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School Places

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of (a) school places and (b) the shortage of teachers in the Buckingham constituency. [17861]

Mr. Timms: My Department does not collect detailed information on school places. The Government believe that decisions concerning the supply of school places are best taken locally by the main partners in the provision of education, who have knowledge of local needs. Local education authorities have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places in their area. They must publish annually a School Organisation Plan setting out how they plan to deal with any surplus or deficit of places over a five-year rolling period.

Where an LEA can demonstrate overall growth in the need for school places it may apply to my Department for capital funding.

My Department does not hold figures on teacher shortages in the Buckingham constituency centrally.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what latest assessment she has made of the shortage of (a) school places and (b) teachers in Arundel and South Downs. [18308]

Mr. Timms: My Department does not collect detailed information on school places. The Government believe that decisions concerning the supply of school places are best taken locally by the main partners in the provision of education, who have knowledge of local needs. Local education authorities have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places in their area. They must publish annually a School Organisation Plan setting out how they plan to deal with any surplus or deficit of places over a five-year rolling period.

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Where a local education authority can demonstrate overall growth in the need for school places it may apply to my Department for capital funding.

There were 82 teacher vacancies in the maintained schools sector, 1.6 per cent. of teachers, in West Sussex at January 2001. Figures for the constituency of Arundel and South Downs are not held centrally.

Pupil Attainment

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if data showing average attainment level of pupils entering (a) individual primary and (b) individual secondary schools (i) are and (ii) could practically be made available centrally to her Department. [18266]

Mr. Timms: We do not hold data showing average attainment level of pupils entering individual primary schools.

We have recently published the results of a pilot programme for the calculation of value added measures for secondary schools, showing the progress made from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and from Key Stage 3 to GCSE/GNVQ. The evaluation of the pilot and further consultation in the new year will inform final decisions on the publication of these two measures for all secondary schools in the 2002 performance tables.

School Performance

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement in respect of the recent findings of the National Foundation of Educational Research in respect of average performance levels by (a) comprehensive schools and (b) grammar and secondary modern schools counted together. [18264]

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Mr. Timms: The findings of the recent research by the National Foundation for Educational Research are interesting and not inconsistent with our own statistics that the GCSE results (based on grades and average point scores) for 15-year-olds in grammar schools are, broadly speaking, similar to those of the top 25 per cent. in comprehensive schools.

Investors in People (Slough)

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which organisations in Slough received Investors in People awards in each year since 1997. [18648]

John Healey: Organisations in Slough which have received Investors in People awards since 1997 are as follows:











































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Individual Learning Accounts

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she plans to introduce a replacement scheme for ILAs. [18294]

John Healey: We are developing future plans which build on the successful elements of the ILA programme. I hope to announce more details on the process for developing a further scheme in due course.

Infant Class Sizes

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action her Department is taking in relation to infant classes of 31 or more. [18527]

John Healey [holding answer 27 November 2001]: Since this September infant classes for five, six and seven-year-olds have been limited to no more than 30 children, except in a few limited circumstances permitted by the class size legislation.

Figures published on 15 November 2001 showed that in September 2001 99.9 per cent. of infant classes had 30 or fewer pupils in them, or exceeded the limit for reasons permitted by the relevant legislation. Sixty-eight classes, just 0.1 per cent. of the total, appeared to be in breach of the limit. We are following these up with the local education authorities concerned to agree ways in which they can meet the limit.

Threshold Pay

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the estimated total cost of threshold pay is in 2001–02. [19352]

Mr. Timms: My Department paid over £400 million in threshold special grant to local authorities in the 2000–01 school year. In addition to continuing payments for teachers already on the upper pay scale, the cost of threshold pay in the 2001–02 financial year will depend on the number of teachers who cross the threshold this school year. That will not be known until the new year.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received on the cost to schools and LEAs of threshold pay. [19339]

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Mr. Timms: The Department provides special grant funding to meet the extra salary costs associated with teachers crossing the threshold. This arrangement is widely regarded as satisfactory.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 20 November 2001, Official Report, column 259W, on threshold allowance awards, how many teachers received threshold back pay in the 2000–01 financial year in each local authority; how many teachers have paid higher rates of tax because their threshold back pay was held up to the 2001–02 financial year in each local authority; and what was (a) the average, (b) the shortest and (c) the longest time between head teacher and assessor approvals of threshold by each local authority. [19250]

Mr. Timms: The information requested has not been collected centrally and could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.

Lecturers

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the latest figures are for the average pay of university lecturers; and what plans she has to increase this amount. [18672]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 28 November 2001]: The figures in the table reflect data collected for 1999–2000. The Government play no part in setting pay levels in the higher education sector.

Average salary of full-time academic staff in UK HE institutions 1999–2000

GradeAverage salary (£)
Professors(17)50,600
Senior lecturers and Researchers(18)37,300
Lecturers(19)28,400
Researchers(20)21,800
Other grades(21)30,000
All grades30,600

(17) Includes heads of departments, professors, former UAP scale researchers (grade IV), clinical professors and those appointed professors on a locally determined scale.

(18) Includes principal lecturers, senior lecturers (former UAP/CSCFC scales), former UAP scale researchers (grade III), clinical senior lecturers and those appointed senior or principal lecturers on a locally determined scale.

(19) Includes lecturers, senior lecturers (former PCEF scale), clinical lecturers and those appointed lecturers on a locally determined scale.

(20) Includes all research grades not listed above and those appointed lecturers on a locally determined scale.

(21) Includes all other grades of academic staff not listed above.


Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of university lecturers are employed on a part-time basis; and what plans she has to increase the use of part-time lecturers. [18673]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 28 November 2001]: The latest figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency are shown in the table. Higher education institutions as independent bodies are responsible for appointing their own staff. They will take into account their individual operational needs and circumstances in offering the contracts.

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Academic staff in UK higher education institutions 1999–2000

NumbersPercentage
Full-time113,79084
Part-time21,96016
Total135,750100

Source:

Higher education statistics agency's staff record. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.


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