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11 Mar 2003 : Column 164W—continued

Ministerial Transport

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of the cost of (a) ministerial cars and drivers and (b) taxis for her Department in 2002. [101848]

Ms Hewitt: The information is as follows.

(a) The estimated cost to the Department for ministerial cars and drivers for the financial year 2002–03 is £387,000.

(b) The Department have devolved to local management the authorisation of travel claims for its staff, subject to checking procedures. It does not record details of the cost of taxis used by staff in the Department. To obtain data on this to produce a meaningful estimate of the information requested would entail disproportionate cost.

Private Clubs (Sex Discrimination)

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to end the exemption for private clubs in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. [102258]

Ms Hewitt: I welcome the Sex Discrimination in Private Clubs Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) on 4 February 2003, which seeks to extend the scope of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to cover mixed-sex clubs of 25 members or more. We welcomed a similar Bill introduced in the other place in the last session by Lord Faulkner of Worcester.

There can be no justification for treating women as second-class citizens in private clubs. Such practices are out of date and contrary to this Government's principles of opportunity for all.

While I can make no commitment on parliamentary time, this is a matter which we will keep under review.

11 Mar 2003 : Column 165W

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Formula Spending Share

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he took, in establishing formula spending share, to ensure that compensation for sparsity in the education formula did not benefit urban authorities with a large number of small primary schools; what proportion of the aggregate national education FSS allocation was distributed on the basis of sparsity; and if he will list the authorities which benefited from the education sparsity factor. [101547]

Mr. Miliband: The issue of sparsity was addressed in three papers to the Education Formula Strategy Group. Sparsely populated authorities face higher costs as they have higher proportions of small schools than non-sparse authorities. The education formula uses sparsity as the funding factor, rather than the actual number of small schools so that authorities are compensated for the need they have, rather than the way they choose to organise their provision. Therefore urban authorities with a large number of small primary schools will not benefit from this factor. 1.8 per cent. (£440 million) of Education Formula Spending for 2003–04 was distributed on the basis of sparsity. The authorities that benefit are listed in order of decreasing sparsity:


11 Mar 2003 : Column 166W

Faith Schools

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the proposals for new faith schools that have been published since September 2001 and approved by School Organisation Committees, broken down by (a) the faith, (b) the status of the proposed school, (c) the amount of public funds committed to the project by central Government, (d) the amount of public funds committed to the project by local government and (e) the proposed opening date. [101061]

11 Mar 2003 : Column 167W

Mr. Miliband: The table lists the proposals for new faith schools that have been published since September 2001 and approved by School Organisation Committees.

11 Mar 2003 : Column 168W

Capital costs shown are the most recent estimates, but final decisions on the level of public funding will be determined when detailed plans have been received or are agreed by the Department's architects.

LEASchool name (if known)FaithCategoryGovernor costs—eligible for 90 per cent. grant (£000)LEA capital costs (£000)Proposed opening date
DorsetSt. Mary the Virgin CE PrimaryC of EVA2,093681 September 2003
KentName not known (primary school)C of E/ MethodistVA2,000Nil1 September 2004
Leicester CityName not known (primary school)C of EVA2,305Nil1 September 2004
SwindonName not known (primary school)C of EVA1,3472341 September 2004
WandsworthName not known (primary school)MuslimVA5,400Nil1 September 2004
DoncasterRossington CE High SchoolC of EVANilNil1 September 2002
Dorset*Name not known (primary school)C of EVANilNil1 September 2003
EssexNew Model Special SchoolC of EVANilNil1 September 2003
NorthantsName not known (secondary school)C of EVANilNil1 September 2004
WarringtonSankey Valley St. James CE PrimaryC of EVANilNil1 September 2002
WarringtonSir Thomas Boteler CE HighC of EVANilNil1 September 2002
WiltshireWyvern CollegeC of EVANilNil1 January 2003
Windsor and MaidenheadChurchmead CE VA SchoolC of EVANilNil1 September 2002

* The proposals for the new Church of England school in Dorset were approved conditionally ie subject to the acquisition of some land and also the necessary planning permission being obtained.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list visits to higher education institutions by Ministers in his Department that have taken place since 22 January. [100154]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I have visited the Institute of Education, the University of East Anglia and Wolverhampton University.

My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education has visited Bristol University, Cambridge University, the University of East London and Gloucester University.

My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Schools has visited Birmingham University.

In addition all Ministers have held a range of meetings with Vice-Chancellors, Student Unions and others.

Modern Languages

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 26 February 2003, Official Report, columns 588–89W, whether modern languages are defined as a (a) generic and (b) specialist learning skill in an English-style baccalaureate; and which continental baccalaureate systems do not include modern languages as a generic skill. [101273]

Mr. Miliband: Modern foreign languages are generally included as a requirement in European baccalaureate type qualifications. In the context of an English-style baccalaureate, we explain in our policy document 14–19: "opportunity and excellence" that we have asked a Working Group chaired by Mike Tomlinson to take forward work on possible longer-term 14–19 developments including a unified framework of qualifications for this age group. It would be premature at this stage to be developing specific baccalaureate models before the group has reported. The group has been asked to issue an interim report within a year and to finalise its work within 18 months.

Post-16 Education

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the post-16 staying on rate was for (a) Doncaster and (b) Barnsley in (i) 1992, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 2002. [101696]

Mr. Miliband: The percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time education for Barnsley LEA and Doncaster LEA in 1992, 1997 and 2000, the latest year for which figures are available, is set out as follows.

Percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time education(2)

199219972000
Barnsley LEA545256
Doncaster LEA595863

(2) Includes participation in schools, sixth form colleges and further education colleges.

Participation rates by LEA for 16 and 17-year-olds are published in an annual statistical bulletin, 'Participation in Education and Training by 16 and 17 Year Olds in Each Local Area in England'.

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