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24 Feb 2003 : Column 148W—continued

Deprivation (Funding)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what mechanism he has established to ensure that funding for deprivation via local education authorities reaches children for whom it is intended. [96999]

Mr. Miliband: Local education authorities' funding formulae for maintained schools normally include a factor which allocates funding according to social deprivation. From 2003, the rules relating to this are being amended to ensure that such a factor always exists. The amount to be distributed is for local decision, but we are encouraging each authority to discuss this issue with its schools forum, with a view to aligning the amounts received by the LEA on the basis of social deprivation with the amounts distributed, and in ways which accurately reflect schools' needs.

Deprivation Indices

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the deprivation indices for shire counties. [96997]

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Mr. Miliband: The table lists for all counties the deprivation indicators used in the formula for Education Formula Spending Share. The indicators are: proportion of children for whom English is an additional language (EAL); proportion of children in

24 Feb 2003 : Column 150W

low achieving ethnic groups; proportion of children of families in receipt of working families tax credit (WFTC); and proportion of children of low birth weight.

	Primary EAL	Secondary ethnicity	WFTC	Income support	Low birth weight
Bedfordshire	0.0596	0.0630	0.1248	0.1268	0.0693
Buckinghamshire	0.0880	0.1335	0.1017	0.0930	0.0648
Cambridgeshire	0.0295	0.0357	0.1367	0.1035	0.0614
Cheshire	0.0093	0.0096	0.1720	0.1264	0.0620
Cornwall	0.0040	0.0041	0.2894	0.1689	0.0636
Cumbria	0.0049	0.0049	0.2075	0.1565	0.0656
Derbyshire	0.0051	0.0074	0.2074	0.1491	0.0707
Devon	0.0107	0.0065	0.2415	0.1329	0.0630
Dorset	0.0064	0.0103	0.1857	0.1091	0.0653
Durham	0.0072	0.0040	0.2474	0.2204	0.0770
East Sussex	0.0173	0.0194	0.1731	0.1584	0.0659
Essex	0.0159	0.0195	0.1336	0.1435	0.0631
Gloucestershire	0.0186	0.0285	0.1693	0.1187	0.0655
Hampshire	0.0123	0.0102	0.1393	0.1009	0.0642
Hertfordshire	0.0497	0.0624	0.1087	0.1132	0.0648
Kent	0.0243	0.0197	0.1549	0.1617	0.0651
Lancashire	0.0679	0.0499	0.2424	0.1794	0.0776
Leicestershire	0.0522	0.0399	0.1721	0.0918	0.0697
Lincolnshire	0.0128	0.0092	0.2335	0.1399	0.0711
Norfolk	0.0140	0.0095	0.2148	0.1578	0.0702
North Yorkshire	0.0058	0.0101	0.1897	0.1011	0.0611
Northamptonshire	0.0316	0.0470	0.1817	0.1396	0.0751
Northumberland	0.0065	0.0064	0.2283	0.1622	0.0678
Nottinghamshire	0.0153	0.0371	0.2179	0.1621	0.0735
Oxfordshire	0.0525	0.0718	0.1201	0.1024	0.0634
Shropshire	0.0066	0.0060	0.1946	0.1066	0.0604
Somerset	0.0053	0.0096	0.2093	0.1214	0.0639
Staffordshire	0.0189	0.0247	0.1962	0.1276	0.0739
Suffolk	0.0106	0.0257	0.1792	0.1316	0.0689
Surrey	0.0434	0.0372	0.0780	0.0814	0.0621
Warwickshire	0.0377	0.0159	0.1636	0.1170	0.0692
West Sussex	0.0341	0.0267	0.1424	0.1129	0.0669
Wiltshire	0.0088	0.0145	0.1620	0.0954	0.0640
Worcestershire	0.0209	0.0244	0.1880	0.1210	0.0717

Education/Commerce Links

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what initiatives are being undertaken by his Department to develop links between higher education colleges and commerce; and if he will make a statement. [96660]

Margaret Hodge: In order to improve our economic competitiveness, we need to create effective and sustained links between higher education institutions and business. The task for Government is to provide the framework for this to happen and for universities and higher education colleges, businesses and individuals to develop these opportunities. As set out in the recent White Paper, 'The future of higher education' the Government are taking a number of steps to build constructive links between higher education institutions and business.

