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16 Jan 2003 : Column 717W—continued
Plant Hire
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with the Construction Industry Training Board about the levy made on plant hire construction. [91223]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have had no discussions with the Construction Industry Training Board about the levy made on plant hire construction.
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to meet representatives of the Hire Association Europe to discuss the Construction Industry Training Board levy made on members' companies in the hire industry. [91224]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: One of my officials met with Mr. John Coyne, Managing Director of the Hire Association Europe on 27 November last. I have no plans to meet with them.
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he proposes to take arising from the judgment of the hon. Mr. Justice Keith in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, on 23 November 2001, about Gibbon Equipment Hire Ltd. and the Construction Industry Training Board. [91225]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The judgment by Mr. Justice Keith concluded that the definition of 'contractor's plant' in the Industrial Training (Construction Board) Order 1964 (Amendment Order) 1992 was clear, unequivocal and unambiguous. Also that Gibbon Equipment Hire was an employer in the construction industry, and therefore, required to pay the CITB levy.
However, I have agreed to consider whether the hiring out of plant and equipment should continue to be included in the definition of the construction industry, and am awaiting proposals from the hire service sector.
Ring-fenced Grants
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many ring-fenced grants (a) are provided and (b) were provided in each of the last five years to (i) each school in England and (ii) each local education authority in England; and what the (A) name, (B) purpose and (C) financial value of each was. [89342]
Mr. Miliband: The following ring-fenced grants have been provided by the Department since 1997–98:
Standards Fund Grant (1997–98 to 2002–03):
The Government's main means of targeting funds towards national priorities, such as the literacy and numeracy strategies and Excellence in Cities to reflect the central priority of raising standards in schools.
School Standards Grant (2000–01 to 2002–03):
To help schools to improve standards.
School Budget Support Grant (2000–01):
To increase the budget shares of schools maintained by local education authorities.
Education Budget Support Grant (2001–02):
To provide support to help some local education authorities manage funding changes in the financial year.
Post Sixteen Budget Support Grant (2002–03):
To provide support to local education authorities in respect of the transfer of funding for sixth form provision to the Learning and Skills Council.
Teachers' Pay Reform Special Grants (2000–01 to 2002–03):
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To support the costs of the teachers pay reforms.
Nursery Education Grant (1997–98 to 2002–03):
To providers of early education to enable them to make free high quality, part-time early education places available to eligible children.
Childcare Grant (1998–99 to 2002–03):
To help improve locally, the infrastructure for the provision of child care.
GM Transitional Funding Grant (2000–01 to 2001–02):
To contribute towards local authority expenditure on the costs of transitional funding paid to former grant-maintained and grant-maintained special schools.
GM Transitional Insurance Grant (1999–2000 to 2002–03):
To help schools meet the cost of any insurance contract entered into when they were still grant-maintained schools.
Education Action Zone Grant (1998–99 to 2002–03):
To enable local partnerships of schools, parents and the private sector to develop innovative and radical solutions which will raise educational standards.
Education Maintenance Allowance (1999–2000 to 2002–03):
A financial incentive targeted at young people from less well off families to encourage them to enter and remain in further education.
Capital Grants (1997–98 to 2002–03)
To assist in raising educational standards by contributing towards meeting the capital investment needs of buildings at schools including condition, suitability, sufficiency and modernisation needs.
Most funding provided by the Department is distributed via local education authorities (LEAs). EAZ funding is paid direct to the EAZ and not to the LEA. All maintained schools receive almost all their public funding from their LEA. The Department does not hold information on funding provided to individual schools.
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Copies of tables giving a breakdown of the funding allocated for the above grants to each LEA in England since 1997–98 have been placed in the House of Commons Library. 2002–03 figures are to date and provisional. There are some gaps in 1997–98 as some LEAs only came into being the following year. For Standards Fund Grant in 1997–98 the allocations are shown against the 'successor' LEAs. Capital funding does not include Basic Need, when this has been allocated via Basic Credit Approvals which are un-hypothecated.
As part of the Government's commitment to reducing the proportion of support for local authorities provided as ring-fenced grants, we have ensured all of the growth in schools spending announced in the Spending Review will go direct to schools. DfES support will in future increasingly be provided through local authorities' Education Formula Spending Shares, which, following the outcome of the Spending Review and transfers of funding from DfES grant budgets, will be #5.6 billion higher in 2005–06, compared to 2002–03. The number of ring-fenced grants, and the level of support provided through ring-fenced grants, will fall over the next three years from 13 per cent. of the total school spending to 11 per cent.
School Funding (Faith Organisations)
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many new schools have been funded by faith organisations since 1997, broken down by faith; and how many are planned. [90903]
Mr. Miliband: The following table gives numbers of new grant maintained and voluntary aided faith schools that have opened, or have been approved to open, since 1997. These include independent schools approved for establishment as new maintained schools; but do not include former community schools which closed and re-opened with a religious character. All these proposals, except one Jewish school, involved some capital building work and a financial contribution by the promoters.
| RC | CE | CE/ Methodist | Jewish | Muslim | Sikh | 7th Day Adventist | Greek Orthodox | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1998 | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | — |
| 1999 | 2 | 1 | — | 3 | — | 2 | — | — |
| 2000 | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
| 2001 | 1 | 2 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2003 | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2004 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | — |
| Total | 9 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
School Standards
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the additional costs of achieving the targets contained in his Department's report, XTime for Standards", on recruiting (a) extra teachers and (b) extra support staff. [89294]
Mr. Miliband: We are committed during this Parliament to the recruitment of at least an extra 10,000 extra teachers. We also estimate that there will be 50,000 new support staff in the same period. Both figures are for full-time equivalents.
The additional pay bill costs 1 in the 2005–06 academic year, compared to the 2000–01 academic year, of the additional teachers are estimated as some #200 million.
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The costs of the additional support staff will depend on school decisions about the level and mix of support staff they recruit and the wide range of support staff pay levels for different roles. The additional pay bill costs 1 in the 2005–06 academic year, compared to the 2000–01 academic year, are estimated as some #650–750 million.
Total school revenue budgets will rise by some #6 billion in the 2005–06 financial year compared to this year.
- 1 At today's prices and including NI and superannuation.
Logistics (Skills)
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support the Government have committed to the Sector Skills Council for the logistics industry. [90321]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Skills for Logistics Expression of Interest for a Sector Skills Council (SSC) was accepted, on 18 December 2002, by the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA). This will result in the SSDA committing development funding of up to #100,000 to help the sector prepare its bid for SSC status. If the resulting SSC bid is successful, Skills for Logistics will receive a full SSC licence and be eligible for up to #1 million a year from the SSDA to meet its core costs.
In addition to the financial support the SSDA has provided advisory support to the logistics sector in the form of a dedicated business consultant who has been giving support and guidance to the sector since December 2001. This support has included advice on preparing their expression of interest and will continue throughout the six month development stage.
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