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Central Pupil Database

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) which organisations and individuals will have access to the personal details of pupils stored on the central pupil database; [29372]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 22 January 2002]: The central pupil database will contain statistical profiles of pupils in England, built up over time from the "Pupil Level Annual Schools Census" (PLASC) returns which maintained schools will provide each January from January 2002, plus details of Key Stage assessment and examination results obtained separately from schools, marking agencies or examination boards. In order for these profiles to be accurate pupil names are needed to help ensure that all data relating to the same pupil are collated correctly.

Access to the personal details of pupils

The Department has no interest in the identity of individual pupils as such, and will be using the database solely for statistical purposes, with only technical staff directly engaged in the data collation process having access to pupil names.

Any disclosures of personal data (ie data including names or other details that would enable the recipient to determine the identity of individual pupils) will have to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other legislation relevant to the particular case. Subject to this proviso, organisations or individuals who may have access to personal data are as follows:





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Approval of requests for access to personal data

No disclosures of personal data beyond those listed above are anticipated at this time. Should future developments indicate that further disclosures may be appropriate, these will be considered by the Secretary of State on their merits, subject to the overriding requirement to comply with the Data Protection Act and any other relevant legislation.

With respect to (4) above, requests from research organisations, the precise arrangements for considering whether or not to approve such requests have yet to be decided. However the factors likely to be taken into account are:


In cases of doubt on any of these points, the Department would expect to err on the side of caution.

Policy with respect to pupils leaving the state education system

The Department does not intend to delete the records of pupils who leave the maintained schools sector, either at age 16 or 18, or before then. Information for these pupils remains of statistical and research value—for example to analyse young people's progression from school into further education and training, higher education and the labour market. The Department will be using information on past pupils for statistical and research purposes only, and any disclosures will be for

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those purposes only. On this basis section 33 of the Data Protection Act allows personal data to be retained indefinitely.

Higher Education

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which constituencies have no higher education establishments within their boundaries. [29387]

Margaret Hodge: The available information, showing the number of HE institutions in each constituency in the UK, is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library. The tables only take into account the location of the main site of the institution; some institutions have more than one campus, which may be situated in a different constituency.

Administration

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the administrative cost was of those functions of her Department concerned with schools in each year since 1997; and how much that sum represented per pupil. [29660]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 23 January 2002]: Since 1997, the Government's agenda for raising standards in schools has led to the introduction of many new policies, programmes and strategies. For example,

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the national literacy and numeracy strategies, working towards improved results at Key Stages 2 and 3, excellence in cities, along with modernising the teaching profession have all led to an increase in administrative spending on schools functions within the Department to ensure their effective delivery and continued success. However, this has mostly been achieved by redeploying resources from other functions in DfES. In real terms the Department's overall administrative costs were broadly the same in 2000–01 as they were in 1997–98.

Administrative costs for schools related functions, along with the sums that these represent per pupil, each year since 1997 were as follows:

£ million£ per pupil
1997–9823.42.85
1998–9927.03.28
1999–200031.03.73
2000–0134.54.14

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the administrative cost was of those functions of her Department concerned with (a) further and (b) higher education in each year since 1997; and how much those sums represented per full-term equivalent student. [29661]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 23 January 2002]: The figures are given in the table for the years in question:

Financial year
1997–981998–991999–20002000–01
DFES further education administration costs (£000s)1,7171,4712,5781,763
DFES administrative cost per full time equivalent FE students (£s)1.691.482.631.69
DfES higher education administrative costs (£000s)6,1628,3585,5016,358
DfES administrative cost per full time equivalent HE student (£s)6.058.175.285.98

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the administrative cost was of those functions of her Department concerned with early years in each year since 1997; and how much that sum represented per child under five in the population. [29663]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 23 January 2002]: The estimated administrative costs of my Department concerned with early years and the sums that these represent per child under five in the population in each of the years in question were:

YearAdministrative costs (£000)Sum per child under five (£)
1997–986120.20
1998–991,0180.33
1999–20001,1490.38
2000–011,6230.54

The increase in funding for these functions reflects this Government's manifesto commitment to expand the early years sector, helping create new provision and to extend support for existing provision. This has mostly been achieved by redeploying resources from other functions in DfES. In real terms the Department's overall administrative costs were broadly the same in 2000–01 as they were in 1997–98.


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