The effective transfer of knowledge and skills is key to our future success. Through recent initiatives we have already helped institutions to improve knowledge transfer, and this has been shown in indicators such as the number of spin-off companies created, the number of patents filed and the proportion of universities employing specialised staff to support commercial work. We announced in "Investing in Innovation", the Government's strategy for science, engineering and technology, published in July 2002 that the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) would draw together support for reach out from HE to business and become a permanent third stream of funding worth £90 million a year in 2005–06. As announced in 'the future of higher education' we are providing additional HEIF funding to establish a network of up to 20 Knowledge Exchanges. These will exemplify collaboration with employers, be focused on serving the local and regional economy and form part of a wider network with the New Technology Institutes that will help local companies to use advanced technology.

The Foundation Degree which was introduced in 2001 gave employers a greater role in shaping vocational courses to meet their need for associate professional skills. A major expansion of this work focused degree announced in the HE strategy will further encourage partnership arrangements between employers and higher education institutions in course design, development and implementation. The emergence of new Sector Skills Councils will enable stronger alliances to develop between business in their sectors and the relevant departments in higher education institutions both to develop and market courses and involve employers in the delivery of learning.

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However, we also need to ensure that all graduates have the skills to equip them to work in a fast changing work environment. We will continue to sponsor work already under way by HEFCE to integrate the skills and attributes which employers need, into higher education courses.

The Government have commissioned Richard Lambert to carry out an independent review of how, over the coming decade, business can better draw on universities to the mutual advantage of both sectors. We look forward to the findings of the review later this year.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local education authorities are piloting the education maintenance allowance scheme. [95650]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 7 February 2003]: The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme is currently being piloted in 56 local education authorities, covering approximately one third of the country. These pilot areas are:

Barking and Dagenham


Barnsley


Birmingham


Bolton


Bradford


Brent


Camden


Cornwall


Coventry


Doncaster


Ealing


East Lancashire ¹


Gateshead


Greenwich


Hackney


Halton


Hammersmith and Fulham


Haringey


Hartlepool


Islington


Kingston upon Hull


Knowsley


Lambeth


Leeds


Leicester City


Lewisham


Liverpool


Luton


Manchester


Middlesbrough


Newham


North East Lincolnshire


North Tyneside


Northumberland


Nottingham


Oldham


Salford


Sandwell

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Sheffield


South Tyneside


Southampton


Southwark


St. Helens


Stoke on Trent


Suffolk


Sunderland


Tameside


Tower Hamlets


Wakefield


Walsall


Waltham Forest


Wandsworth


Wigan


Wirral


Wolverhampton


Worcestershire


¹ Only covers part of the LEA area

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of education maintenance allowances is channelled through local education authorities. [96996]

Margaret Hodge: Under the current pilot scheme 100 per cent. of Education Maintenance Allowance is channelled through local education authorities.

Examination Marking

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the (a) criterion-referenced examination marking procedure and (b) norm-referenced examination marking procedure. [97151]

Mr. Miliband: Mike Tomlinson's final report on the inquiry into A level standards found strong support for criterion referenced assessment. The most important thing for any system of examination and assessment is that it produces consistent and accurate grading over time.

Foreign Students

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK, EU resident students who will apply to English universities in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009 and (e) 2010. [97255]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 11 February 2003]: Projections of applicants to English universities are not available centrally. The Department does, however, project the number of students, EU resident or otherwise, that attend English universities.

The projected number of non-UK, EU resident students attending English institutions from 2003–04 to 2005–06 is shown in the table. These are not very reliable figures because they are based on a number of assumptions, so should be treated with caution. Detailed projections for later years are not available.

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Non-UK, EU resident students attending English universitiesThousand

	EU students
2003–04	71
2004–05	74
2005–06	77

⁽³⁶⁾ Numbers are on a headcount basis and include full and part-time students on undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Source:

DfES student numbers projection model.

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