---

Teenage Pregnancies

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) conceptions, (b) maternities and (c) abortions were recorded among girls of each year of age under 16 in each health region in each year since 1989. [28209]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 8 March 2002:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many (a) conceptions, (b) maternities and (c) abortions were recorded among girls of each year of age under 16 in each health region in each year since 1989. I am replying in his absence. (28209)

The available figures based on health regions using boundaries as at 1 April 2001 are for the years 1992–2000. These are shown in the attached table. Figures for years before 1992 are only available for the old regional health authority areas prevailing at the time and would not be comparable with 2001 health regions. For consistency, the figures are all presented using age at conception for girls conceiving under age 16.

Conceptions under 16 by outcome and age for health regions 1992–2000

	Number of conceptions			Number of conceptions leading to maternity			Number at conceptions leading to abortion
	Age at conception Under 141415			Age at conception Under 141415			Age at conception Under 141415
Year of conception and health region*
1992
Northern & Yorkshire	53	236	796	25	113	472	28	123	324
Trent	46	187	659	14	86	364	32	101	295
West Midlands	51	199	674	19	93	356	32	106	318
North West	41	248	765	22	120	465	19	128	300
Eastern	26	139	406	10	52	182	16	87	224
London	48	225	594	19	104	291	29	121	303
South East	45	186	647	19	64	334	26	122	313
South West	32	115	329	11	50	169	21	65	160
Wales	21	97	352	8	48	197	13	49	155
1993
Northern & Yorkshire	57	275	780	20	103	442	37	172	338
Trent	42	225	606	18	95	328	24	130	278
West Midlands	45	228	644	24	119	369	21	109	275
North West	55	261	786	23	128	447	32	133	339
Eastern	25	161	377	10	64	180	15	97	197
London	54	200	613	26	89	293	28	111	320
South East	41	191	634	19	69	281	22	122	353
South West	28	128	346	15	44	170	13	84	176
Wales	21	105	339	10	50	207	11	55	132
1994
Northern & Yorkshire	69	303	837	27	150	485	42	153	352
Trent	48	235	624	23	97	345	25	138	279
West Midlands	50	247	733	25	100	405	25	147	328
North West	62	264	800	24	118	462	38	146	338
Eastern	21	146	409	8	56	197	13	90	212
London	66	243	656	28	90	299	38	153	357
South East	35	243	647	16	84	324	19	159	323
South West	23	133	396	8	51	177	15	82	219
Wales	23	124	358	8	58	210	15	66	148
1995
Northern & Yorkshire	53	271	923	19	135	559	34	136	364
Trent	35	214	673	10	113	413	25	101	260
West Midlands	48	239	711	25	125	413	23	114	298
North West	47	235	821	17	114	463	30	121	358
Eastern	36	130	442	10	52	214	26	78	228
London	74	232	713	30	101	338	44	131	375
South East	39	238	729	16	102	351	23	136	378
South West	25	133	423	10	56	202	15	77	221
Wales	25	142	400	13	80	237	12	62	163
1996
Northern & Yorkshire	60	317	887	32	152	503	28	165	384
Trent	58	210	790	19	88	463	39	122	327
West Midlands	57	225	821	22	99	427	35	126	394
North West	54	256	921	21	123	525	33	133	396
Eastern	25	137	485	11	51	258	14	86	227
London	71	278	823	35	105	369	36	173	454
South East	57	225	810	25	75	417	32	150	393
South West	39	160	447	13	68	237	26	92	210
Wales	30	153	461	14	77	269	16	76	192
1997
Northern & Yorkshire	57	309	907	28	137	535	29	172	372
Trent	34	217	647	15	117	343	19	100	304
West Midlands	52	239	721	22	96	360	30	143	361
North West	45	245	781	19	111	424	26	134	357
Eastern	25	149	457	9	57	238	16	92	219
London	57	285	799	20	115	366	37	170	433
South East	47	262	774	19	111	407	28	151	367
South West	34	142	422	15	64	218	19	78	204
Wales	14	116	434	2	58	258	12	58	176
1998
Northern & Yorkshire	63	301	856	26	134	461	37	167	395
Trent	56	241	672	26	108	358	30	133	314
West Midlands	56	227	752	18	87	368	38	140	384
North West	39	263	826	21	108	439	18	155	387
Eastern	28	156	451	13	57	223	15	99	228
London	64	280	808	25	110	351	39	170	457
South East	54	236	773	17	98	362	37	138	411
South West	35	144	474	10	53	228	25	91	246
Wales	28	140	429	14	66	242	14	74	187
1999
Northern & Yorkshire	53	260	806	23	132	403	30	128	403
Trent	39	204	623	14	89	311	25	115	312
West Midlands	49	206	635	22	86	339	27	120	296
North West	50	258	826	21	106	437	29	152	389
Eastern	27	145	455	11	58	209	16	87	246
London	71	257	730	31	99	325	40	158	405
South East	63	256	737	28	98	337	35	158	400
South West	28	161	469	10	59	232	18	102	237
Wales	26	119	392	14	58	210	12	61	182
2000
Northern & Yorkshire	43	250	805	18	119	408	25	131	397
Trent	40	181	590	18	75	310	22	106	280
West Midlands	49	234	709	21	104	342	28	130	367
North West	38	229	840	21	98	430	17	131	410
Eastern	30	153	430	11	63	185	19	90	245
London	87	303	856	24	105	340	63	198	516
South East	47	268	792	22	113	348	25	155	444
South West	40	153	450	16	59	215	24	94	235
Wales	21	119	354	10	54	200	11	65	154

* Boundaries as at 1 April 2001

Source: Office for National Statistics

Background note:

1. Boundaries are for health regions as defined at 1 April 2001. This is a consequence of the absence of postcode on the electronic records for abortions prior to 1992.

