases from legal aid has been redeployed within the Community Legal Service; and if these savings will be allocated to legal aid for social welfare cases. [149300]

Mr. Lock: The moneys saved from removing personal injury cases from legal aid are available for other matters which fall within the scope of the Legal Services Commission's funding code. No specific amounts have been set aside for social welfare cases, although under the funding code such cases receive priority.

Mr. Singh: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will recruit sufficient lawyers for the community legal service to cover the subjects of (a) immigration, (b) education, (c) community care and (d) mental health. [149299]

Mr. Lock: These categories are among those which have been targeted as priority areas for funding in the community legal service. On 3 April 2000, the Lord Chancellor announced details of an additional £46 million legal help package intended to boost legal services in these areas. The number of contracts has increased significantly as a result.

The Lord Chancellor has recently announced a further 10 per cent. increase in the advice rates for work in these and other social welfare categories of law. The purpose of this advice is to help safeguard the established contracting base of quality assured firms throughout England and Wales. However, these services are provided

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by firms contracted to the Legal Services Commission rather than through lawyers directly recruited by or employed by the Commission.


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