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11 Feb 2003 : Column 687W—continued
Pensions Credit
Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for additional ways of publicising the pensions credit. [94873]
Mr. McCartney: In addition to writing to everyone 60 and over about Pension Credit, we are planning a substantial marketing campaign to include TV and press advertising. We are also working closely with partners including pensions organisations on customer communications products.
Portsmouth, South
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were awarded increments for deferring their state pension in the last year for which data are available, broken down by (a) male and (b) female and (i) United Kingdom resident and (ii) living abroad at the point of award. [96179]
Mr. McCartney: The information in the table shows the number of people who claimed their state pension between 31 March 2001 and 31 March 2002 and received increment.
| Great Britain | Overseas | All | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4,000 | 2,000 | 5,000 |
| Female | 13,000 | 3,000 | 16,000 |
| All | 16,000 | 5,000 | 21,000 |
Notes:
1. Numbers rounded to nearest 1,000.
2. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.
3. Northern Ireland and Channel Island cases are not included in the table.
Source:
State pension administrative data from 31 March 2002.
Unemployment Benefit
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unemployed people in Tamworth are claiming unemployment benefit; and what the change in the number of unemployed since 1997 is. [96531]
11 Feb 2003 : Column 688W
Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from L. Cook to Mr. Brian Jenkins, dated 11 February 2003:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question regarding the number of unemployed people in Tamworth who are claiming unemployment benefit and what the change in the number of unemployed since 1997 is. (96531)
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from surveys following the international standard International Labour Organisation definition. However the survey sample size is too small to provide estimates for the Tamworth Parliamentary Constituency.
- However, the number of people in the Tamworth Parliamentary Constituency claiming the Jobseeker's Allowance benefit fell by 458 from a figure of 1,541 in December 1997 to 1,083 in December 2002.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
A*-G Grades
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieved five or more A*-G grades in each year from 1995 to 2001. [97155]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown as follows:
| 1994–95 | 43.5 |
| 1995–96 | 44.5 |
| 1996–97 | 45.1 |
| 1997–98 | 46.3 |
| 1998–99 | 47.9 |
| 1999–2000 | 49.2 |
| 2000–01 | 50.0 |
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieved one A*-G grade in each year from 1995 to 2001. [97156]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown as follows:
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 91.9 |
| 1995–96 | 92.2 |
| 1996–97 | 92.3 |
| 1997–98 | 93.4 |
| 1998–99 | 94.0 |
| 1999–2000 | 94.4 |
| 2000–01 | 94.6 |
11 Feb 2003 : Column 689W
Area Cost Adjustment
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which counties qualify for the education area cost adjustment; and how much they receive on average in 2002–03 per student in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [96506]
Mr. Miliband: The following table sets out, for those authorities who qualify for the area cost adjustment from April 2003, the primary and secondary SSA per pupil for 2002–03.
| SSA (£) per pupil | ||
|---|---|---|
| LEA name | Aged 5–10 | Aged 11–15 |
| Bedfordshire | 2,660 | 3,410 |
| Buckinghamshire | 2,660 | 3,410 |
| East Sussex | 2,710 | 3,500 |
| Hampshire | 2,580 | 3,320 |
| Wiltshire(7) | 2,510 | 3,220 |
| Cambridgeshire(7) | 2,530 | 3,230 |
| Cheshire(7) | 2,470 | 3,150 |
| Essex | 2,710 | 3,460 |
| Kent | 2,710 | 3,470 |
| Gloucestershire(7) | 2,500 | 3,190 |
| Hertfordshire | 2,750 | 3,500 |
| Isle of Wight Council | 2,790 | 3,600 |
| Northamptonshire(7) | 2,530 | 3,230 |
| Oxfordshire | 2,670 | 3,400 |
| Surrey | 2,720 | 3,470 |
| Warwickshire(7) | 2,490 | 3,170 |
| West Sussex | 2,640 | 3,360 |
(7) Authority qualifying for ACA for the first time from April 2003
Baccalaureat Technique
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the French (a) Baccalauréat Technique and (b) Baccalauréat Général systems. [97535]
Mr. Miliband: We considered a range of qualifications models from overseas, including those from France, in developing the proposals, including further work on a unified qualifications framework for 14 to 19-year-olds, set out in "14–19: Opportunity and Excellence", published on 21 January 2003.
Construction Industry Training Board
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his estimate is of the cost in 2003–04 to the construction equipment hire industry of the imposition of levies to the Construction Industry Training Board. [96307]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The amount of levy payable in 2003 by employers declaring their main activity to be Plant Hire or Repair (including Tool Hire) is forecast to be £3.5 million.
Departmental Expenditure
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his Department's expenditure plans for 2003–04 and 2004–05. [96659]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Statement to the House of 19 December, Official Report, column 67WS, sets out my Department's planned expenditure for 2003–04 and
11 Feb 2003 : Column 690W
2004–05. Plans for Higher Education expenditure were included in the White Paper, The Future of Higher Education' (Command Number, 5735) published on 22 January.
Deprivation (Funding)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria he uses to define deprivation for the purposes of the education funding formula; and how they differ from the deprivation criteria used by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. [96998]
Mr. Miliband: Deprivation is measured in the new education funding formula through child based measures of poverty: the proportion of children in families on income support or in receipt of working families' tax credit. The other indicators used in the formula for distribution of grant to local authorities are set out in the Local Government finance report 2003–04, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The formula are designed to measure the relative costs of service delivery, and individual service blocks use the most appropriate measures of need, including deprivation: there is no reason why these should be the same for all service blocks.
English-style Baccalaureat
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the (a) content and (b) academic standard of his proposed English style Baccalaureate will compare with those of (i) the German Abilus and (ii) the French Baccalaureate. [97332]
Mr. Miliband: Following the publication of "14–19: Opportunity and Excellence" on 21 January this year, one of the key tasks for the 14–19 working group which Mike Tomlinson will chair will be to consider, and make recommendations about, the rationale and potential design of such a qualification.
Finance (Leeds)
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what SSA allocation the City of Leeds received in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03, (c) 2003–04; and what was (i) the LEA spend and (ii) the size of the schools budget in (A) 2001–02 and (B) 2002–03. [96971]
Mr. Miliband: In 2001–02 the City of Leeds' Education SSA was £317.01 million; in 2002–03 it is £311.54 million. In 2003–04 its Education Formula Spending Share is £344.63 million.
The figure for 2003–04 is not fully comparable with the earlier figures. The figure for 2003–04 includes funding transferred into EFS from grant and to take account of the increase in contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme. The figures for 2002–03 and 2003–04 do not include Sixth Form funding: responsibility for that was transferred to the Learning and Skills Council in 2002–03.
In 2001–02 the City of Leeds' education budget was £311.54 million and in 2002–03 it was £306.18 million. We cannot split out the schools budget for 2001–02 but in 2002–03 it was £276.20 million.
11 Feb 2003 : Column 691W
The information requested on the LEA spend for 2001–02 is not yet available as the Department is in the process of collecting it. I will write to my hon. Friend when the information becomes available. The Department is not due to collect the data for 2002–03 until September 2003.
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