---

School Drinking Water

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the availability and accessibility of drinking water for pupils in schools; what plans she has to introduce regulations to ensure availability and accessibility of drinking water for pupils in schools; and what steps she proposes to take in respect of schools where drinking water is (a) not readily available to pupils and (b) only available in toilets. [2489]

Mr. Timms: It is for local education authorities and schools to decide how the provision of drinking water should be made, along with their general duty to ensure the health and safety of pupils. However, schools have a statutory requirement to provide a wholesome supply of water for domestic purposes, including a supply of drinking water.

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the impact of dehydration on pupils' concentration, learning behaviour and educational performance; and if she will make a statement. [2490]

Mr. Timms: The Department for Education and Skills has not made any assessment of the effect dehydration would have on the educational achievements or behaviour of children in schools.

Contract Lecturers

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if Silver Book contract lecturers in further education are eligible for payments under the Teachers' Pay Initiative. [2503]

Margaret Hodge: Yes, they are eligible.

Teacher Training Agency

Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of the Teacher Training Agency budget was spent in (a) the northern region and (b) Stockton in the last financial year. [2515]

Mr. Timms: This information is not available. The Teacher Training Agency does not account for its budget on a regional basis.

Blenheim High School

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the impact of the withdrawal of capital funds for the completion of Blenheim high school in Epsom and Ewell as a consequence of the Government's abolition of grant maintained status. [2533]

Mr. Timms: Following the decision to end grant maintained status, and after consultation with external partners, transitional regulations were put in place to fund capital work at grant maintained schools where obligations had been entered into or decisions taken by the Funding Agency for Schools or the Secretary of State

9 Jul 2001 : Column: 389W

before 1 September 1999. These transitional regulations enabled the Department to meet outstanding commitments for capital funding approved before this date.

I understand that Blenheim high school has already received sufficient capital funding to meet the commitments covered by the transitional regulations. However, I have asked officials to meet with the school and Surrey local education authority to confirm the position.

Sixth Forms

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the future of funding for school sixth forms following the introduction of learning and skills councils. [2534]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: From 1 April 2002 school sixth forms will be funded by the learning and skills council. To assist this change, all school sixth forms have a guarantee that their funding will not fall below the funding level of 2000–01 in real terms, provided their sixth form numbers do not fall. For new sixth forms, a proxy real terms guarantee will be calculated based on local spending levels.

Supply Teachers

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of national spending on teachers' remuneration was spent on supply teachers in the last year for which figures are available. [2535]

Mr. Timms: This information is not collected centrally.

"Schools—Building on Success"

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what meetings have been held with outside bodies to discuss the Green Paper 'Schools—Building on Success'. [2594]

Mr. Timms: Officials at my Department invited a cross-section of the main stakeholders to discuss the proposals in the Green Paper, "Schools—Building on Success". Meetings were held with representatives from all the teacher unions and associations, school governor associations, faith groups, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Local Government Association, and the Association of Chief Education Officers/Society of Education Officers.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to allow private sector companies to recruit and manage teaching staff in schools which are deemed to be (a) successful and (b) failing. [3112]

Mr. Timms: We proposed in the Green Paper "Schools—Building on Success" that new models would be developed to allow private or other sponsors to take responsibility for either weak, failing or successful schools. Where the private sector, or anyone else, has expertise that can help schools to improve we should use it. The forthcoming White Paper will set out the arrangements for doing so.

9 Jul 2001 : Column: 390W

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the meetings (a) she and (b) other ministers in her Department have had with representative bodies and others to discuss the Green Paper, 'Schools—Building on Success'. [3123]

Mr. Timms: Officials arranged and held meetings with organisations. My right hon. Friend was made aware of the issues raised. Meetings took place with a cross-section of the main stakeholders, including teacher unions and associations.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations she has received in respect of the Green Paper, 'Schools—Building on Success'. [3124]

Mr. Timms: Officials have held meetings to discuss the proposals in the Green Paper with representatives from all the teacher unions and associations, school governor associations, faith groups, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Local Government Association, and the Association of Chief Education Officers/Society of Education Officers.

Written responses to the Green Paper consultation exercise have also been sent by a number of individuals and organisations, including those who attended the meetings.

Teachers (Stoke-on-Trent)

Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers were employed in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Stoke-on- Trent in each year since 1997. [2667]

Mr. Timms: The full-time equivalents of regular teachers (excluding short-term supply) employed in the maintained school sector in Stoke-on-Trent local authority were as follows:

January	Nursery/ primary	Secondary	Total
1998	990	820	1,810
1999	980	830	1,800
2000	970	840	1,810
2001(6)	950	870	1,820

⁽⁶⁾ Provisional—subject to validation

Note:

Totals may not be the sum of the component parts because of rounding

Stoke-on-Trent local authority was created on 1 April 1997.

Infant School Places

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many appeals were made to local education authorities in respect of infant places in schools for children in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000; and if she will make a statement. [2867]

9 Jul 2001 : Column: 391W

Mr. Timms: The available information is shown as follows.

Appeals lodged by parents against non-admission of their children in maintained private schools

Academic year	Number
1999–2000	28,728
1998–99	32,194
1997–98	30,868
1996–97	32,643

Teachers' Pay

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is in their first year of operation for teachers' threshold payments; and how much has been spent on the preparation and implementation of and training for the scheme (a) from her Department's budget and (b) from other public education budgets. [2928]

Mr. Timms: To the end of June 2001, the Department has paid about £350 million to local authorities to cover the additional salary costs of teachers passing the threshold. The Department has a contract with Cambridge Education Associates (CEA) for the provision and deployment of threshold assessors and external advisers to governing bodies on heads' performance. It also has a contract with the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) for training in threshold assessment and performance management. The value of these contracts depends on the volume and quality of activity. To June 2001 we estimate that total CEA contract costs have been about £22 million–£24 million and CfBT contract costs about £12 million–£14 million.

The Standards Fund for 2000–01 provided £40 million to help schools introduce performance management and threshold assessment. £32 million of this came from the Department and the rest from local education authorities. £28 million is available through the Standards Fund for 2001–02 to help schools operate performance management and threshold assessment. This is 100 per cent. funded by the Department.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations she has received in respect of the legality of departmental regulations allowing school governors to use teacher appraisal results to establish pay levels. [3109]

Mr. Timms: The National Union of Teachers has suggested in response to consultation that the proposed regulations contain provisions in relation to appraisal results and pay determination which are outside the Secretary of State's powers in relation to these regulations.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she will take to make regulations allowing governors to use teacher appraisal results to set pay levels. [3110]

Mr. Timms: The Secretary of State is satisfied that the provision permitting appraisal results to be taken into account in the exercise of pay discretions, which has been in regulations governing teachers' appraisal since 1991, is within the law.

9 Jul 2001 : Column: 392W

---