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17 Mar 2003 : Column 563W—continued

Bologna Process

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on the involvement of British higher education in the Bologna process. [101721]

Margaret Hodge: The Government welcome British higher education's involvement in the deliberations and process arising from the Bologna Declaration. We have been working closely with our UK higher education partners and the devolved administrations since we signed the Declaration in 1999 to assess the impact on UK higher education and its relationship with the rest of Europe, and to influence the debate on the way forward. Representatives of the UK higher educations sector are engaged in discussions on the Bologna process, and an official from my Department represents UK interests at the twice-yearly meetings of the inter-Governmental Bologna follow-up group. This will inform the ministerial conference in Berlin in September this year.

Circular Documents

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the circular documents that were sent by his Department to (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools between 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2002; how many were on teacher workload; and how many pages each document contained. [102558]

Mr. Miliband: The following pages show the documents that were sent in the period 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2002 to (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools. In total 76 documents were sent to all primary schools and 85 documents were sent to all secondary schools. On teacher workload one document was sent to all primary schools and one document was sent to all secondary schools in the period 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2002. Both of the documents on teacher workload contained three pages each.

Ministers are committed to reducing the bureaucratic burden on schools and the Department has aimed to reduce the number of mailings to schools by 50 per cent. in the current 2002–03 academic year.

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Details of each document and how many pages each contained have been placed in the Library.

Closed Circuit Cameras

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many closed circuit cameras have been installed in school classrooms; and if he will make a statement. [101882]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The use of closed circuit television cameras in classrooms is a matter for individual schools and no central record is kept of their number.

Earned Autonomy

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects to publish his Department's consultation paper on the proposed criteria for earned autonomy. [102140]

Mr. Miliband: We are pursuing our plans to publish a consultation paper on Earned Autonomy. This will include proposals on the criteria for Earned Autonomy and on the kinds of flexibility that might be made available. I will write to the hon. Member when we have a firm date for its release and place a copy of the letter in the Library.

Free School Meals

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his (a) current and (b) future policy on free school meals. [102858]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Section 512 of the Education Act 1996 (amended by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999), sets out our current policy on free school meals. Children whose parents receive Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance and support provided under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are currently eligible to receive free school meals.

From 6 April 2003, section 201 of the Education Act 2002 and its associated regulations will extend free school meals to children whose parents receive the Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to receive the Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by The Inland Revenue) that does not exceed £13,230. This change will protect an estimated 87,000 children in England who would otherwise lose their entitlement because of planned changes to the tax credit and welfare system from April 2003. We estimate that an additional 75,000 children will become entitled to free school meals as a result of this change.

Higher Education

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what ratio of students on bachelor or higher degree courses to students on foundation degree courses he plans for the additional numbers of students entering higher education by 2010. [101735]

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Margaret Hodge: As set out in the Government's White Paper, 'The future of higher education' (Cm 5735), the emphasis in expanding student number will be on two year-work focussed foundation degrees.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he plans to differentiate fee caps by type of higher education institutions. [100303]

Margaret Hodge: The Higher Education White Paper sets out the Government's intention to introduce variable fees in 2006–07. A university will be able to set its fee at any level between £0 and £3,000 per year. Universities will have to have Access Agreements approved by the independent Access Regulator before they are allowed to introduce a contribution higher than the current standard fee. We have no plans to apply these proposals differentially to higher education institutions.

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if the funding mechanisms to deliver the proposals set out in the Future of Higher Education White Paper will encompass institutions whose students are not tied to a specific geographical location. [100022]

Margaret Hodge: The Graduate Contribution Scheme described in the White Paper 'The future of higher education' (Cm 5735) will apply to full-time undergraduate students only. The Open University is the main higher education institution providing distance learning for students who are geographically remote from its campus. The majority of such students are part-time and will not, therefore, be affected by the Graduate Contribution Scheme. For part-time students, the Open University will continue to set its own fee levels as now. However from 2004–05 students will benefit from a new package of support for part-time students. For those on courses which are equivalent to 50 per cent. or more of a full-time course, there will be means-tested tuition fee support, applied for through LEAs. This replaces the current discretionary fee waiver scheme and doubles the number of part-time students eligible for help with their fees. Students who get fee support will also be able to apply for a £250 grant from their LEA instead of a loan. And students entitled to fee support who have children will get help with their child care from the Access to Learning Fund. Also from 2004–05, we are extending discretionary fee waivers and hardship support for the first time to certain students on courses which are equivalent to at least 10 per cent. of a full-time course.

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Individual Learners (EU Assistance)

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which member states of the European Union assist individual learners by (a) tax relief, (b) government grants and (c) otherwise. [102389]

Margaret Hodge: This information is not collected centrally.

Language Teaching

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children from refugee and asylum-seeking families in schools in England do not have English as a first language; if he will list the schemes to teach them English; and how much the Department has spent and will spend on such teaching in each year from 2001–02 to 2005–06. [102289]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Approximately 632,000 (9.3 per cent.) of pupils in maintained schools in England are recorded as having a mother tongue other than English although it is not possible to determine how many of these have an asylum seeking or refugee background as Local Education Authorities (LEAs) are not required to provide such information.

Support for bilingual learners is through mainstream provision rather than separate schemes to teach English. There is no separate funding for teaching English as an additional language, but the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant worth £154 million in 2001–02 and £155 million in 2002–03 and 2003–04 provides support for minority ethnic pupils at risk of underachievement and for those whose first language is not English. This includes British born children as well as those from asylum seeking and refugee families. From April 2003 the Vulnerable Children Grant worth £84 million for the next three years will provide support to help schools and LEAs meet the needs of a range of vulnerable pupils including those from asylum seeking backgrounds.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many maintained secondary schools taught (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish, (d) Italian, (e) Latin and (f) Greek at (i) GCSE and (ii) A-level in each year since 1995. [102560]

Mr. Miliband: We do not collect data on how many maintained secondary schools taught French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin and Greek at GCSE and A-level since 1995. We do hold information on the number of pupils in all maintained schools taking GCSE and A-level examinations in these subjects since 1995. They are as follows:

	GCSE
	(a) French	(b) German	(c) Spanish	(d) Italian	(e) Latin	(f) Greek
2002	282,278	115,907	41,251	2,531	3,274	93
2001	290,992	121,441	38,877	2,397	3,503	77
2000	283,640	118,606	36,176	2,114	3,380	94
1999	281,218	120,495	33,823	1,989	3,303	97
1998	276,180	117,587	33,250	2,115	3,359	95
1997	273,255	116,944	29,013	1,819	3,830	117
1996	280,610	115,208	28,731	1,915	4,115	116
1995	280,266	109,469	26,526	1,928	4,119	205

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	A level
	(a) French	(b) German	(c) Spanish	(d) Italian	(e) Latin	(f) Greek
2002(9)	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	7,613	4,081	1,777	219	252	10
2000	7,334	4,008	1,673	213	241	15
1999	8,416	4,480	1,792	185	269	11
1998	9,136	4,714	1,697	181	308	15
1997	9,842	4,555	1,677	181	312	26
1996	10,409	4,758	1,525	156	327	20
1995	10,407	4,606	1,276	154	377	29

⁽⁹⁾ 2002 A level figures are not currently available.

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