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Departmental Spending

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total amount of spending by his Department was in each nation and region of the UK, in the last year for which figures are available; what proportion of his Department's total spending this constitutes; and if he will make a statement. [6857]

Mr. Blunkett: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on 15 October 2001, Official Report, column 854W.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

New Deal (Civil Service)

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Mr. Shaw) of 28 November 2001, Official Report, column 901W, what proportion the new deal starts in each Government Department were of the total number of employees recruited by the Department over the relevant period; and how many of the new deal starts were followed by sustained unsubsidised employment. [20702]

Mr. Leslie: The information is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Regional Government

Andrew George: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will publish a paper on regional Government in England. [19917]

Mrs. Roche: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister to my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick) on 2 July 2001, Official Report, column 80W.

4 Dec 2001 : Column 243W

Civil Service

Adam Price: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many full-time posts in the UK Civil Service are based in each parliamentary constituency. [18521]

Mr. Leslie: Information is available for the countries and Government Office regions of Great Britain. Data for full-time equivalent posts are published in "Civil Service Statistics", copies of which are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. The latest information, for April 2000, was published in August this year. Data for full-time posts, excluding part-timers, is contained in the table.

The data are not collected in a form which can be disaggregated to parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain, and therefore the information is not available except at disproportionate cost. Figures for the Northern Ireland Civil Service are given in the table.

Full-time civil servants employed by Departments and agencies in Great Britain, by country/region of workplace

Government office regions	Numbers of staff
London	79,960
South East	51,870
South West	46,130
West Midlands	29,450
North West	34,340
Merseyside	14,150
North East	24,440
Yorks and Humberside	30,810
East Midlands	18,060
Eastern	25,410
Wales	27,410
Scotland	42,100
Northern Ireland	5,030
Overseas	2,380
Not known	4,400
Total	435,930

Full-time Northern Ireland civil service posts by parliamentary constituency

	Numbers of NICS(33) staff
Belfast, East	4,940
Belfast, North	1,470
Belfast, South	7,800
Belfast, West	1,510
East Antrim	450
East Londonderry	1,060
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	890
Foyle	1,410
Lagan Valley	580
Mid Ulster	310
Newry and Armagh	660
North Antrim	890
North Down	840
South Antrim	450
South Down	620
Strangford	210
Upper Bann	920
West Tyrone	820
Constituency unknown	80
Total	25,900

⁽³³⁾ Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) staff enumerated at 1 January 2001. Includes industrial and non-industrial, permanent and casual staff but excludes the following: those working part-time or on career break, Home Civil Servants, Northern Ireland Audit Office, Northern Ireland Court Service and uniformed Prison Service. Parliamentary constituency of staff refers to the location of the office or depot where staff are based.

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e-Commerce Targets

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will rank Government Departments in respect of their performance in meeting e-commerce targets; and if he will make a statement. [17396]

Mr. Leslie: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East (Dr. Kumar) on 30 November 2001, Official Report, column 1200W.

People's Panel

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 896W, on the People's Panel, if he will list (a) the title, purpose and cost of projects that have been commissioned from the panel between 1 November and the latest date for which figures are available and (b) ongoing projects being carried out by the panel in the same period. [20385]

Mr. Leslie: Since 1 November a sixth wave of consumer research using the panel ("People's Panel Wave 6") has been commissioned. The purpose is to complete a series of surveys tracking satisfaction with public services. The cost of the research is £73,200 excluding VAT.

The panel has been involved with no on-going projects during this period.

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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Grant-maintained Protection Grant

Mr. Daisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will ensure that (a) the grant-maintained protection grant is maintained in 2002–03. [19981]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 3 December 2001]: Bearing in mind the additional resources to be made available to local education authorities in 2002–03 as a result of the local government finance settlement to be announced on 4 December and the likelihood of a further general reduction in the amount of transitional funding payable by LEAs to former GM schools, my

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right hon. Friend considers that there are insufficient grounds for continuing to pay LEAs a special grant in respect of transitional funding in the face of other claims on the resources available to the Department.

