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25 Feb 2003 : Column 458W—continued

Supporting People Scheme

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the balance between mobile and permanent staff servicing the needs of older people under the Supporting People Scheme. [97784]

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Mr. McNulty: Supporting People will enable local authorities to provide user-centred, flexible services designed to meet local need. Local authorities are required to review all services (including those for older people) in their area between 2003 and 2006, to ensure that services meet the needs of users, are of high quality and are cost effective. It is the responsibility of each authority (and each service provider) to ensure that adequate staffing resources are in place to meet local need, and that the balance between the use of mobile and permanent staff is appropriate.

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Sustainable Communities

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the other housing programmes identified in the table on page 7 of Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future are; and how much will be spent on each of these in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06. [98516]

Mr. McNulty: Tabled are the "other housing programmes" identified in the table on page 7 "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future", with planned expenditure for the next three years. Note that totals may not sum due to rounding.

£ million

Programmes	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	Total
Housing Defects Grants	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.7
Disabled Facilities Grants	99.0	99.0	99.0	297.0
Safer Communities Supported Housing	39.0	10.0	10.0	59.0
Gypsy Sites	8.0	8.0	8.0	24.0
Estate Action	5.0	0.0	0.0	5.0
Housing Corporation (Other Programmes)	227.5	226.4	226.4	680.4
National Approved Letting Service	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Housing Action Trusts	71.8	43.8	17.8	133.4
Home Improvement Agencies	8.9	10.9	10.9	30.7
Rent Assessment Panels	10.2	10.2	10.2	30.7
Housing Mobility Grants	4.0	6.7	12.2	22.9
Best Value in Housing	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0
Private Landlords in Low Demand Areas-Pilots	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0
Tenant Participation	6.1	5.1	4.1	15.3
Housing Publicity and Publications	0.8	0.8	0.8	2.4
Leasehold Enfranchisement Advisory Service	0.6	0.6	0.6	1.7
Valuation Office Agency Right to Buy charges	1.8	1.8	1.8	5.4
Tenants Deposit Scheme	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2
Supporting People	61.5	63.5	48.5	173.5
Home Buying and Selling	1.5	1.5	1.5	4.5
Local Authority Funding of Pilot Lettings Systems	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0
BME RSL transitional funding for rent reform	15.0	0.0	0.0	15.0
Total	564.4	491.7	455.0	1,511.0

The "Other Housing" line in the table on page 66 covers all of the tabled items except for disabled facilities grants, which are shown separately in that table.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Class Sizes (Derbyshire)

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the class sizes of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Derbyshire in each of the last five years. [98887]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.

Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽²⁴⁾: Average class size⁽²⁵⁾, Derbyshire local education authority

	Classes taught by one teacher
Position in January each year	Primary	Secondary
1998	29.4	22.2
1999	28.2	22.4
2000	28.3	22.5
2001	27.3	22.2
2002	27.0	22.3

⁽²⁴⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.

⁽²⁵⁾ Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census.

Source:

Annual Schools' Census

Classroom Replacement (Somerset)

Mr Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many condemned temporary classrooms there are in Somerset; and how many temporary classrooms were replaced in Somerset in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02. [98277]

Mr. Miliband: The Department for Education and Skills does not hold information on numbers of replacement temporary classrooms.

Mr Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidelines the Government has issued on classroom replacement in Somerset. [98283]

Mr. Miliband: The Department for Education and Skills has not issued guidelines for replacement classrooms. Somerset, in common with other Local Education Authorities, determines priorities for its capital budgets, on the basis of its Asset Management Plan, which should take Government priorities into account.

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Construction Industry Training Board

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to review the operation of the Construction Industry Training Board levy. [97911]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The CITB's levy arrangements are subject to annual approval by Parliament. They continue to have the support of all the main employer organisations within the construction industry as a way of ensuring that the costs of training the workforce are shared by the whole industry. Also, as a non-departmental public body, the CITB is subject to quinquennial reviews of its function and performance. A review is currently underway.

Drugs

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schoolchildren were excluded from schools for drug misuse in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in the last year for which figures are available. [98225]

Mr. Miliband: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) on 14 January, columns 573–74W.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support is given to (a) schools and (b) pupils to tackle drug use. [98226]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The DfES provides considerable support to schools to fulfil their statutory obligation to educate young people about drugs. In 2002–03, £15.5m has been made available via the Standards Fund to improve the extent and quality of drug education. Of this, £1.3m has been set aside under the drug, alcohol and tobacco education training package to support teachers' continuing professional development. We are currently revising and consolidating our guidance to schools to make clear the statutory responsibilities and outline good practice in drug education and incident management. This guidance along with the curriculum materials produced by the QCA and the learning and development website for PSHE will further help schools in this area. Additionally, through the National Healthy School Standard and local programmes support is given to schools in meeting national criteria in drug education.

Through schools' pastoral support systems, pupils vulnerable to drug misuse should be identified to ensure that those who need extra help either receive it in school or through access to external specialist help. Connexions advisers, which all young people should have access to, also play an important role in identifying and addressing pupils' needs.

Electronic Registration ( Secondary Schools)

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 4 February, Official Report, column 188W, what benefits were envisaged when the tender process was undertaken; whether this benefit was lost by its discontinuance; whether the cessation of the tender was in accordance with EC regulations covering these matters; how many suppliers were short-listed; how many of these were unable to accept the terms and

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conditions and if he will name them; how many were able to accept the terms and conditions and if he will name them; what principal reason was given for being unable to meet the terms and conditions; whether issues relating to patents were cited; whether the short-listed suppliers were informed of the reasons for the discontinuance; and what ratification procedure will be used to assess applications from schools. [99110]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The tendering process was aimed at reducing burdens on schools through establishing framework contracts with a range of suitable suppliers of electronic registration solutions to offerschools choice and a simple way of contracting with their preferred supplier. The decision to abandon the procurement exercise was taken because too few of the short-listed suppliers could meet the terms and conditions of the framework contracts, thus severely restricting the choice for schools. Information about these contracts and short-listed suppliers is commercially confidential.

Tendering was stopped in accordance with all appropriate regulations and the schools included in the electronic registration project are now free to buy systems on the open market subject to ratification by the Department. Guidance on purchasing systems has been made available to schools and this, together with information on the process for the approval of systems is available to view on the TeacherNet website:http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/Management/tools/ict/IMS/Electronic Registration/

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