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4 Nov 2002 : Column 19W—continued
CABINET OFFICE
Digital Television
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reason UK online interactive is (a) being solely provided on British Sky Broadcasting digital television and (b) not being provided on BBC digital television. [77884]
Mr. Alexander: It is our continued intention to make UK online interactive available on all available digital television platforms where technically possible. We are working to do this.
The BBC operates two of the six UK digital television multiplexes but were unable to make these available to UK online interactive due to the lack of capacity. We are actively exploring the opportunity to use one of the remaining multiplexes not controlled by the BBC.
Nuclear Waste
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what discussions he has had with eight coastal local authorities along the possible route of ships carrying nuclear waste from Japan to Sellafield on the subject of emergency planning. [68091]
Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.
I understand there are no plans for the shipment of nuclear waste from Japan to Sellafield at this time. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency discuss emergency planning with coastal local authorities on a general basis and not related to specific shipments.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what discussions he has had with the (a) Government of the Republic of Ireland, (b) National Assembly for Wales, (c) Northern Irish Assembly and (d) Scottish Executive on the subject of emergency planning in respect of ships carrying nuclear waste to Sellafield. [68092]
Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.
I have had no discussions with any of the bodies mentioned, however the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have been in discussions with officials from the Government of the Republic of Ireland on a more general emergency response basis.
UK Online Interactive Project
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the consequences for phase one of the UK online interactive project were of the end of ITV interactive's involvement. [77885]
Mr. Alexander: ITV Digital closed its interactive services on 1 May 2002. From that point onwards some 225,000 previous ITV Active subscribers were not able to access UK online interactive using ITV digital equipment. The UK online interactive service continued to be available to about 7 million users of Sky digital receivers.
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EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Benefit Initiatives
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1349W, if she will, for each pilot and pathfinder initiative listed, give the criteria for the selection of the local authorities benefiting; whether all local authorities were invited to apply; by what criteria invitations to apply were allocated; where local authorities were invited to apply; which did so; and whether elements of local authority matched funding were required. [76177]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.
Child Deprivation (Funding)
Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the maximum extra funding is that a child can receive under the ethnicity and other factors. [78611]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The existing Education Standard Spending Assessment does not identify children with additional educational needs, so it is not possible to give the maximum funding that an LEA receives for a child through ethnicity and other factors. Under the proposals issued for consultation on 8 July, the number of children with additional educational needs due to poverty and ethnicity or language needs is estimated for each authority, which receives a top-up for each such child, either for poverty or for ethnicity or language needs, but not for both. Decisions on the top-ups, and their level, will be announced by the beginning of December.
Connexions
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent to date by the Connexions service on (a) literature design, (b) printing of literature and (c) consultancy fees related to the production of literature for each region in which it operates. [77352]
Mr. Stephen Twigg [holding answer 28 October 2002]: The amounts spent by Connexions Partnerships on literature (which is interpreted here as promotional material) vary according to the length of time partnerships have been operational. (The first phase of partnerships went live in April 2001 and the most recent in October 2002.) The table presents regional data on partnerships' cumulative expenditure from the date they went live. It has not been possible in all cases to disaggregate figures for design, printing and consultancy as some partnerships group these together and/or contract with one provider to supply all three services (these appear as Xmerged costs" in the table).
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| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Total spend | Design | Consultancy | Merged costs | |
| North West | 390,612 | — | — | — | 390,612 |
| West Midlands | 341,588 | 12,930 | 50,855 | 7,453 | 270,350 |
| London | 251,321 | 32,205 | 90,341 | 25,375 | 103,400 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 154,002 | 29,669 | 39,383 | 15,242 | 69,708 |
| South West | 144,674 | 16,390 | 78,650 | — | 49,634 |
| South East | 69,093 | 3,750 | 7,960 | — | 57,383 |
| East | 61,695 | 8,189 | 25,756 | 1,750 | 26,000 |
| East Midlands | 34,069 | — | — | — | 34,069 |
| North East | 47,361 | — | — | — | 47,361 |
Construction Industry
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his latest estimate is of the number of vacancies in the construction industry in each region of the country. [78480]
Ruth Kelly [holding answer 31 October 2002]: I have been asked to reply.
The Information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr Charles Hendry, dated 4th November 2002:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question concerning the latest estimate of the number of vacancies in the construction industry in each region of the country (78480).
- The only comprehensive information about current job vacancies analysed by industry is the new monthly enterprise-based ONS Vacancy Survey, which at this stage is being published on an experimental basis. According to this survey there were 21,400 job vacancies in the construction industry on average for the period July to September 2002 for the United Kingdom as a whole. The design of the sample survey means it is not presently possible to provide regional analysis of vacancies on a reliable basis.
Correspondence
Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he intends to reply in full to the letter to his predecessor dated 22 August 2002 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Geoffrey Walker. [78344]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: A reply was issued on 12 September.
Education Funding
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment his Department has made of Option 5 in the review of the level of funding for education. [78842]
Mr. Miliband: I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen) on 24 October 2002, Official Report, column 399.
Education SSA
Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the authorities that have more than 10 per cent. of children in their schools,
4 Nov 2002 : Column 22W
whose mother tongue is believed not to be English, spent below their education SSA in the last year for which figures are available. [78612]
Mr. Miliband: The table shows, for those authorities where there are more than 10 per cent. of pupils in primary and secondary schools whose mother tongue is known or believed not to be English, the difference between budgeted spend and Education Standard Spending Assessment, for 2002–03. Of the 49 LEAs in this category, 33 budgeted to spend above Education SSA for 2002–03.
4 Nov 2002 : Column 23W
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the SSA per head is in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Staffordshire. [78843]
Mr. Miliband: In 2002–03 Staffordshire's Education SSA per primary pupil (aged 5–10) is #2,450 and per secondary pupil (aged 11–15) is #3,140.
- Note:
- Figures in cash terms rounded to the nearest #10
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