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21 Jan 2003 : Column 248W—continued

Great George Street

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the value of the land and buildings at Great George Street, London SW1, on the basis of (a) existing use and (b) the best valuation for alternative use; and if he will make a statement. [92220]

Ruth Kelly: A valuation of the land and buildings-based on existing use value, that is, their value as general office accommodation-was includinguded in HM Treasury's Resource Accounts for 2000–01 (January 2002, HC 573). The 2001–02 accounts will be published shortly. No other estimate of value has been made.

Infant Mortality

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the infant mortality, broken down by category, for each social class in each year since 1997. [91986]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Paul Marsden dated 21 January 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking to list the infant mortality, broken down by category, for each social class for each year since 1997. (91986)

The table below provides infant deaths by social class based on father's occupation in England and Wales for the years 1997–2001. Father's occupation is only collected for births that occur inside marriage and those outside marriage that are jointly registered by both parents.

Infant mortality by age at death and social class based on father's occupation^(22),(23) 1997–2001, England and Wales

				Numbers							Rates(24)*
	year of death
Social Class	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	1997	1998	1999	2000		2001
Neonatal deaths
I	153	134	135	125	116	3.5	3.0	2.9	2	.7	2.6
II	472	504	489	444	405	3.0	3.2	3.0	2	.8	2.5
IIIN	240	204	209	230	203	4.1	3.6	3.8	4	.4	3.9
HIM	738	670	656	611	587	4.1	3.8	3.9	3	.8	3.7
IV	378	370	386	343	348	4.2	4.1	4.6	4	.1	4.4
V	151	146	166	147	124	4.8	4.8	5.8	5	.5	4.7
Other	172	177	178	203	135	5.7	6.0	5.8	6	.8	4.4
All births (excl. sole registered births)	2304	2205	2219	2103	1932	3.9	3.8	3.9	3	.8	3.5
Postneonatal deaths
I	37	55	52	42	51	0.9	1.2	1.1	0	.9	1.2
II	199	188	162	156	188	1.3	1.2	1.0	1	.0	1.2
IIIN	90	75	88	68	47	1.6	1.3	1.6	1	.3	0.9
HIM	291	256	274	239	252	1.6	1.5	1.6	1	.5	1.6
IV	231	172	171	169	163	2.6	1.9	2.0	2	.0	2.1
V	80	90	79	66	71	2.5	2.9	2.8	2	.5	2.7
Other	145	137	138	130	121	4.8	4.7	4.5	4	.4	4.0
All births (excl. sole registered births)	1073	973	964	870	906	1.8	1.7	1.7	1	.6	1.6
Infant deaths
I	190	189	187	167	167	4.4	4.2	4.1	3	.6	3.8
II	671	692	651	600	593	4.3	4.4	4.0	3	.8	3.7
IIIN	330	279	297	298	250	5.7	4.9	5.4	5	.6	4.8
HIM	1029	926	930	850	839	5.7	5.3	5.5	5	.3	5.4
IV	609	542	557	512	511	6.8	6.0	6.6	6	.1	6.4
V	231	236	245	213	195	7.3	7.7	8.6	7	.9	7.4
Other	317	314	316	333	256	10.6	10.7	10.3	11	.2	8.4
All births (excl. sole registered births)	3377	3178	3183	2973	2838	5.7	5.4	5.5	5	.3	5.1

⁽²²⁾ Numbers of infant deaths by social class are based on father's occupation at death registration

⁽²³⁾ Numbers of live births by social class, used in calculating rates, are based on father's occupation at birth registration

⁽²⁴⁾ Rate per 1000 live births

21 Jan 2003 : Column 249W

Press Releases

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press releases have been issued by his Department in each (a) year and (b) quarter from 1995–96 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92435]

Ruth Kelly: The information, which does not includingude Budget, PBR and Spending Review press releases, is set out in the table below.

	Jan to Mar	Apr to June	July to Sept	Oct to Dec	Total
1995	51	36	39	52	178
1996	57	47	39	39	182
1997	36	35	44	53	168
1998	41	66	51	60	218
1999	57	51	49	59	216
2000	44	37	25	45	151
2001	40	34	29	46	149
2002	30	32	38	38	138

Staff Relocation

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates he has made of the cost savings from re-locating HM Treasury Staff out of central London premises; and if he will make a statement. [92514]

Ruth Kelly: No such estimate has been made. Since August 2002 all Treasury staff have been located in the refurbished 1 Horse Guards Road.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Departmental Running Costs

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the running costs of (a) the Department and (b) each of its sponsored agencies were in (i) 1997 and (ii) the most recent year for which figures are available. [90714]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on administration costs for the Department for Education and Skills and the Office for Standards in Education showing outturn from 1998–99 and plans to 2003–04, is set out in Annex E of the 2002 Departmental Report (Cm 5402). Data for years before 1998–99 are not available on the same basis. Provisional outturn for gross and net administration costs limits were published in Public Expenditure 2001–02 Provisional Outturn (Cm 5574), Tables 4 and 5. Updated information, with plans to 2005–06, will be published in the 2003 Departmental Report later in the Spring.

Electronic Registration (Secondary Schools)

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the progress of the tender for electronic registration systems in secondary schools. [91149]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 16 January 2003]: The £11.25 million Capital Modernisation Funding project to provide electronic registration systems in over 500 secondary schools with high truancy rates is a key initiative in the continuing drive to tackle truancy. There

21 Jan 2003 : Column 250W

is no tender involved as schools are allocated funding through the Standards Fund and are free to contract with any suitable supplier.

Since the first round of funding was released last May, schools have been working together with local education authorities to purchase and implement suitable systems in schools subject to the approval of the Department for Education and Skills. Currently a third of the targeted schools have had their proposals to implement systems agreed and we expect the remainder to be approved by August.

Employment Tribunals

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many 16 to 17-year-olds took their employer to an employment tribunal to enforce their right to reasonable paid time off to achieve a first Level 2 qualification in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02. [90922]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are not aware of any such cases since the legislation was introduced.

Entry to Employment Programme

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget profile is for the Entry to Employment programme for (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04; and how many participants are expected to enter the programme in each year. [90919]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Entry to Employment (E2E) will become part of the Learning Gateway which provides a client-centred approach to support young people who need additional help to enter mainstream learning opportunities. E2E will be implemented nationally from August this year. Expenditure on the current 11 E2E pathfinders in 2002–03 will be £19.8 million. The budget for the programme in 2003–04 is likely to be £142 million. Over 47,000 young people are expected to join the programme in 2003–04.

Language Assistants

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many language assistants are employed in maintained primary schools. [92327]

Mr. Miliband: As at January 2002, there were 29.5 full-time equivalent foreign language assistants and 1,193.1 minority ethnic pupils' bilingual assistants in maintained primary schools.

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