---

22 Jan 2003 : Column 369W—continued

Rural Businesses (Broadband)

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial assistance her Department is providing to help small businesses in rural areas access broadband services. [91738]

Mr. Timms: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply that I gave him on 9 December 2002, Official Report, column 65W.

Textile Industry

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance she is giving to the textile industry in East Lancashire; and if she will make a statement. [91184]

Mr. Timms: Since 1997 in East Lancashire the Small Business Service (SBS) have made seven awards totalling £167,000 to textile firms under the Enterprise Grant Scheme. SBS have also established an ethnic apparel support group to help companies market their products and assist with their production capacity. The North West Development Agency is working with North West "TexNet", the Cluster Management Group for the textile industry, to identify further measures to sustain the industry and develop the cluster. NWDA will consider individual projects as they are brought forward and action as necessary.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

A-Levels

Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils and students sat A-levels in (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish and (d) Russian in each year since 1998. [91316]

22 Jan 2003 : Column 370W

Mr. Miliband: The number of pupils and students who were entered for A-levels in French, German, Spanish and Russian in years 1998 to 2001 are:

	Age
	17	All ages
1998
French	17,994	20,622
German	8,088	9,316
Spanish	3,969	5,068
Russian	303	534
1999
French	16,163	18,662
German	7,663	8,916
Spanish	4,108	5,233
Russian	293	541
2000
French	13,830	16,049
German	6,706	7,930
Spanish	3,933	5,084
Russian	314	538
2001
French	14,149	16,076
German	6,849	7,901
Spanish	4,030	5,046
Russian	285	498

Education Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when 16 to 18-year-olds in Somerset will become entitled to Education Maintenance Allowance. [92180]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The national Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme will be available from September 2004 across the whole of England.

In non-pilot areas such as Somerset, the first tranche of students who will be eligible to apply from that date will be those students who complete their compulsory education in the 2003–04 academic year. In existing pilot areas, EMA will continue to be available to all students age 16–19 (and in a small number of cases, age 20) in post-compulsory further education.

Free Nursery Places

Mr. Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made towards meeting the 2004 target for having free nursery places available to all three year-olds; and for what reason such places are not yet available to all three year-olds. [89554]

Maria Eagle: Currently around 70 per cent. of three year-olds are able to access a free, part-time early education place. The 65 most deprived local education authorities already offer a free place to all three year-olds whose parents want one. The remaining authorities are responsible for devising eligibility criteria for the distribution of free places in their area according to social need.

On 11 December 2002, Charles Clarke announced that all three year-olds will be entitled to receive a free place from April 2004. This is six months earlier than originally planned.

22 Jan 2003 : Column 371W

It has been necessary to increase gradually the number of free early education places available for three year-olds in order to allow authorities time to build up the amount of provision in their areas.

GCSEs

Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils sat GCSEs in (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish and (d) Russian in each year since 1997. [91317]

Mr. Miliband: The number of pupils entered for GCSEs in French, German, Spanish and Russian in each of the five years since 1997 is as follows.

	Age
	15	All ages
1997
French	299,868	313,013
German	126,170	130,687
Spanish	33,594	40,845
Russian	1,308	1,895
1998
French	301,253	312,358
German	125,940	129,674
Spanish	37,987	44,575
Russian	1,167	1,705
1999
French	306,061	316,742
German	128,491	132,027
Spanish	38,705	45,113
Russian	1,113	1,655
2000
French	308,032	318,889
German	126,176	129,696
Spanish	41,400	47,935
Russian	1,230	1,758
2001
French	315,656	326,065
German	129,098	132,178
Spanish	44,692	50,944
Russian	1,225	1,801

IT Equipment

Dr. Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress in providing teachers in Broxtowe with a laptop computer with internet access. [92004]

Mr. Charles Clarke: In May 2002 Nottinghamshire LEA, responsible for Broxtowe, was allocated a total of £867,926 and latest records show the LEA has spent £828,360, purchasing 936 laptop computers. To date LEAs have been given £60 million to purchase laptop computers on behalf of their schools. So far over 60,000 laptops have been purchased.

I announced on 9 January 2003 a £195 million extension of the Laptops for Teachers initiative to April 2006, making the total amount of funding £300 million. This will result in two thirds of all eligible teachers benefiting from personal access to a laptop computer over the four year period of this initiative. LEAs,

22 Jan 2003 : Column 372W

including Nottinghamshire will receive a further allocation of Laptops for Teachers funding in May this year.

Leadership Incentive Grant

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the administrative cost of the (a) introduction and (b) implementation of the leadership incentive grants; and if he will make a statement. [91525]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 20 January 2003]: Our current estimate of costs for administering the Leadership Incentive Grant process this financial year is approximately £400,000 to cover the cost of promoting collaborative working between schools.

For the next financial year we have provisionally set aside £1 million from the Targeted Improvement Grant to fund local activity in support of national funding of £175 million to schools.

Rights of the Child

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to his answer of 19 December 2002, Official Report, column 976W, when he received a copy of the report on the United Kingdom by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. [90138]

Mr. Denham: The report was published on 4 October 2002, and I received a copy that day. The report was circulated to relevant Whitehall Departments on the same day.

Teachers

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average number of hours worked per week was for (a) teachers, (b) deputy head teachers, (c) head teachers and (d) all teachers in each year since 1997. [91522]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 20 January 2003]: The information is as follows:

(i) The only year between 1997–2002 for which information is available is 2000.

Average number hours worked per week

Grade	Hours/week
Heads	59.1
Deputy heads	56.6
Classroom teachers	51.8
All teachers	52.8

Source:

2000 OME Teacher's Workload Diary Survey

(ii) On 15 January, Government, employers and school work force unions signed a national Agreement that will raise standards and tackle work load by removing unnecessary bureaucracy and by transferring some of the administrative, clerical and managerial work currently undertaken by teachers to trained support staff, allowing teachers to focus on their core professional responsibilities.

22 Jan 2003 : Column 373W

Schools will be supported by additional resources that will enable them to employ at least 10,000 more teachers and at least 50,000 more support staff during this Parliament.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of the working time of (a) teachers, (b) deputy head teachers, (c) head

22 Jan 2003 : Column 374W

teachers and (d) all teachers was spent on (i) teaching, (ii) other teaching related tasks and (iii) non-teaching related tasks in each year since 1997. [91523]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 20 January 2003]: The information is as follows:

(i) The only year between 1997–2002 for which information is available is 2000.

Proportion of time spent on activities by grade as at March 2000Percentage

	Heads	Deputy Heads	Classroom	All Teachers
Teaching	5	24	34	30
Teaching related activity(12)	17	27	30	28
Non-teaching related activity(13)	78	49	36	42
Total	100	100	100	100

⁽¹²⁾ Teaching related activities include time spent for lesson preparation and planning, marking pupils work, writing reports, and reporting to parents and families. It also includes time spent on training.

⁽¹³⁾ Non-Teaching related activities include non-teaching contact, administrative

work, staff management and other activities.

Source:

2000 OME Teacher's Workload Diary Survey

(ii) On 15 January, Government, employers and school workforce unions signed a national agreement that will raise standards and tackle workload by removing unnecessary bureaucracy and by transferring some of the administrative, clerical and managerial work currently undertaken by teachers to trained support staff, allowing teachers to focus on their core professional responsibilities.

Schools will be supported by additional resources that will enable them to employ at least 10,000 more teachers and at least 50,000 more support staff during this Parliament.

---