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Woodmancote Primary School
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she has had with Gloucestershire County Council about proposals to sell land of Woodmancote Primary School to developers; and if she will make a statement. [41913]
John Healey: [holding answer 11 March 2002]: The Department has not had any discussions with Gloucestershire County Council about proposals to sell land at Woodmancote Primary School.
Wired Communities Projects
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to continue the wired communities projects. [42658]
John Healey: The Wired Up Communities initiative is currently being piloted in seven areas across the country. A final evaluation report is now due in November 2002.
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After carefully considering this report, decisions will be made on any extension of the scheme to other communities.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what evaluation she has undertaken on the wired communities projects; and if she will place a copy in the Library. [42665]
John Healey: An interim evaluation report collecting baseline information from the phase 1 wired up communities pilot in Kensington (Liverpool) was produced in September 2001. Further data collection activities in the six phase 2 projects are currently taking place. The final evaluation report was due to have been published in April 2002 but delays in some projects becoming operational has put the expected publication back to November 2002. A copy of the final report will be placed in the Library.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the gender breakdown is of those involved in (a) IT for All and (b) wired communities projects. [42667]
John Healey: The IT for All scheme was a DTI initiative which ended in 2000. I have no information on the gender breakdown of those involved.
At this stage we do not have evaluation details from the six phase 2 wired up communities projects, but the phase 1 project located in Kensington (Liverpool) shows a 54 per cent. female: 46 per cent. male split within the representative sample. Data are currently being collected from the phase 2 projects and these will be available in April 2002.
Drinking Water
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information she has collated on the number of schools which make provision for access to drinking water throughout the school day. [42694]
John Healey: The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 require all schools to have a wholesome supply of drinking water. The Department for Education and Skills does not collect information about pupils' access to drinking water throughout the school day.
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance she has issued in respect of access throughout the school day to drinking water. [42677]
John Healey: The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) produced guidance in April 2001, to assist school caterers to implement nutritional standards for school lunches. This guidance states that the Secretary of State expects that drinking water should be available to all pupils, every day, free of charge.
The DfES circular, 0029/2000 (Standards for School Premises), gives advice on health and safety matters that schools should consider when positioning drinking water outlets. It also recommends that the pattern of demand for drinking water outlets should be considered by local education authorities, governing bodies and others when deciding how drinking water should be provided on school premises.
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Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding there is to meet the costs of the installation of drinking water supply to schools in Stoke on Trent, North; and if she will make a statement. [42695]
John Healey: All schools are required to have a wholesome supply of drinking water. As this is a fundamental requirement for all school premises and should be installed when they are built, there is no specific capital funding available. We expect governing bodies and local education authorities to secure a continuing wholesome water supply to all schools as part of their duty to secure the health and safety of staff and pupils, and are sure that this is an important consideration for local education authorities in considering how to distribute capital funding.
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what surveys she has conducted into the access to, and availability of, drinking water in schools. [42696]
John Healey: The Department for Education and Skills has not conducted any surveys of access to, and availability of, drinking water in schools. It is for local education authorities, governors and schools to decide how and when drinking water should be made available to pupils.
Learning Support Units
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many learning support units there are. [42890]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: There are approximately 1,090 learning support units in schools in England. We plan to increase this total further as independent evaluation of LSUs shows that they improve behaviour and cut exclusions. Phase 3 of Excellence in Cities and the Excellence Cluster programme should provide another 140 LSUs and up to 50 more outside the Excellence in Cities programme will be set up shortly.
Secondments
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 236–37W on secondments, to which appointments the staff from (a) Ernst and Young and (b) PricewaterhouseCoopers were seconded. [42928]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The seven secondees were appointed to provide policy advice, in the areas of the Department set out in the table.
| Parent organisation | Area of work | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Ernst and Young | School leadership | 2 |
| Teachers pay and pensions | 2 | |
| Transforming secondary education delivery unit | 2 | |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | Surestart unit | 1 |
Computers
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 8 March 2002, Official Report, column 633W, what the total cost was of the Computers Within Reach pilot scheme; how
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much funding remains; what evaluation has been made of the success of the scheme; and how this will inform future policy on the computers within reach concept. [43326]
John Healey: To date, the Computers Within Reach scheme has cost just under £5.5 million, leaving £9.5 million of Capital Modernisation Funding (CMF) for a further phase or alternative scheme.
An external research evaluation has been carried out and the final report was received recently. This indicates the scheme successfully reached target groups and contributed positively to increased use of ICT among recipients and their families.
This report has contributed to our overall evaluation of the scheme and future policy will take this into consideration as well as the value for money of recycled computers compared with new ones and the technical and logistical issues that affect the recycled computer market.
IT Contracts
Valerie Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she is taking to encourage competition (a) for departmental IT contracts and (b) for local education authority IT contracts. [44198]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department follows EC Directives and UK Regulations in letting contracts, including those for IT goods and services. The Department works with the Office of Government Commerce to achieve enhanced competition in all market sectors.
Section 5 of the Local Government Act 1999 requires Best Value authorities to carry out reviews of the services they provide. This applies to local education authorities' IT requirements and, where they take on the role, for provision of IT requirements on behalf of the schools within their area.
The Department through BECTa has established a pilot procurement advisory service to advise schools on IT procurement. BECTa are running a competition to accredit ICT suppliers for education.
The Government has made it clear that the future for public service provision is one where there is real variety in the way services are delivered and genuine plurality among service providers. The objective is to not favour one supplier against another but to encourage diversity, innovation and the competitiveness of the supply base.
Golden Jubilee
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if commemorative items will be distributed to school children in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee; and if she will make a statement. [44593]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Cannock Chase on 28 January 2002, Official Report, column 131–132W.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken to educate and prepare school children for the Queen's Golden Jubilee; and if she will make a statement. [44592]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department has encouraged school children to play an active role in the Jubilee celebrations through its support of a range of projects, including a National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Games Spirit of Friendship Festival and the Millennium Children's Tapestry of Hope. Information about these projects and others, as well as helpful links to many useful resources for schools, are available on my Department's website at www.dfes/gov.uk/jubilee. I welcome the exciting and imaginative contributions school children are already making to the celebrations.
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