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Teaching Assistants

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will state the ratio of pupils to teaching assistants in (a) Key Stage One and (b) Key Stage Two in each of the last five years. [7486]

Mr. Timms: Information on the number of teaching assistants by Key Stage is not collected centrally. However, the average number of children per adult in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 classes with one teacher is shown in the table.

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Average number of children per adult⁽⁵⁹⁾

Year	Key Stage 1	Key Stage 2
2001	15.5	19.8
2000	17.2	21.7
1999	17.6	22.5
1998	17.9	22.9
1997	18.4	23.1

⁽⁵⁹⁾ The number of children in classes divided by the total number of adults present at the time of the census

The latest pupil:teacher ratio and class size data were published in a Statistical Volume 'Schools in England January 2001' on 28 September, copies of which are available from the Library, or alternatively can be accessed from the Department for Education and Skills statistical website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.

Education (Northern Ireland)

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions her Department has had with the Northern Ireland Education Minister relating to (a) selective education and (b) school league tables. [7487]

Mr. Timms: My Department has not had any discussions with the Northern Ireland Education Minister in relation to (a) selective education and (b) school league tables.

General Teaching Council Registration

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the benefits of General Teaching Council registration which will be available to teachers who pay a registration fee but which will be withheld from those who do not. [7488]

Mr. Timms: The General Teaching Council (GTC) is the professional body for qualified teachers. Registration will be a requirement if a teacher wishes to be employed in a maintained school or non-maintained special school; those who are not registered will be unable to teach in these categories of school. The GTC is responsible for regulating the conduct of teachers, an important element in raising the profession's self esteem and standing with the general public and promoting the profile of teaching. The GTC also provides advice on a range of professional issues to Government and others. In framing advice, we expect it to consult its members, thus providing an opportunity for registered teachers to influence education policy development. The GTC's advice on teachers' professional development and workload has already proved valuable.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of teachers in maintained schools have paid the General Teaching Council registration fee. [7489]

Mr. Timms: The General Teaching Council (GTC) registration fee is not now to be payable until April 2002. The GTC is currently collecting the details from teachers of how they wish to pay the fee next year.

Grammar School Ballots

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received calling for the threshold for triggering a grammar school ballot to be lowered. [7492]

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Mr. Timms: We have not had any recent representations calling for the threshold for triggering a grammar school ballot to be lowered.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many petitions for grammar school ballots have been initiated in each of the last six school terms. [7493]

Mr. Timms: During the specified period, the Electoral Reform Services were requested to set petition thresholds as follows: seven in the autumn term 1999, two in the spring term 2000, and five in the autumn term 2000.

School Funding

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will bring forward proposals for a new system of financing schools in 2002–03. [7538]

Mr. Timms: As part of the review of local government funding we have set up two working groups, with local government and schools partners, to develop proposals for a new LEA and school funding system. The work we have done with these groups has shown that we need more time to get the formula right. We have therefore decided to implement reform in 2003–04 rather than 2002–03, allowing us to see the impact of all the changes we will be making to local authority finance, not just those which affect education.

Head Teachers (Threshold Application Training)

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of head teachers in need of training to assess threshold applications. [7713]

Mr. Timms: Last year, all head teachers in England were given the opportunity to attend training courses, and almost 24,000 heads took up this training. This year we have made available training courses for an estimated 1,500 new and acting head teachers, LEA head teacher equivalents, for other members of the leadership group (where large numbers of threshold applications are expected), and for those existing heads who requested further training.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many training seminars have been held in the last year funded by her Department to train head teachers who are new in their posts to assess threshold applications; and how many head teachers attended each one. [7714]

Mr. Timms: Training is ongoing. 60 training events are being held at 33 venues across England. 1,023 heads, heads of service, and other members of the leadership group have so far booked places. Numbers at each event are determined according to local need. Of those who have attended events so far, 98 per cent. have expressed satisfaction with the training received.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what costs were incurred by her Department in connection with training courses for head teachers to improve their ability to assess threshold applications. [7715]

Mr. Timms: This information is commercial and in confidence.

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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

RAF Menwith Hill

Norman Baker: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases have been presented by the MoD police to the Crown Prosecution Service in connection with alleged breaches of byelaws at land (a) on and (b) close to RAF Menwith Hill in each year from 1980 to date; how many have been authorised for prosecution; and of those, in how many cases the prosecution was successful. [6262]

The Solicitor-General: Ministry of Defence records show that the number of files submitted by the MOD police to the CPS in connection with alleged breaches of byelaws on RAF Menwith Hill during the period 1996–2001 was as follows:

	Total
1996	17
1997	49
1998	30
1999	32
2000	5
2001(60)	7

⁽⁶⁰⁾ To date

The Crown Prosecution Service did not exist before 1986 and figures cannot be provided for periods before 1996, as earlier records have been disposed of in accordance with Ministry of Defence police policy.

Crown Prosecution Service case records are held by category of offence rather than by specific offence and it is not possible from the records to show separately in how many of these cases a prosecution proceeded or the result of the case. This information could be recovered only by examining individual cases files which are in storage, and the cost of such an exercise would be prohibitive.

Departmental Properties

Mrs. May: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will list the number, value and location of properties newly leased in each of the last five years by the Law Officers' Department, broken down by those leased by the Department itself, its next steps agencies and its non-departmental public bodies, differentiating between purchases made as a result of the creation of new bodies and those purchases made by established bodies. [7818]

The Solicitor-General: Neither the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, the Treasury Solicitor's Department nor the Serious Fraud Office has newly let premises in the last five years.

The Crown Prosecution Service has, since 1996, acquired the use of additional premises on leasehold in 12 locations: Birmingham, Burnley, Carlisle, Derby, Harrogate, Holborn (London), Leamington Spa, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newport (Gwent), Northallerton, Rochdale and Shrewsbury. The total annual rent of these 12 locations is £1,095,434.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has from February 2000 newly leased property in Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. The current rent is £233,300 per annum.

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Ms Walley: To ask the Solicitor-General what (a) building and (b) refurbishment projects are planned by her Department in (i) the current and (ii) the next financial year; and what the costs will be of each project. [6588]

The Solicitor-General: Neither the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, the Treasury Solicitor's Department nor the Serious Fraud Office has any major building or refurbishment plans in the current or the next financial year costing more than £1 million.

The Crown Prosecution Service, is in the financial year 2001–02, refurbishing its offices at Workington, Carmarthen, Manchester, Portsmouth, Grimsby, Canterbury, Preston, Guildford and Leamington Spa. The total amount allocated to this project is £708,000. In addition, minor building work is being undertaken in 20 other locations at a total cost of £228,500. The projects in Portsmouth and Carmarthen are being carried out over two financial years. A total of £1.1 million has been identified as the total requirement to complete the second stage of each project during the financial year 2002–03.

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