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Flag of Convenience Vessels

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the anticipated costs are of meeting the claims arising from the ruling over the Factortame case brought by owners of flag of convenience vessels. [4358]

Mr. Morley: Settlement has been reached with all the applicants involved in the Factortame litigation with the exception of two who are appealing against the rejection of their claims by the court. Under the terms of the settlement the total sum of damages paid is £55 million which includes some £26 million interest. The legal costs of the applicants, liability for which was accepted as part of the settlement agreements, are the subject of further legal proceedings and will not be assessed until these are completed. The claims submitted by the applicants totalled some £285 million before interest.

Organic Food

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent

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estimate she has made of the levels of organic food (a) production and (b) consumption in Great Britain; what targets she has for expansion of organic production in (i) 2005, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2015; and if she will make a statement. [3989]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 13 July 2001]: I have made no such estimates. However estimates prepared by the Soil Association (in their Organic Food and Farming Report 2000) indicate that the farm gate value of UK organic produce was around £67 million in 1999–2000 and that the retail value of all organic produce sold in the UK in the same period was just over £605 million.

We very much welcome the expansion of organic farming and we have done much to assist it. In particular, we have made substantial cash injections into the sector in aid for conversion to organic farming for which there is an ongoing commitment under the England Rural Development Programme. We do not favour setting arbitrary targets for the conversion of land to organic farming or for the producing of organic food.

Annual Reports

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the 2000–01 Annual Report and Accounts for the Veterinary Laboratory Agency. [6048]

Margaret Beckett: The 2000–01 Annual Report and Accounts for the Veterinary Laboratory Agency were laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the 2000–2001 Annual report and Accounts for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate [6046]

Margaret Beckett: The 2000–01 Annual Report and Accounts for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate were laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the 2000–2001 Annual report and Accounts for the Intervention Board Executive Agency. [6047]

Margaret Beckett: The 2000–01 Annual Report and Accounts for the Intervention Board Executive Agency were laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the 2000–01 annual report and accounts for the Central Science Laboratory. [6049]

Margaret Beckett: The 2000–01 annual report and accounts for the Central Science Laboratory were laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

BSE

James Purnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the findings of the review of the origin of BSE undertaken by Professor Horn will be available. [6045]

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Margaret Beckett: Professor Horn has now completed his review and I have today placed a copy of his report in the Library of the House.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Teacher Vacancies

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many teacher vacancies there were at (a) January 2001 and (b) January 2000 in each local education authority; and if she will place these figures in the Library; [4931]

(2) if she will place in the Library the teacher vacancies statistics for January 2001. [5371]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is contained in a table which has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills why the number of vacancies for (a) mathematics and (b) information technology teachers changed between 1997 and 2000. [5370]

Mr. Timms: The additional funding of £350 per pupil in real terms that the Government provided for schools in England between 1997–98 and 2000–01 allowed more teaching posts to be created. Although the total number of teacher vacancies rose by 867 between January 1997 and January 2000, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers also rose, by almost 5,500. Between January 2000 and January 2001, there was a further increase of over 5,500 in teacher numbers. Data on how many of these additional posts were in mathematics and information technology are not collected centrally.

Since January 2000, new Government funding for teacher training bursaries, Golden Hello incentives and the Graduate Teacher Programme have been introduced to encourage more new teachers into the profession, especially in secondary shortage subjects like mathematics and information technology.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for what reason teacher vacancies as a percentage of teachers in post changed from 1997 to 2000 (a) in the south-east and (b) in London. [5376]

Mr. Timms: Between 1997–98 and 2001–01, funding per pupil rose in real terms by £550 in London and the south-east. These extra resources allowed more teaching posts to be funded. The number of teacher vacancies in London and the south-east rose by 480 between January 1997 and January 2000. In the same period, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers employed in the region rose by 2,168.

Grant-maintained Schools (Surrey)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding per pupil was provided to grant-maintained schools in Surrey in the year immediately prior to the end of grant-maintained status; and what funding per pupil those schools receive in the current financial year [2543]

Mr. Timms: In the financial year 1998–99, grant-maintained (GM) schools in Surrey received recurrent funding from the former Funding Agency for

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Schools (FAS) amounting on average to £1,810 per pupil in the case of primary schools and £2,410 per pupil in the case of secondary schools. For the financial year 2001–02, the most closely comparable figures currently available in respect of these schools are £2,060 per pupil and £2,660 per pupil respectively. All figures have been calculated to the nearest £10 on the basis of pupil numbers from the Annual Schools Census for January 1998 and January 2001.

The calculations for 1998–99 are based on financial information supplied to the Department by FAS. The figures include annual maintenance grant together with special purpose grants for development, nursery education, premises insurance, primary support and the purchase of books, but not other special purpose grants or capital grants. Most GM schools' annual maintenance grant included an element to compensate the schools for their inability to reclaim VAT: appropriate adjustments have been made to reflect this.

The calculations for 2001–02 are based on information from the budget statement published by the local education authority under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, supplemented and updated (in the case of specific grants) by information separately provided by the LEA. The figures include the schools' budget shares (including School Standards Grant and transitional funding); Standards Fund resources devolved to the schools (but excluding capital grants, and other grants relating to school security and the National Grid for Learning); and Infant Class Size grants devolved to schools otherwise than through their budget shares.

In 1998–99, under arrangements specific to the GM sector, the GM schools received formula capital allocations from FAS amounting on average to £46 per pupil (primary) and £31 per pupil (secondary). Under the NDS devolved formula capital arrangements which apply to all schools, the Surrey ex-GM schools' allocations for 2001–02 amount on average to £37 per pupil (primary) and £28 per pupil (secondary); all these figures are rounded to the nearest pound.

Blenheim School has been excluded from the calculations because its funding levels are significantly affected by the school's recent establishment. The calculations also exclude Nonsuch High School for Girls, which is situated in Surrey but maintained by the London Borough of Sutton.

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