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3 Mar 2003 : Column 855W—continued

Industrial Action/Illness

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many working days were lost due to (a) industrial action and (b) illness in his Department in each year since 1997. [95899]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The overall sickness absence rate in the Department for Education and Skills for 2001 was 8.4 days per staff year.

The overall sickness absence rate in the former Department for Education and Employment for each of the years from 2000 to 1997 was:

	Days per staff year
2000	11.3
1999	11.0
1998	11.6
1997	12.6

The figures are taken from the report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service", published annually by Cabinet Office. The figures for 2002 will be announced in due course.

My Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and to maintain its efforts to try and meet the 2003 target for reduced sickness absence as set out in its Service Delivery Agreement.

Information on the number of working days lost due to industrial action could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. My Department recognises the importance of and maintains its commitment to working in partnership with the trade union side as a means of eliminating industrial action.

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Internal Directorate

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the allocated funding is for each internal directorate of his Department in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06, (i) in cash terms and (ii) on a full resource budgeting basis. [96281]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Details of the administrative budgets allocated to internal directorates in my Department for 2003–04 are set out in the table. Firm internal allocations have not been agreed for the forward years. The figures are on a resource accounting basis, budgets are no longer allocated on a cash basis.

£000

Directorate	2003–04
Youth	13,824
Corporate services and development	89,859
Schools	43,874
Finance and analytical services	20,029
Strategy and communications	10,100
Lifelong learning	26,867
Legal adviser's office	3,300

Non-cash costs previously charged to annually managed expenditure are included within corporate services and development directorate's allocation. Similarly, the costs of the Department's estates, information systems and human resource services are not devolved and are included in the allocation for corporate services and development directorate.

List 99 Database

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how often the List 99 database is updated and maintained; and what checks are in place to ensure information is accurate. [100146]

Mr. Miliband: List 99 is updated every time my Department issues a direction, barring or restricting a person from employment in the education service, or removing or varying a bar or restriction on a person's employment. It is also updated when we receive notification that a person on the list has died. The information shown on List 99—a person's name, date of birth, teacher reference number (if appropriate) and National Insurance Number—is provided by the police and the person's employer.

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Modern Languages

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students achieved A grades in modern languages at (a) GCSE and (b) 'A' level in each year since 1995; and if he will make a statement. [99625]

Mr. Miliband: The number of students who achieved A grades in Modern Languages at GCSE and A level in each year since 1995 are:

	GCSE(41)			A level
	French	German	Spanish	French	German	Spanish
2002	52,751	22,121	10,542	-	-	-
2001	53,692	22,931	10,378	3,745	2,177	1,202
2000	53,331	23,503	9,439	3,519	2,079	1,068
1999	53,580	23,367	8,381	3,789	2,008	992
1998	52,383	23,764	7,852	3,969	2,042	1,049
1997	54,811	25,904	8,081	3,986	1,866	945
1996	56,672	24,965	7,405	4,351	1,897	844
1995	54,896	23,788	6,262	4,190	1,712	689

⁽⁴¹⁾ GCSE figures include A* grades

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many modern languages teachers qualified in each year since 1995; and if he will make a statement. [99626]

Mr. Miliband: The following table gives the numbers qualifying as teachers in England ¹ with a modern language as their subject.

Calendar year of qualification⁽⁴³⁾

1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
1,590	1,590	1,510	1,520	1,410	1,260	1,390

⁽⁴²⁾ Includes those trained through the Open University but excludes those qualifying through employment based routes.

⁽⁴³⁾ The data for 1995 to 2000 are from the DfES Database of Teachers' Records (DTR). The 2001 figure is taken from the Teacher Training Agency's (TTA) Performance Profiles because 2001 DTR data are not available. The TTA figure is comparable to the DTR data.

Nursery Education

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) three and (b) four-year-old children in Nottingham, North attended nursery (i) in 1997 and (ii) in the most recent period for which figures are available. [98328]

Maria Eagle: The information is not available in the form requested.

The available information on the numbers of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in Nottingham City local education authority for 1997 and 2002 are shown in the table.

Numbers of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds, Nottingham City local education authority area 1997 and 2002

Position in January each year	1997	2002
3-year-olds
Maintained nursery and primary schools(44),(45)	1,800	—
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers(46)	n/a	—
4-year-olds	3,900	—
Total	5,700	—
3-year-olds
Maintained nursery and primary schools(44)	—	2,400
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers(46)	—	690
4-year-olds	—
Maintained nursery and primary schools(47)	—	3,000
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers(48)	—	430
Total 4-year-olds(49)	—	3,430
Total	—	6,520

n/a = not available

⁽⁴⁴⁾ Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools Census

⁽⁴⁵⁾ Summer term 1997.

⁽⁴⁶⁾ Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise. Nursery Education Grant for three-year-olds was allocated to the 65 LEAs in 1999–2000 and all LEAs from 2000–2001.

⁽⁴⁷⁾ Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools Census.

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education grant data collection exercise.

⁽⁴⁹⁾ The total 4-year-old figure for 2002 combines two sources of information, the Annual Schools' Census and Nursery Education Grant data. In previous years, only Nursery Education Grant data was used.

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Latest figures on three and four-year-olds in early years education providers were published by the Department in the Statistical Bulletin "Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England—January 2002 (08/2002)" in December 2002, a copy of which is available from the Library. An electronic copy of this publication is also available on the Department's website (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many nursery places in England and Wales there were for children (a) under three years and (b) from three years to compulsory school age for each year since 1997. [96802]

Mr. Miliband: The available information on the number of free early years education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in each year since 1997 is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Number^(50),(51) of 3 and 4-year-olds taking up free early years education places England 1997–2002

Position in January eachyear	3-year-olds	4-year-olds	Total
1997	214,200	576,200	790,300
1998	222,000	591,500	813,500
1999	225,700	593,800	819,500
2000	270,200	598,500	868,600
2001	335,400	589,300	924,700
2002	408,200	584,500	992,800

⁽⁵⁰⁾ Rounded to the nearest hundred.

⁽⁵¹⁾ Sum over 3 and 4-year-olds may not equal total because of rounding.

All four-year-olds have been able to access a free, part-time early education place since September 1998. Since September 1999, we have invested substantially in new free early years education places for three-year-olds. The table shows that the number of free early years education places taken up by three-year-olds increased from 214,200 in 1997 to 408,200 in 2002, an increase of 194,000 places. We are committed to providing all three-year-olds, whose parents want one, with free early years education places by April 2004.

The latest figures on provision for three and four-year-olds were published in Statistical Bulletin 09/2002 "Provision For Children Under Five Years Of Age in England-January 2002", which is available from the Library or the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/.

Information for Wales is a matter for the Education Department of the Assembly for Wales.

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