Specialist Schools (Selection)

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list each specialist school as at 1 September that had chosen to exercise the option to select up to 10 per cent. of pupils by aptitude together with (a) the nature of the specialism, (b) the status of the school, (c) the percentage of pupils selected, (d) the percentage of pupils with statements and (e) the percentage of pupils receiving free school meals. [20689]

Mr. Timms: The latest available information on aptitude selection is for school year 1999–2000. The following table shows the specialist schools which had selected a proportion of their pupils for that year by aptitude for a subject or subjects relevant to their specialist designation, together with the specialism of each school, the school's status, the percentage of pupils selected in each school, the percentage of pupils with statements and the percentage of all pupils receiving free school meals.

Specialist schools: selection by aptitude

				Percentage of:
School	LEA	Specialism	School's Status	pupils selected on aptitude	pupils with statements	free school meals take-up
Archbishop Blanch	Liverpool	Technology	Voluntary aided	5.6	17.	11.7
Archbishop Temple	Lancashire	Technology	Voluntary aided	10.0	1.5	8.6
Bohunt	Hampshire	Language	Foundation	10.0	0.7	1.5
Brentwood Ursuline Convent	Essex	Arts	Voluntary aided	10.0	0.1	4.1
Chaucer Technology	Kent	Technology	Foundation	Up to 100	1.8	6.1
Chestnut Grove	Wandsworth	Arts	Community	16.0	4.2	20.3
Cornwallis	Kent	Technology	Foundation	10.0	3.6	6.1
Deacon's	Peterborough, City	Technology	Foundation	15.0	1.5	13.4
George Spencer GM	Nottinghamshire	Technology	Foundation	10.0	0.7	3.5
Heathside	Surrey	Technology	Foundation	4.0	1.2	2.3
Hockerill Anglo European	Hertfordshire	Language	Foundation	10.0	0.7	3.5
Intake High	Leeds	Arts	Community	10.0	4.6	18.0
Lodge Park	Northamptonshire	Technology	Foundation	10.0	1.3	8.4
Lynn Grove VA High	Norfolk	Technology	Voluntary aided	15.0	0.7	7.9
Mill Hill County High	Barnet, LB of	Technology	Foundation	10.0	2.9	2.8
Ninestiles	Birmingham	Technology	Foundation	10.0	4.5	22.6
Oakbank	Bradford	Sports	Foundation	10.0	3.7	10.2
Oldfield	Bath and NE Somerset	Sports	Foundation	10.0	0.5	4.1
Philip Morant	Essex	Technology	Foundation	15.0	1.2	5.0
Sandwich Technology	Kent	Technology	Foundation	10.0	1.8	11.1
Small Heath	Birmingham	Technology	Foundation	10.0	0.9	32.9
St. Margaret's C of E High	Liverpool	Technology	Voluntary aided	15.0	1.4	4.6
St. Martin's	Essex	Technology	Foundation	10.0	0.7	5.1
St. Marylebone (The)	Westminster	Arts	Voluntary aided	10.0	1.7	11.5
Wye Valley (The)	Buckinghamshire	Sports	Community	10.0	4.4	6.6

Notes:

This information was taken from progress reports submitted by 403 schools in December 2000. Progress reports for schools operational as of September 2000 are currently being received but the information from these has not yet been collated.

The 1998 School Standards and Framework Act provides for schools with a specialism to select up to 10 per cent. of their intake on the basis of aptitude for a specialist subject prescribed in regulations. Prior to the 1998 Act schools had greater discretion over aptitude selection and this accounts for the percentages above 10 per cent.

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of the total of specialist schools have chosen to exercise the option to select up to 10 per cent. of pupils by aptitude for each of the last three years. [20690]

Mr. Timms: The latest available information for specialist schools which have chosen to exercise the option to select up to 10 per cent. of pupils by aptitude is for school year 1999–2000. This is the first year for which this information has been collected. Information for

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2000–01 is due to be received shortly and will be available early in the new year.

Of the 403 Specialist Schools operational as of September 1999, 25 schools (6.2 per cent.) selected a proportion of their pupils by aptitude for a subject or subjects relevant to their specialist designation.

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