| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Justices of the Peace
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many members of staff at her Department are justices of the peace; and if she has a strategy for her Department to encourage members of staff to become justices of the peace. [44549]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department does not hold this information centrally and could provide it only at disproportionate cost.
Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996 requires employers to allow their staff reasonable time off for public duties. The Civil Service Management Code (paragraph 9.2.5) also requires departments to allow time
29 Apr 2002 : Column 568W
off for attendance required by section 50 of the ERA 1996. My Department demonstrates its support to employees who are justices of the peace by allowing them special leave with pay to perform the duties associated with their office.
Licensed Child Minders
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many licensed child minders there were in each of the last seven years. [48221]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Registered child minders | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 97,100 |
| 1996 | 102,600 |
| 1997 | 98,500 |
| 1998 | 94,700 |
| 1999 | 82,200 |
| 2000 | 75,600 |
| 2001 | 72,300 |
(14) Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
Notes:
1. This information was provided by local authorities.
2. While the change in the number of registered child minders is of concern it has coincided with increases in alternative forms of child care over the past few years, which have offered a greater diversity in services for parents and children.
3. The Government value registered child minding and are concerned about the decline in child minder numbers. The Government's strategy to help to reverse this trend includes:
a four year national recruitment campaign to raise the status of working in the sector;
child minder start up grants;
grants to help child minders in disadvantaged areas when they have a vacancy; and
the creation of networks to support child minders.
Physical Education
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which secondary schools in England have no indoor facilities for physical education. [48750]
John Healey: Data drawn from local Asset Management Plans and sent to the Department in 2000–01 by local education authorities show that the overwhelming majority of secondary schools have indoor facilities for physical education. Appraisal of this information and data has focused on LEAs' overall assessment processes, rather than the details for each school. It is not therefore possible to list those schools which do not have such facilities. Information about individual schools can be obtained from the appropriate local education authority.
New Deal
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people employed by the non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible under the new deal for young people in each of the last four years have subsequently (a) found unsubsidised employment for more than 13 weeks and (b) returned to jobseekers' allowance or other benefits. [49610]
29 Apr 2002 : Column 569W
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Information about the numbers employed by DfES non-departmental public bodies on new deal programmes, is not collected or held centrally by this Department.
Sixth Forms and Colleges
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is in respect of similar salaries for comparable work by teachers in further education colleges and schools with sixth forms. [52572]
Margaret Hodge: Pay and conditions for teachers in maintained schools, including those with sixth forms, is determined on a statutory basis under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act 1991. The pay and terms and conditions of the lecturers who work in sixth form colleges and general further education colleges are matter for the employers to determine, in discussion with the relevant unions. A wide range of pay and conditions now exist in the FE sector, reflecting the diverse learning needs of the colleges' local communities and colleges' individual decisions on implementing the nationally recommended pay settlement each year.
Low Participation Postcodes
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will instruct the Higher Education Funding Council for England to publish its list of low participation postcodes; and if she will make a statement. [52267]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 25 April 2002]: I understand that the Chief Executive of the Funding Council has written to the hon. Member to enable him to have access to this information.
Agencies (Liaison)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the agencies that fall under her Department's remit that have a duty to liaise with secondary heads on educational matters. [52512]
Estelle Morris: There is no statutory duty placed on the Department's agencies to liaise with secondary heads on educational matters. However, agencies do consult directly and indirectly with secondary heads if it is deemed appropriate to ensure the effective delivery of both the Department's and their own remits.
National Insurance Contributions
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much money in total she estimates schools and colleges will pay in additional employers' national insurance contributions in 2003–04; [52515]
- (2) whether LEAs will receive additional budget provisions for 2003–04 to cover the cost of increased employers' national insurance contributions; [52516]
(3) how much additional cost on average she expects secondary schools to incur in 2003–04 as a result of the increase in employers' national insurance contributions; [52518]
29 Apr 2002 : Column 570W
(4) what she estimates to be the total increased national insurance bill for an average primary school in England in 2003–04; [52519]
(5) how much additional funding colleges of further education will require in 2003–04 to offset the additional cost of employers' national insurance contributions. [52525]
Mr. Timms: The additional cost in employers' national insurance contributions in 2003–04 for all English colleges (including sixth form colleges) providing further education is estimated to be about £25 million. This cost will be considered alongside other priorities and pressures in the 2002 spending review. The costs to schools will be in the region of £4k for the average primary school and £20k for the average secondary school. I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the question from the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) on 24 April 2002, Official Report, column 311W.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what she estimates will be the total cost of employers' national insurance contributions met (a) directly and (b) indirectly from her Department's budget in this financial year. [52529]
Estelle Morris: The total amount of employers' national insurance contributions paid directly by the Department for Education and Skills in respect of central administration for the year 2002–03 is estimated to be £7 million.
Employers' national insurance contributions are paid indirectly by the Department for Education and Skills plus the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions through the funding of education and training providers. Data regarding the total amount of national insurance contributions paid are not held centrally. Using available data, we estimate the cost will be £3,000 million for 2002–03.
Teachers' Pensions
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent estimate she has made of the funding level related to current and future liabilities of the teachers' pension scheme. [52522]
Mr. Timms: The Teachers' Pension Scheme is an unfunded scheme, with a "notional" account maintained and valued periodically by the Government Actuary. The last valuation, as at 31 March 1996, revealed that total liabilities of the scheme (pensions currently in payment and the estimated cost of future benefits) amounted to £65,670 million and total assets amounted to £61,710 million. The 1996 report is available in the House of Commons Library.
I expect to have the Government Actuary's report on the 2001 review by the end of the year.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what has been the cost to the teachers' pension scheme of tax changes since 1997. [52538]
Mr. Timms: As the Teachers' Pension Scheme is an unfunded scheme there are no associated tax liabilities.
29 Apr 2002 : Column 571W
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills who the fund managers are of the teachers' pension scheme. [52539]
Mr. Timms: The Teachers' Pension Scheme is an unfunded scheme. There are, therefore, no fund managers.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements are made for the payment of a pension to a teacher who takes early retirement through ill health; and how it is funded. [52541]
Mr. Timms: Where a teacher is considered to be permanently unfit to teach as a result of illness or injury, they become entitled to receive payment of ill health retirement benefits, consisting of a pension and lump sum. Arrangements for the payment of benefits are made by the administrators of the Teachers' Pension Scheme. The cost of ill health retirement benefits, alongside the cost of all other benefits payable under the provisions of the scheme, is taken into account by the Government Actuary as part of the periodic scheme valuation. The results of the valuation determine the employer contribution rate needed to defray the costs of the scheme. Teachers pay a contribution of 6 per cent. of salary towards the cost of their pension scheme benefits; the current employer contribution rate is 8.35 per cent. of salary.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |