| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Dec 2002 : Column 830W—continued
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Breakfast Clubs
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 2 December 2002, Official Report, column 551W, on breakfast clubs, if he will make it the Government's policy to fund breakfast clubs for all schools via mainstream funding. [87575]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My previous answer of 2 December explained that many schools already offer breakfast clubs as part of their study support or child care provision.
XInvestment for Reform" spelt out our intention that, by 2006, all schools should be providing study support, in breakfast clubs or otherwise. Funding will continue to be made available to local education authorities and schools to enable them to offer a wide range of study support activities, and we will be announcing our detailed plans in due course. It will be for schools and authorities to choose whether to run breakfast clubs in particular as part of their study support, as they are best placed to determine local needs and viability.
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he is taking to ensure sustainability of breakfast clubs and out-of-school activities funded by the New Opportunities Fund when this funding finishes. [87617]
Mr. Miliband: We are committed to promoting study support in schools, including breakfast clubs. In XInvestment for Reform", we spelt out our aim for all schools to be providing study support by 2006, in breakfast clubs or other activities. We hope that participating schools will also be able to use the extended schools programme, and child care initiatives, to offer an increased range of provision including breakfast clubs.
Funding will continue to be available for study support activity after New Opportunities Fund grants finish. We will be announcing in due course our detailed funding plans for study support over the next three years. It will of course remain for schools and local education authorities to decide precisely what provision to offer with the resources at their disposal.
Budget Deficits
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many universities and colleges are facing deficits in their budgets in the current financial year; and what estimate he has made of the cost to universities of remedying current budget deficiencies over the next (a) three years and (b) seven years. [87309]
18 Dec 2002 : Column 831W
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 17 December 2002]: In 2000–01, there were 48 higher education institutions in England with budget deficits out of a total of 130. Universities receive funding from a variety of sources, both private and public and set out their accounts in their annual reports. The Higher Education Funding Council for England works with institutions in financial difficulty to enable them to return to a sound financial position over time. The Government's plans for public funding for future years will be announced alongside the higher education strategy document in January.
GCSE Results
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the secondary modern schools which achieved better results at GCSE than the average for all-ability comprehensive schools in 2002. [87830]
18 Dec 2002 : Column 832W
Mr. Miliband [holding answer 17 December 2002]: The information requested will not be available until the secondary school performance tables are published early in 2003. A copy of the analyses will be included in the House of Commons Library when the data are available.
Government Grants
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average amount of central Government grant was per pupil in education in (a) England, (b) the South East, (c) East Sussex and (d) Eastbourne, in each of the last five years. [87591]
Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the Department's total recurrent grant per pupil allocated in England, the South East and East Sussex local education authority for the financial years 1997–98 to 2001–02. It is not possible to identify separately the amounts for individual constituencies.
| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 150 | 70 | 120 | 240 | 410 |
| South East | 80 | 30 | 80 | 200 | 300 |
| East Sussex local education authority | 90 | 30 | 90 | 240 | 330 |
Notes:
1. Figures reflect all revenue grants relevant to pupils aged four to 19, in DfES's Departmental Expenditure Limits (excluding EMA and other grants where it is not possible to get figures on a comparable basis over time).
2. The pupil numbers used are the maintained pupils underlying the SSA settlement calculations.
3. 1997–98 figure for East Sussex has been estimated, to take account of local government reorganisation.
4. 1997–98 figures take account of approximately #500 million nationally in respect of the nursery voucher scheme which was transferred to SSA in 1998–99.
5. Figures are rounded to the nearest #10.
Maintained Schools (Guidance)
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance his Department has given to maintained schools regarding avoidance of political bias in the display of photographs of politicians in school buildings. [87463]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Understanding our system of government is an important part of citizenship education, which became a part of the statutory National Curriculum for 11 to 16-year-olds in September 2002. It is for teachers to decide on the most appropriate materials, including visual aids, to encourage teaching and learning in the classroom. Teachers are aware of potential political problems and are professional in their approach. There are safeguards in law to guard against biased teaching. LEAs and schools must take reasonable steps to ensure that where political or controversial issues are covered, teachers offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views. The law on this is contained in sections 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996.
Ministerial Engagements
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many engagements were undertaken outside London (a) by him or his predecessor and (b) by Ministers in his Department in January (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002. [87357]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 16 December 2002, Official Report, column 608W.
Plant Hire
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations he has received about the CITB levy on the plant hire industry; and if he will make a statement. [87317]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In recent weeks I have received 153 representations from a total of 25 companies about the CITB levy on the plant hire sector. I have agreed to consider whether there is a case for removing hire services from the scope of the CITB and am awaiting proposals from the sector.
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much CITB levy was received from the plant hire industry in the last three years. [87318]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Companies declaring their main activity to be Xplant hire or repair" paid the following amounts of levy in the last three years:
18 Dec 2002 : Column 833W
Postcode Premium
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the future of the postcode premium in funding higher education institutions. [87230]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 16 December 2002]: The Higher Education Funding Council for England has been reviewing the level and method of distributing funding for widening participation. We favour funding indicators more closely related to the extra costs to institutions of recruiting and supporting students from non-traditional backgrounds. The income of their parents, whether they are first in their family to attend university and whether they attend schools with no tradition of sending large numbers to university, seem more appropriate indicators. The funding answer will take this matter forward.
School Exclusions
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost is per year of educating an excluded child in a pupil referral unit. [86876]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer12 December 2002]: The Department has no analysis of how much cost is incurred in educating an excluded pupil at a pupil referral unit (PRU). This is due to the wide variance in provision that any particular excluded pupil would require from a PRU, as well as other factors such as the location of the PRU and the funding structure of the local education authority.
Funding for PRUs is contained in the Social Inclusion: Pupil Support (SIPS) grant. This grant (#176 million in 2002–03) is designed to tackle bad behaviour in schools and to provide education for pupils outside mainstream schools. PRUs can also be funded from other sources and there is therefore no measure of costs for a PRU.
There are currently 371 PRUs open in England.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |