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GCSE

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE in (a) specialist schools and (b) community schools in 2001. [8884]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The proportions of pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades at GCSE/GNVQ in maintained (a) specialist schools and (b) community schools in 2001 were 54 per cent. and 44 per cent. respectively.

Schools (Correspondence)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individual items of (a) information, (b) guidance, (c) requests for information and (d) other correspondence have been issued to (i) local education authorities, (ii) secondary schools, (iii) primary schools and (iv) special schools in England since the commencement of the autumn term. [8904]

Mr. Timms: The number of items sent to schools and local authorities is shown in the table.

Items in DfES mailings since the start of the autumn term 2001

	Recipient of mailing
	LEA	Primary school	Secondary school	Special school
Purpose of mailing
Information	17	13	11	11
Guidance	9	5	5	4
Request for information	5	4	4	4
Other(6)	6	3	3	3
Total this school year	37	25	23	22

⁽⁶⁾ Under this category are the full text and summary of the White Paper Schools—Achieving Success, and a letter from the Secretary of State following the events of 11 September.

Standards Fund

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to simplify the procedure for schools to apply for Standards Fund money; and if she will make a statement. [9011]

Mr. Timms: Standards Fund grant is allocated and paid to local education authorities who must devolve around 75 per cent. of the grant to their schools to spend according to their own needs and priorities. It is for authorities and schools to agree the particular arrangements for allocating the grant to schools. Almost all Standards Fund grants are allocated to LEAs on a

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formula basis and the Government expect LEAs to devolve grants to schools by a fair formula, in which case schools should not have to apply for grant.

We have already simplified the operation of the Standards Fund for 2001–02. Schools have more freedom to determine spending priorities—they will be free to move money between most of their allocations. Schools have a full 17 months from 1 April 2001 to 31 August 2002 to spend their allocation. This will mean an end to the rush to spend grant by the end of the financial year. Separate auditing of the Standards Fund is no longer required. The Standards Fund will be audited as part of the overall arrangements for local education authority and school expenditure, reducing the need for detailed separate accounting records for each Standards Fund grant.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Sexual Abuse

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve the protection of people with learning difficulties from sexual abuse. [7398]

Mr. Keith Bradley: When the Government set up the Sex Offences Review in January 1999 its terms of reference included

"to provide coherent clear sex offences which protect individuals, especially children and the more vulnerable, from abuse and exploitation".

The recommendations of the Sex Offences Review to Government on reforming the law on sex offences were published in 'Setting the Boundaries' in July 2000. We are considering how to change all the sex offences in the light of over 700 responses to that consultation document including how to deal with sex offences against those with learning disabilities.

Homophobic Crime

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the number of homophobic hate crimes there have been for 1999 and 2000 and the number of such crimes for those years broken down by (a) police force and (b) individual London boroughs. [7644]

Mr. Denham: This information is not collected centrally.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the asylum seekers the National Asylum Support System has housed since 3 April 2000 under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, have been offered (a) accommodation in the dispersal areas and (b) accommodation in London and the south east on the grounds that there are exceptional circumstances for their households not to be dispersed; how many disbenefited asylum seekers (i) the National Asylum Support System has agreed can be provided with accommodation in London and the south east on the

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grounds that their children have been educated in the same school for 12 months or more and (ii) have been offered accommodation in the dispersal areas. [8027]

Angela Eagle: As at the end of July 2001 the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) was supporting 27,740 ¹ asylum seekers in its accommodation outside of the London and south central regions and 1,070 ¹ in its accommodation in the London and South Central regions. It is the policy of NASS to offer accommodation in London only when there are exceptional reasons, such as medical reasons, to do so. NASS disperses asylum seekers to locations in the United Kingdom on a "no-choice" basis to relieve the burden on London and the south east; Brighton and Hove, Hastings and St. Leonards, Portsmouth and Southampton are the only four cluster areas used within the south central and east region.

Of those asylum seekers being supported in NASS accommodation in the London and south central regions, 240 ¹ were disbenefited cases. Of those being supported in NASS accommodation outside the London and south central regions, 20 ¹ were disbenefited cases. There is no available figure for the number of disbenefited cases offered accommodation in the London and south central regions specifically because their children had been educated in the same school for 12 months or more. Also, some of those disbenefited cases who were being supported in NASS accommodation outside the London and south central regions may have already been there when they became disbenefited rather than having been dispersed subsequently.

¹ Figures include dependants and are rounded to the nearest 10.

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many disbenefited asylum seeker households are awaiting a decision on their application to the National Asylum Support System. [8033]

Angela Eagle: The information requested is not available.

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received concerning management and support services for asylum seekers at the Landmark and Inn on the Park in Everton, Liverpool. [7415]

Angela Eagle: Home Office Ministers have received a number of letters from my hon. Friend in recent months on issues relating to the Landmark and Inn on the Park. Representations have also been received from Liverpool City Council and the police.

Ministers have held meetings on the subject with local MPs and full consideration has been given to the issues raised.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers awaiting adjudication there are in Wales. [7745]

Angela Eagle: The available information comes from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) who began supporting and dispersing asylum seekers who applied for asylum on or after 3 April 2000. Statistics from NASS, for the end of July 2001, show that for asylum seekers located in Wales 370 ¹ asylum seekers (including dependants) were

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being supported in NASS accommodation and 110 ¹ asylum seekers (including dependants) were being supported with vouchers only.

Information on how many of these cases were awaiting adjudication is unavailable and could be obtained only by examining individual case files at disproportionate cost.

Information is not currently available centrally on the location of asylum seekers that either do not apply for NASS support or who were receiving Department of Social Security (DSS) or local authority support before NASS began.

¹ Figures rounded to the nearest 10.

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department assessed the backlog of asylum applications as being in excess of 40,000. [7856]

Angela Eagle: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate completed a physical count of the asylum applications backlog on 4 September. Checks were then carried out to ensure that the count was correct but the announcement scheduled for 12 September was postponed following the terrorist attack in the United States.

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to ensure that staff at the National Asylum Support Service understand the particular needs of asylum seekers with HIV and other long-term illnesses. [8076]

Angela Eagle: Asylum seekers have the same rights to national health service (NHS) treatment as any other person who is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom.

Voluntary sector reception assistants who assist asylum seekers with the completion of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) application for support are trained to ask asylum seekers for details of any medical treatment or counselling they or their dependants may be receiving that would affect the type and/or location of accommodation allocated to them.

NASS caseworkers are aware that all relevant factors must be taken into account when deciding whether or where to disperse. This will include any information relating to medical or health needs. Caseworkers are always alert to any exceptional circumstances in individual cases, which might make it appropriate to depart from the general guidelines when accommodation is being allocated.

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he has taken to ensure that the National Asylum Support Service disperses asylum seekers with HIV to areas where appropriate support is available to them. [8077]

Angela Eagle: Asylum seekers have the same rights to national health service (NHS) treatment as any other person who is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom.

Applicants may choose to notify National Asylum Support Service (NASS) that either they or their children are HIV positive and require specialist treatment. It is entirely a matter for the individual to decide whether or not to provide information about their health needs. Where health needs are stated on the NASS application form, and the individual gives his/her consent to that

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information being shared with the NHS, NASS will notify the receiving local health authority accordingly. Services for people with HIV are available on an open access basis for HIV testing and counselling, with onward referral to more specialised treatment as appropriate for those testing positive.

The Department of Health has advised that HIV support services are available in various dispersal areas and this is taken into account when accommodation is being allocated.

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