| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
School Achievement Awards
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools have won school achievement awards; and if he will make a statement. [156759]
Ms Estelle Morris: About 7,000 schools have won Achievement Awards worth about £5,000 for a typical primary school and about £25,000 for a typical secondary school. These will enable schools to pay bonuses to staff teams.
About 5,000 of these schools have been awarded improvement awards. There have been some amendments to the original list of improvement awards because of a statistical error in the calculation of the 1997 average point score for Key Stage 2 tests. The final lists have been placed in the Library. The lists also update answers previously given to the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) about School Achievement Awards on 20 March 2001, Official Report, columns 160W, 165W and 168W, and provide rankings of improvement award winners by the differences between their average point scores in 1997 and 2000. Schools that had improved, but with the statistical change would not have merited an improvement award, will not lose financially as a result of these changes.
Schools (Finance)
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to standardise the financial information required of schools. [156546]
Ms Estelle Morris: I am pleased to announce that we have today, in partnership with Ofsted and the Audit Commission, published a consultation document seeking
30 Mar 2001 : Column: 843W
views on the introduction of consistent financial reporting for schools maintained by local education authorities in England. The exercise closes in July. Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the Library. Copies can also be obtained from the DfEE's publications centre and on-line from the Department's Consultation Unit website www.dfee.gov.uk/consultations.
PRIME MINISTER
Ministerial Code
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Prime Minister when the Government will respond to the recommendations of the Third report of the Select Committee on Public Administration, 'The Ministerial Code: Improving the Rule Book'. [156208]
The Prime Minister: The Third Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, "The Ministerial Code: Improving the Rule Book", was published on 14 February. The Government will respond in due course.
TREASURY
Taxation
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the amounts (a) in current prices, (b) in constant 2000-01 prices and (c) as percentages of personal income, taken by (i) income taxes, (ii) national insurance contributions, (iii) value-added tax, (iv) other central Government indirect taxes, (v) the aggregate of (i) to (iv), (vi) average council tax payments and (vii) the aggregate of (i) to (iv) and (viii) for (1) a single person, (2) a married couple without children, both working and (3) a married couple with two children, husband in work, wife not working, in each case at 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 per cent. of average earnings for the financial year 2000-01, taking account of changes announced in his Budget Statement and previously announced changes and for each of the years (v) 1996-97, (w) 1997-98, (x) 1998-99, (y) 1999-2000, (z) 2000-01. [153381]
Dawn Primarolo: The available information, which shows income tax (including Child Benefit and Working Families Tax Credit from its first full year of implementation) and National Insurance Contributions, at multiples of median full-time earnings of all employees is given in the table. The figures are shown in current prices and as percentages of income, for the years 1996-97 to 2001-02, and take account of changes announced in the Budget. Estimating the impact of indirect taxes on these very specific family types is meaningless because spending patterns vary considerably between households of the same type and income. The level of council tax payments will also vary depending on where families live.
The figures use median all-employee earnings. However, the data are only available since 1983. Looking over a longer time period, using male mean earnings, the series shows that the direct tax burden on a single earner family on average earnings and with two children in 2001-02 will be the lowest since 1972.
30 Mar 2001 : Column: 844W
Notes:
1. Income tax payments are calculated on the basis that the households receive no tax reliefs other than the standard allowances and only have income from employment. All earners, including wives, are assumed to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions at the contracted-in rate.
2. Earnings are taken to be the median gross weekly earnings of all full-time employees on adult rates with pay unaffected by absence. (Median earnings are more representative of the population as a whole than mean male full-time earnings.)
3. A family with two children is assumed to have both children aged under 11.
4. In line with the convention in the Tax Benefit Reference Manual, Child Benefit is treated as negative income tax.
5. Working Families Tax Credit is included from its first full year of implementation in 2000-01.
6. For the two earner family it is assumed that earnings are split 60%:40%.
30 Mar 2001 : Column: 846W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |