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9 Jan 2003 : Column 334W—continued

Pensions

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect is of a short period of residence in the UK on the rate of retirement pension payable to a British citizen living overseas in a country where pensions in payment are not subject to annual uprating. [88793]

Mr. McCartney: When a British citizen who is eligible for a UK State Pension returns to the UK, their State Pension is uprated for the duration of their stay only.

Winter Fuel Payment

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners within the (a) Twickenham constituency, (b) London borough of Richmond upon Thames and (c) London failed to claim the winter fuel allowance for the 2001 period; and if he will make a statement. [88818]

Mr. McCartney: The information is not available in the format requested. Most, but not all, people aged 60 and over are eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment. The vast majority of those eligible receive their payment automatically, without the need to claim. Of those who need to claim, it is up to the individual to choose whether to do so.

However, for winter 2001–02, over 17,000 people in Twickenham constituency, some 29,000 people in Richmond upon Thames local authority area and just over one million people in London received Winter Fuel Payments.

Source:

Matching Intelligence Data Analysis Service Winter Fuel Payment 2001–02 exercise.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Students

15. Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to change the Government's targets for students entering higher education. [89221]

Margaret Hodge: It remains the Government's aim, as set out in the Department's public service agreement, to increase higher education participation towards 50 per cent. of 18 to 30-year-olds by the end of the decade. I will be publishing a strategy for higher education later this month which will include our plans for achieving the target.

Truancy

16. Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent research he has commissioned into truancy. [89222]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has commissioned research on the causes of truancy from school as part of its research programme which will be published around the end of this month. We are also evaluating the outcomes of the recent national truancy sweep exercise.

9 Jan 2003 : Column 335W

Sure Start

17. Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress with the sure start scheme. [89223]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The first sure start programme, announced in 1998, has worked by bringing together early education, child care, health and family support for the benefit of young children living in disadvantaged areas and their parents.

On 11 December the Government launched the new sure start programme (in England) which will support families from pregnancy until children are 14. The new sure start will bring together universal, free, early education and more and better child care, with greater support where there is greater need, through child care tax credit, children's centres, and on-going support for sure start local programmes.

Exclusion

18. Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress with the education and behaviour of children excluded from mainstream schooling. [89224]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: All local education authorities were committed to offering a full timetable to permanently excluded pupils from September 2002. In targeted schools in 34 local authorities provision is also being made for those excluded on a temporary basis. These arrangements will be extended to a further 27 local authorities in the coming year.

Qualifications

19. Dr. Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the analysis he has made of the degree to which the provision of education and training will match the economic demand for qualifications in the next 10 years. [89225]

Mr. Miliband: The Government have established sector skills councils to ensure that economic demand is more clearly articulated and the learning and skills council to ensure that provision is responsive to meet demand.

We are also working with key partners to ensure that advances in new technology result in improved choice and quality for learners.

9 Jan 2003 : Column 336W

Research and analysis on the value of education and training will be summarised in a forthcoming Department for Education and Skills publication, XEducation and Skills: The Economic Benefit".

Admissions

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when new admissions arrangements provided for under the Education Act 2002 will come into effect. [88941]

Mr. Miliband: Some sections of the Act dealing with admissions have already been commenced. Most depend for implementation on Regulations, to be read in conjunction with revised Codes of Practice on School Admissions and School Admission Appeals. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Regulations and Codes of Practice are expected to come into force on 20 January. Most aspects of the Regulations and Codes are intended to apply to admission arrangements affecting intakes from September 2004, which means, for example, that each LEA must have an admission forum in place by 20 March 2003. The obligation to co-ordinate admission arrangements applies to intakes from 2005 but LEAs are encouraged to co-ordinate secondary intakes earlier.

Basic Needs Funding (Wokingham)

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of whether Wokingham Unitary Authority would qualify for the last round of Basic Needs funding; and what discussions he has had with Wokingham Unitary Authority on its ability to qualify for the last round of Basic Needs funding. [89252]

Mr. Miliband: All local education authorities (LEAs) were invited to bid for Basic Need funding when the guidance for 2003–04 was issued on 30 July 2002, and the deadline for LEAs to submit their bids was 30 September 2002. It was for LEAs to decide whether or not to bid for funding based on the criteria in the guidance. Wokingham LEA did not submit any bids for Basic Need funding in 2003–04. Officials within the Department confirmed with Helen Rowlay at the LEA that no bids were being made.

Classroom Assistants

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many classroom assistants were in service in England in each year since 1997 in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) all schools. [89308]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.

Maintained schools: full-time equivalent⁽⁹⁾ number of teaching assistants by type of school—1997–2002— position in January each year—England

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Teaching Assistants(10)
Nursery	2,119.1	2,099.3	2,201.1	2,249.0	2,322.9	2,476.4
Primary(11)	39,751.2	42,726.6	44,444.4	51,127.3	63,175.9	69,307.0
Secondary(11)	7,820.8	8,973.4	10,590.1	12,451.7	15,466.6	19,527.6
Special(12)	11,302.8	12,140.2	12,681.0	13,424.9	14,227.4	14,246.9
Pupil Referral Units	267.8	366.1	428.9	538.6	622.7	891.7
Total Teaching Assistants	61,261.7	66,305.6	70,345.4	79,791.6	95,815.5	106,449.6

⁽⁹⁾ Includes both full-time and the full-time equivalent of part-time non-teaching staff.

⁽¹⁰⁾ Includes nursery assistants, special needs support staff, minority ethnic pupil support staff and non-teaching assistants. Excludes administrative staff, technicians and other non-teaching staff.

⁽¹¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.

⁽¹²⁾ Includes non-maintained special schools and special and general hospital schools.

Source:

Annual Schools Census

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Departmental Advertising

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money his Department has spent on (a) advertising, (b) marketing and (c) public relations in each year since 1997; and on which projects this money has been spent. [89297]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Expenditure from the Department's central advertising and publicity budget is as follows:

	#000
1997–98	10,879
1998–99	13,426
1999–2000	9,902
2000–01	14,595
2001–02	11,688
2002–03(13)	4,413

⁽¹³⁾ Year to date

In addition to expenditure from this central budget, expenditure from budgets allocated to individual programmes will also include spend on publicity related activity. However, it is not possible, except at disproportionate cost, to separately identify all such publicity related expenditure.

What is possible is to identify expenditure on advertising and public relations drawn from all budgets and this is as follows:

#000

	Advertising	Public Relations
1997–98	9,992	0
1998–99	15,673	549
1999–2000	11,900	88
2000–01	29,066	794
2001–02	20,489	1,574
2002–03(14)	8,817	1,567

⁽¹⁴⁾ Year to date

Campaigns over #500,000 are:

	#
1997–98
Disability Discrimination	521,000
Modern Apprenticeships	912,000
National Traineeships	800,000
New Deal	6,409,000
1998–99
New Deal	4,772,000
Reading and Literacy	3,648,000
Disability Discrimination	1,924,000
National Traineeships	1,502,000
Learning Direct	619,000
Career Development Loans	604,000
Millennium Bug Busters	585,000
1999–2000
Disability Discrimination	2,643,000
Maths Year 2000	2,322,000
Age Diversity	1,128,000
National Traineeships	1,077,000
One	873,000
Childcare Link	810,000
Time Off for Study	702,000
2000–01
Don't Quit Now	2,700,000
New Deal 50+	2,400,000
ICT Employability	2,011,000
Childcare Recruitment	1,821,000
Disability Discrimination	1,242,000
Modern Apprenticeships	856,000
Individual Learning Accounts	612,000
Fast Track Teachers	1,056,000
Parents' Magazine	1,484,000
2001–02
Childcare Recruitment	2,505,000
New Deal 50+	673,000
Adult Basic Skills	5,096,000
Foundation Degrees	1,816,000
Modern Apprenticeships	1,560,000
Science Year 2001–02	1,803,000
Childcare Link	584,000
Connexions	1,277,000
Fast Track Teachers	1,250,000
Parents Magazine	770,000
Aim Higher	1,750,000
Millennium Volunteers	848,000
2002–03(15)
Childcare Recruitment	666,000
Aim Higher	2,650,000
Foundation Degrees	542,000
Connexions	1,166,000
Adult Basic Skills	3,369,000

⁽¹⁵⁾ Year to date

9 Jan 2003 : Column 338W

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