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Legal Costs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what legal costs have been incurred by her Department in each of the last four years. [34347]

Mr. Ivan Lewis:

1998–99—This information can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.


1999–2000—This information can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.


2000–01—£632,896.


2001–02—£607,490 (April-February).

Special Educational Needs

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children with statements of special educational needs were categorised as autistic in (a) 2001, (b) 1996 and (c) 1991. [37422]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not available centrally.

Capita Contracts

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many contracts the Department has with Capita. [38384]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department has five contracts in total with Capita for a range of different services.

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of

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the change in costs incurred by local education authority maintained schools as a result of the introduction of the climate change levy. [38586]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 4 March 2002]: Our assessment is that for a school that must pay the climate change levy (CCL), the increase in fuel costs in the financial year 2001–02 due to the levy was of the order of 10 per cent.

Not all schools have to pay the CCL. Those schools which are eligible to pay the lower rate of VAT on fuel of 5 per cent. are exempt from the levy.

Electricity sourced from new forms of renewable energy is also exempt from the CCL, as are supplies from registered sources of "good quality" combined heat and power.

Advertising

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the publicity and advertising campaigns run by her Department in each of the last four years, specifying the (a) purpose, (b) cost to public funds, (c) number of staff involved and (d) method of evaluation in each case. [39092]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department's total spend on advertising was:

	£
1998–99	15,673,000
1999–2000	11,901,000
2000–01	29,110,000
2001–02(34)	17,665,000

⁽³⁴⁾ Year to date.

Campaigns over £500,000 are:

Campaign	Details	£
1998–99
New Deal	To promote awareness of New Deal and to inform potential clients and employers, and to sign up employers	4,772,000
Reading and Literacy	To encourage parents to get more involved in their children's reading (linked to National Year of Reading)	3,648,000
Disability Discrimination	To inform employers about how the Disability Discrimination Act affects them	1,924,000
National Traineeships	To encourage employers to take up National Traineeships	1,502,000
Learning Direct	Promoting the Learning Direct helpline to young people	619,000
Career Development Loans	To encourage young people to take out CDLs to improve their career prospects	604,000
Millennium Bug Busters	To promote to employers training on how to prepare for the Millennium Bug	585,000
1999–2000
Disability Discrimination	To challenge the general public to change their attitude to disability and to inform employers about the Disability Discrimination Act	2,643,000
Maths Year 2000	To encourage parents to help with their children's maths (linked to Maths Year 2000)	2,322,000
Age Diversity	To address age discrimination in recruitment and employment practice	1,128,000
National Traineeships	To encourage young people to take up National Traineeships	1,077,000
One	To promote the launch of the One scheme in 12 pilot areas	873,000
Childcare Link	To promote a helpline telling parents what child care options are available in their area	810,000
Time Off for Study	To inform employers of their legal responsibilities under the Right to Time Off for Study Act	702,000
2000–01
Don't Quit Now	To raise awareness of the benefits of staying in some form of learning after reaching the age of compulsory education	2,700,000
New Deal 50 plus	To increase participation in New Deal 50 plus	2,400,000
ICT Employability	To encourage those out of work to take up taster courses in ICT	2,011,000
Childcare Recruitment	To encourage recruitment into the child care sectors by young people and returners	1,821,000
Disability Discrimination	To tell SME service providers how aspects of the Disability Discrimination Act affect them	1,242,000
Modern Apprenticeships	To promote the availability of Modern Apprenticeships	856,000
Individual Learning Accounts	To encourage people to take up Individual Learning Accounts to improve their career prospects	612,000
Fast Track Teachers	To inform potential recruits about the fast-track teachers scheme	1,056,000
Parents' Magazine	To promote a magazine which helps parents to get more involved in their children's education	1,484,000
2001–02(35)
Childcare Recruitment	To encourage recruitment into the child care sectors by young people and returners	2,504,400
Foundation Degree	To promote Foundation Degrees	667,000
New Deal 25+	To increase participation in New Deal 25+	633,000
Excellence Challenge	To widen participation of young people in higher education	1,750,000
Science Year 2001–02	To encourage more interest in science among young people	1,803,000
Adult Basic Skills 'Get On'	To encourage adults to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills	4,597,000
Parents' Magazine	To promote a magazine which helps parents to get more involved in their children's education	770,000
Fast Track Teachers	To inform potential recruits about the fast-track teachers scheme	1,250,000
Millennium Volunteers	To encourage young people from 16 to 24 to become involved in volunteering activities	848,000
Foundation Degree (new terms)	To provide information on the new terms of the Foundation Degree	658,000
Get On—Adult Basic Skills	To encourage adults to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills	1,820,000
Modern Apprenticeships	To promote the availability of Modern apprenticeships	1,670,000

⁽³⁵⁾ Year to date.

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It is not possible, except at disproportionate expense, to provide a detailed breakdown of the number of staff working on each campaign.

The Department runs a number of campaigns in support of our key delivery priorities, in order to inform our target audiences of how they are affected by our policies. All of our campaigns follow the guidelines which govern Government information on issues of propriety and cost.

Detailed evaluation criteria are not held centrally and could be collated only at disproportionate cost. However, every campaign is measured vigorously against specific communication objectives using pre- and post-campaign research, conducted by independent research companies, to record shifts in awareness, attitudes, knowledge or behaviour among the target audience(s).

The Department employs tracking research to monitor these shifts over time and typically conducts telephone surveys of respondents to advertising campaigns to monitor satisfaction with the services offered and actions taken as a result of the campaign. It routinely tests the likely effectiveness of different creative approaches on the target audience(s) through market research, as part of the development of advertising campaigns. Lessons learned from previous campaigns are used to inform future ones.

Student Debt

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what was the average level of student debt, broken down by subject, upon graduating from a first degree in the last 12 months. [39707]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 4 March 2002]: Information on student debt is not collated by subject.

Information on student loan accounts is held by the Student Loans Company, and relates to publicly owned debt or to debts held in the private sector following the two Government debt sales.

The average debt of a borrower with a mortgage style student loan entering repayment at the start of financial year 1999–2000, the latest year for which data are available, was £3,210.

The first cohort of students on a three-year course who entered higher education under the new student support arrangements is due to enter repayment in April 2002. The average debt of a borrower with a new income contingent loan entering repayment in that year is estimated to be some £6,100.

11 Mar 2002 : Column 762W

Students who started their course in 1997–98, or earlier, repay their student loan on a mortgage-style (fixed-term) basis. Students commencing their course in 1998–99, or later, will repay their loans on an income-contingent basis. Their repayments will be linked to their income after leaving higher education so that leavers only repay when their income exceeds the threshold of £10,000 per annum.

Information on students' private sector debt such as overdrafts and other commercial loans is not available centrally.

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