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Curriculum and Staffing Survey

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if a timetable has been established for the next curriculum and staffing survey; [8838]

(2) when she will answer the question tabled by the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough on 18 October, Ref 73. [20827]

Mr. Timms: A timetable has not been established for the next curriculum and staffing survey.

Education Action Zones

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is the total spent by her Department on central (a) advertising and marketing and (b) administration of education action zones; and what each of these amounts are as a proportion of total departmental expenditure on education action zones. [20829]

Mr. Timms: The Department has spent currently this year £130,000 on publicity for Education Action Zones, which is 0.15 per cent. of the total annual departmental expenditure on Education Action Zones.

The total central administration cost of all Statutory Education Action Zones and Excellence in Cities Action Zones is £577,000. This is the annual running cost budget, which is 0.7 per cent. of the total annual departmental expenditure on education action zones.

Health and Safety

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much her Department has spent on health and safety in the workplace in each year since 1997. [21270]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Separate records are not kept for total annual spend on health and safety in my Department. Most expenditure on statutory and beneficial health and safety issues is subsumed within on-going works programmes covering a wide range of building maintenance and improvement projects.

External Consultants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was to her Department of the use of external consultants in each of the last four years. [21261]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

10 Dec 2001 : Column: 642W

Sacred Heart High School, Newcastle

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether she proposes to approve the conventionally financed capital allocation for the Sacred Heart High School, Newcastle. [20292]

John Healey [holding answer 5 December 2001]: The application put forward by Newcastle local education authority on behalf of Sacred Heart High School, is being considered, together with all other applications submitted on behalf of VA schools, against the criteria published as part of the guidance for the 2002–03 Schools Capital Allocation Round.

My noble Friend the Minister for Education in the Lords, who has responsibility for capital funding issues at voluntary aided schools, plans to announce successful projects later this month.

It is not appropriate, therefore, to comment on the likely outcome of an application in advance of the announcement.

Specialist Colleges

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list specialist colleges in the secondary school sector by subject area. [20976]

Mr. Timms: A list of the 685 specialist colleges currently operational, grouped by specialism within each LEA, has been placed in the Library.

Schools (Romford)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Romford are not opening for a full five-day week on a regular basis. [21011]

Mr. Timms: My Department is not aware of any schools in Romford that are operating on less than a full five-day week.

Education and Youth Council

Mr. Jim Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the outcome was of the Education and Youth Council held in Brussels on 29 November; what the Government's position was on each issue discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [20363]

Margaret Hodge: I represented the UK at the morning (Education) session of this Council meeting; my right hon. Friend the Minister for Police, Courts and Drugs (Minister for Children and Young People) and Jane Davidson AM (Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning in Wales) represented the UK at the afternoon (Youth) session.

Education

The Council discussed the follow-up to the report on "Concrete Future Objectives of Education and Training Systems" (presented to the Stockholm European Council in March 2001) and adopted Conclusions setting out a number of principles concerning follow-up as well as a proposal timetable for taking work forward. The UK supported these principles, stressing the need for a coherent approach to work in this and other fields such as lifelong learning.

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The Council also discussed co-operation with third countries in the field of higher education, in the context of a Communication from the Commission on that subject.

Ministers adopted without debate a

"Resolution on the promotion of linguistic diversity and language learning in the framework of the implementation of the objectives of the European Year of Languages 2001"; and an


"Opinion concerning education and training issues in the proposal for a Council decision on guidelines for member states' employment policies for 2002".

The Council received information from the Commission on its Communication "Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality"; and on the proposal for a

"Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the European Year of Education through Sport 2004". Youth

The Council discussed the recently adopted Commission White Paper "A New Impetus for European Youth." Given the very short time scale since its publication on 21 November 2001, Ministers offered only an initial view of its content. The UK supported the generally positive response to the proposals in the White Paper and endorsed the suggested open method of co-operation as being an appropriate way of taking the policy forward.

Ministers adopted without debate a

"Resolution on the added value of voluntary activity for young people in the context of the development of Community action on youth."

The Council received information from the Commission on the Evaluation Report of "Youth for Europe" and "European Voluntary Service" Community programmes for the period 1995 to 1999, and from the German delegation on the European Conference "Youth for Tolerance and Democracy" held in Berlin from 21 to 23 October 2001.

A copy of the Council minutes will be placed in the Library in due course.

Pre-Schools (Funding)

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what basis the period of funding of places at privately run pre-schools is set at 33 weeks. [20610]

Margaret Hodge: The 33 week entitlement is a minimum requirement and was decided following advice from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

Private Education

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children between the ages of 5 and 18 years who are domiciled outside the United Kingdom were educated within the private sector for each of the years 1997–98 to 2000–01. [21362]

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Mr. Timms [holding answer 6 December 2001]: Information on pupils who are domiciled outside the United Kingdom and educated within the private sector is not available centrally.

Learning Mentors

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role learning mentors play in supporting gifted and talented students. [21815]

Mr. Timms: Learning Mentors can help gifted and talented students to overcome barriers to learning, such as bullying, truancy or disaffection. We encourage partnerships to ensure that the different strands of Excellence in Cities are mutually supportive.

14 to 19 Education

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will undertake to publish her Department's consultation paper on 14 to 19 education before relevant clauses of the Education Bill have been considered in Committee. [21856]

Mr. Timms: We set out our outline plans for the development of a more coherent and flexible 14–19 phase of learning in our Green Paper, "Schools—Building on Success" and White Paper, "Schools—Achieving Success". The consultation document on 16–19 organisation and inspection provided further details.

During any Parliamentary debate on these clauses we will ensure that the Committee receives as much relevant information as possible on how the clauses relate to the wider policies on 14–19 learning.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many, and what proportion of letters received by the Department from right hon. and hon. Members between 20 June and 20 July were replied to in (a) under 15, (b) under 20, (c) under 30, (d) under 40 and (e) over 40 working days. [22008]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Between 20 June and 20 July 2001, the Department for Education and Skills replied to a total of 903 items of Ministerial correspondence. The Department replied:

	Number of replies sent	Percentage of replies sent
(a) in 15 working days and under	640	71
(b) in 16–20 working days	133	15
(c) in 21–30 working days	104	11
(d) in 31 working days and over	26	3
Total	903

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