2. The wording of the question is ambiguous in that year of age could relate either to the age at which events occurred or to conceptions at each age leading to an abortion or a maternity. For consistency, we have chosen the latter interpretation since it provides the two components of conceptions at each age.

3. To prevent disclosure and preserve the confidentiality of individuals figures for under 14 have not been disaggregated.

4. This question was originally asked of the Secretary of State for Health on 15 January 2002 The Department of Health transferred it to ONS on 1 March 2002.

5. Numbers of conceptions are estimated from registrations of births and notifications of abortions. Miscarriages before the 24th week of gestation are not included.

8 Mar 2002 : Column 621W

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Standard Spending Assessment

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will give the total standard spending assessment per pupil, and the total over or under spend per pupil, broken down by local education authority for England and Wales for each year from 1990–91 to 2000–01, for 2001–02 to date, and projected for the financial year 2002–03, adjusted for inflation at current values. [37196]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is not collected in the form requested. Because of the long time series involved, it is only possible to provide an analysis for education overall. A table containing information showing Local Education Authorities' Standard spending Assessments (SSA) and Outturn at 2001 prices for England has been placed in the Library. My right

8 Mar 2002 : Column 622W

hon. Friend is not responsible for expenditure in Wales. We do not yet have information on spending in 2001–02, or projected for 2002–03.

Individual Learning Account

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether the database held by Capita of individual learning account holders has been made available to her Department to assist in investigations into fraud and abuse of the individual learning account scheme; and if she will make a statement; [36945]

(2) whether Capita has been able to comply with all her Department's requests for information concerning individual learning account holders since 23 November; and if she will make a statement. [36944]

8 Mar 2002 : Column 623W

John Healey: Capita have complied with all of the Department's requests for information about Individual Learning Account holders and have been working closely with the Department to assist investigations into potential fraud and abuse of the Individual Learning Account programme.

Capita provided four copies of the ILA Centre database; one has been passed to the police and three copies have been retained by my Department.

Job No: 715993 Folios: 000-000Operator: Operator No 3. Date: 08/03/02

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information concerning individual learning account holders is stored by Capita; and in what form. [36947]

Mr. Healey: The Individual Learning Account Centre, which is managed by Capita, stores information provided by Individual Learning account holders on the Individual Leaning Account Application Form. This information is stored both electronically and as a hard copy. The information held is as follows:

name and address;

details on previous learning accounts;

a declaration on personal eligibility (British citizen or UK National, EU or EAA national, employed or self employed and paying UK taxes, not in employment);

date of birth;

**other personal information (gender, employment status, occupation code, registered disabled, ethnic origin, telephone number, e-mail address);

**if in forces Service Number and if member of ELC Scheme;

**additional information (attending full time education, if so where, other funding for learning, previous highest qualification, target groups—member of school support staff or returning to work, how applicant heard about ILAs).

Providing information for items marked ** was not compulsory and therefore is not held for all ILA holders.

In addition information is held electronically on learning episodes undertaken by ILA holders. This covers: registered learning provider number, course identifier, course name, course start date, course cost and payment claimed.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the non-fraudulent abuses of the Individual Learning Account scheme have been; and if she will issue guidance on methods of selling in any successor scheme. [40403]

John Healey [holding answer 5 March 2002]: Recorded complaints received in respect of non-compliance with the rules of the programme included aggressive marketing, poor value for money, unsolicited learning materials sent to learners, improper use of the ILA and DfES logos and offers of free training to which individuals were not required to contribute.

There will be a replacement ILA-style scheme building on the strengths of the ILA and taking into account lessons learned from the ILA investigations, and the findings of the current stakeholder consultation exercise due in early April. We will announce our plans for the successor scheme in due course.

Job No: 715993 Folios: 000-000Operator: Operator No 3. Date: 08/03/02

8 Mar 2002 : Column 624W

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the Government are doing to help those students who started individual learning account courses and could not complete the course because of the decision to suspend ILAs; [40629]

(2) how many students could not complete their courses because of the Government's decision to suspend the individual learning account in (a) the UK, (b) the north-east, (c) south Tyneside and (d) the Jarrow constituency. [40628]

John Healey: The Individual Learning Account programme was closed down completely on 23 November 2001. The Department has taken steps to ensure all bookings of eligible learning are honoured. The Department has put in place validation arrangements to process payments for claims already in the system when it was closed down and for submitting claims for learning booked, but unconfirmed on the system at its closure on 23 November. All learners who started ILA supported learning will, subject to validation checks, benefit from a discount.

It was not mandatory for a learner to complete their ILA supported course to b able to benefit from a discount. Therefore, the ILA Centre was not required to hold information on course completion.

---