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Vice-chancellors

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to scrutinise the effectiveness of vice-chancellors. [1687]

Margaret Hodge: Vice-chancellors are appointed by and are accountable to the governing body of their individual university and my right hon. Friend has no plans to alter current arrangements.

Tuition Fees

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the anticipated revenue is from tuition fees in England and Wales for each of the years 2002–03 to 2006–07; and if she will make a statement. [1865]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 4 July 2001]: The projected income to higher education institutions in England and Wales from tuition fees governed by the

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student support regulations, the mandatory award regulations and for those post-graduate students funded by the research councils is shown in tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Estimated tuition fee income to English institutions

			£ million
	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Public contributions to fees	498	493	500
Student contributions to fees(4)	350	376	400
Total	848	869	900

⁽⁴⁾ The student contributions are net of an estimated 5 per cent. cost for collection and any default.

Table 2: Estimated tuition fee income to Welsh institutions

			£ million
	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Public contributions to fees	33.5	33.4	33.8
Student contributions to fees(5)	25.0	27.2	28.7
Total	58.5	60.6	62.5

⁽⁵⁾ The student contributions are net of an estimated 5 per cent. cost for collection and any default.

Note:

Estimates are not available beyond 2003–04.

School Provision

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of the need to build (a) new primary and (b) new secondary schools in the West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency and Great Baddow as a result of anticipated house building in the area until 2011. [2330]

Mr. Timms: The Government believe that decisions concerning the organisation and supply of school places are best taken locally—by the main partners in the provision of education who have knowledge of local needs. It is the responsibility of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to ensure that there are sufficient school places within their area.

Should a borough council propose new housing developments as part of its local plan, we would expect the LEA's School Organisation Plan (SOP) to reflect any projected increases in the pupil population. All LEAs are required to produce a SOP, which sets out how they propose to deal with deficits and surpluses of school provision over a rolling five year period. The SOP sets the context for proposals to change school organisation in the area, and may include proposals to establish new schools or enlarge existing ones.

If, as a result of housing developments, the LEA identifies a need for additional primary and secondary school places, we would consider any future capital bids from Essex that meet the published criteria for support.

Equal Opportunities

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of equal opportunities policies for all staff in higher education institutions. [2333]

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Margaret Hodge: Higher education institutions have submitted their human resource strategies to the Higher Education Funding Council for England so that it can allocate the extra £330 million the Government are providing over three years to support increases in academic and non-academic pay. To gain their share of this funding institutions need to demonstrate that their strategies include clear and practicable equal opportunities policies. The Equality Challenge Unit set up by the higher education funding councils and representative bodies will work directly with institutions to help them deliver the improvements in monitoring and performance they have promised in their equal opportunities policy statements.

Further Education

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the notional national pay scales for (a) lecturers and (b) administrative and support staff in the further education sector. [2357]

Margaret Hodge: I understand that the Association of Colleges (AoC), as the colleges' employer' group, issues notional national pay scales but these are a matter for the AoC and the relevant unions.

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many colleges have not implemented the full awards of the notional national scale; and if she will make a statement. [2358]

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of further education colleges failed to award the nationally recommended pay rise in each year since 1992. [2990]

Margaret Hodge: The Department does not collect this information. I understand that data obtained by the Association of Colleges on the extent of pay implementation for 2000–01 indicate that (from an 80 per cent. response rate) 73 per cent. of colleges that responded had made an award either equal to or in excess of the national recommended level, and that a further 12 per cent. intended to do so at a later date.

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unfilled vacancies there are in the further education sector for lecturer posts; and how many there were in (a) 2000, (b) 1997 and (c) 1993. [2403]

John Healey: The information requested is not collected centrally. Information on staff numbers in FE sector colleges is collected via SIR (Staff Individualised Record). SIR does not include details on vacancies, leavers, salary or grade.

The Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) collected and published information on staff numbers in the FE sector on an annual basis. The responsibilities of the FEFC have now been taken over by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time (i) lecturers and (ii) administrative and support staff were employed in the further education sector in (A) 1993, (B) 1997, (C) 2000 and (D) 2001. [2408]

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John Healey: The estimated number of staff employed in the FE sector are shown in the following table:

Numbers of staff employed in the FE sector by mode and primary role

				Thousand
	1997–98		1998–99
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Teaching staff	49.1	92.7	48.1	96.6
Support staff	11.9	13.0	12.3	11.5
Other staff	35.4	29.4	35.3	30.2
Total staff	96.4	135.1	95.7	138.3

The Further Education Funding Council (FEFC), collected and published information on staff in the FE sector on an annual basis. The responsibilities of the FEFC have now been taken over by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Information on staff is taken from the Staff Individualised Record (SIR). The SIR covers English FE sector colleges only.

SIR data for the whole year were collected from all colleges for the first time in July 1995, relating to the 1994–95 college year. This collection was repeated for 1995–96, for 1996–97, for 1997–98 and for 1998–99. Data for 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 are not yet available. Data for 1993–94 were not collected on a comparable basis.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the further education colleges that have (a) implemented and (b) failed to implement the nationally recommended pay increase for college staff in the last five years, ranking those in each category according to the level of pay increase awarded. [2997]

Margaret Hodge: The Department does not collect this information. I refer my hon. Friend to my reply given earlier today to his related question on the implementation of pay awards.

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to restore college lecturers' pay levels to parity with the teaching profession. [2675]

Margaret Hodge: We are aware of the historic funding gap between schools and FE created by the last Administration and have pledged to ensure upwards convergence over time and as resources allow. We have already made an unprecedented investment in the sector, which should allow colleges greater flexibility to meet the genuine aspirations of their staff. An additional £300 million is available to colleges over the next three years specifically to reward high quality teaching, as part of the Teaching Pay Initiative (TPI). This is separate to any general pay rise a teacher may receive.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unfilled further education lecturer posts there were in each of the last 10 years. [2989]

John Healey: The information requested is not collected centrally. Information on staff numbers in FE sector colleges is collected via SIR (Staff Individualised Record). SIR does not include details on vacancies, leavers, salary or grade.

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The Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) collected and published information on staff numbers in the FE sector on an annual basis. The responsibilities of the FEFC have now been taken over by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

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