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Learning and Skills

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how long it takes for a new qualification to be approved under Section 9 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000; what measures he has taken to reduce this period; and if he will make a statement. [102423]

Margaret Hodge: Since August 2002 the approval of external qualifications under Section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 are agreed monthly. Until then approvals were published on an annual basis. It currently takes, on average, fourteen working days from receipt of advice from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to approve new qualifications.

An examination of the approval process is currently under way to identify any scope for a further streamlining of the process while maintaining the necessary quality and rigour.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Learning and Skills Council will provide Essex county council with the information to enable Essex county council to provide schools with their budgets for 2003–04; and if she will make a statement. [103326]

Margaret Hodge: Provisional allocations were announced in December 2002. There has been a short delay in setting final allocation but the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) sent final details of school sixth form allocations for the financial year 2003–04 to local LSCs on Thursday 6 March. They have now been passed to local education authorities for incorporation in the calculation of schools' budget shares for 2003–04.

Lost Working Days

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many working days were lost owing to industrial action by staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in 2002. [101534]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: No working days were lost in my Department or its non-departmental public bodies owing to industrial action in 2002. My Department recognises the importance of, and maintains its commitment to, working in partnership with our trade unions as a means of eliminating industrial action.

Open University

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role he plans for the

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Open University to deliver the aims of the Future of Higher Education White Paper; and if he will make a statement. [100021]

Margaret Hodge: We expect all higher education institutions to have a role in delivering the aims of the White Paper (Cm 5735). The Open University is particularly well placed to deliver the flexible teaching and learning which is vital to an inclusive higher education sector. Such flexible learning helps attract people with different demands and commitments. In addition, the Open University's modular approach to assessment and accreditation supports the aim of increasing credit based study.

From 2004–05, students at the Open University will also benefit from a new package of support for new and existing 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.

School Buildings

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what figures he collates on an annual basis of the number of schools that have received substantial repairs to buildings. [101838]

Mr. Miliband: Because of the bureaucratic burden it would impose both locally and centrally, we do not collect information annually on the number of schools that have received substantial repairs to buildings. As part of asset management planning, we will be asking local authorities in the spring for data from condition and suitability surveys of all their schools, which will show the needs of school buildings. We previously asked for this information in 2000 and will be making the results available at the end of this month. We plan to publish a similar analysis of the 2003 data in the autumn.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the Department will verify it has satisfied its investment strategy targets of

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(a) replacing or refurbishing 650 schools by 2004 and (b) addressing the most urgent repairs in 7,000 schools by 2004. [101880]

Mr. Miliband: Because of the bureaucratic burden it would impose both locally and centrally, we do not collect detailed information on the number of schools that are benefiting from the £9 billion of funding that we have made available from 2001–02 until 2003–04. However, we are content that our targets will be met: private finance initiative investment on its own will support the renewal of 426 schools in that period. Local education authorities have received over 3 billion of formulaic funding for their investment priorities. All maintained schools in England receive their own direct capital funding: for example, over the period 2001–02 to 2003–04 a typical secondary school of 1,000 pupils will have received more than £146,000 for its priority building needs.

Scottish University Places

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with (a) the Scotland Office and (b) the Scottish Executive on measures to ensure that Scottish students will have proportionate access to Scottish university places if there is an influx of English and Welsh students subsequent to the reforms outlined in his statement of 22 January 2003 to the House. [100733]

Margaret Hodge: We are in regular contact and meet regularly with both the Scotland Office and the Scottish Executive. As the White Paper 'The future of higher education' (Cm 5735) states, there will be discussions with the devolved administrations about the impact on the other UK countries of the proposals for student and institutional funding for higher education institutions in England. I expect those discussions to take place over the coming months.

Sex Education

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding is being provided by the Government to schools to carry out sex education programmes in 2002–03. [101966]

Mr. Miliband: Funding for personal, social and health education (PSHE), which includes sex and relationship education, falls within a larger funding stream for school improvement which is distributed through the Standards Fund. The total fund for 2002–03 is £190 million. It is for individual schools to decide how to allocate these resources to best support their PSHE programmes.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what experts in the area of child and teenage health his Department has consulted on the policies of sexual education taught in schools. [101967]

Mr. Miliband: The responsibility for determining a school policy on sex and relationship education rests with governing bodies and head teachers. In July 2000 we provided sex and relationship education guidance to maintained schools which sets out the requirement for

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schools to develop their policies in consultation with parents and to make them available for inspection. That guidance was developed in consultation with a wide range of bodies such as the Sex Education Forum, the National Health Education Group and the Teenage Pregnancy Unit.

The Department has not consulted on the policies of sexual education taught in independent schools. Independent schools are free to determine their own education programmes. However, they do have to meet minimum standards in relation to the quality of education provided. We would encourage them to have regard to the sex and relationship education guidance for maintained schools, but there is no requirement for them to do so.

Mr. Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills who is responsible for setting policy on sexual education curriculum and standards in schools (a) in England and (b) in each region. [101968]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The responsibility for determining a school policy on sex and relationship education rests with governing bodies and head teachers. This applies to maintained schools throughout England.

In July 2000 we provided sex and relationship education guidance to maintained schools which sets out the requirement for schools to develop their policies in consultation with parents and to make them available for inspection. Students are monitored through inspection undertaken by OFSTED.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what studies he has commissioned into the effect on (a) rates of teenage pregnancy, (b) abortion rates and (c) the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, with particular reference to HIV, of abstinence-only forms of sexual education. [101970]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills has not commissioned any studies into the effect of abstinence only education on the rates on teenage pregnancy, abortion or the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The Department of Health has commissioned the Health Development Agency to review the evidence of effectiveness of interventions to reduce transmission of STIs and HIV. This concluded that there is no strong evidence for the effectiveness of abstinence only education approaches. The findings will be published later this year.

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