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Teacher Recruitment (Havering)

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria are used in defining a local authority area as high cost for teacher recruitment purposes; and for what reasons Havering does not qualify as a high cost area. [104375]

Mr. Miliband: The area cost adjustment in Education Formula Spending is based on average wage costs in an area rather than on the direct costs of teachers. Havering is grouped with other boroughs to the east of Inner London where average wage costs are lower than they are in Inner London itself or to the west of Inner London. The amount of area cost adjustment received by Havering and other east London boroughs is substantially more than the cost of London Weighting payments to teachers and other staff.

Tuition Fees

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students paid (a) full, (b) partial and (c) no tuition fees who were normally resident in (i) England and Wales, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) the EU; and how many

24 Mar 2003 : Column 45W

paid overseas student fees in each year since 1999 at the Universities of (A) Newcastle and (B) Northumbria at Newcastle. [103419]

Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the requested format.

In England and Wales students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families are expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition only if they can afford to do so.

The percentage of students in England and Wales in academic years 1999–2000 and 2000–01 (latest year for which data are available) who have been assessed to make a nil, partial or full contribution towards the cost of their tuition is shown in the table:

Percentage

	All students(20)
	1999–2000	2000–01(21)
Nil contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	45	42
Partial contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	20	19
Full contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	35	39

⁽²⁰⁾ Contributions towards the cost of tuition are assessed by local education authorities in England and Wales for students normally domiciled in their area and studying in the UK.

⁽²¹⁾ 2000–01 data are provisional.

Source:

F503G survey of local education authorities

National level data are published annually in the Department's Statistical First Releases (SFRs) (SFR 18/2001 and SFR 08/2002 for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 respectively). National data for academic year 2001–02 will be available at the end of April 2003.

The devolved administrations for Scotland and Northern Ireland are responsible for the administration of tuition fees in their countries.

The level of contribution towards tuition for EU and overseas students is not held centrally.

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of English students resident in each government office region were paying (a) full, (b) partial and (c) no tuition fees in (i) 1999–2000 and (ii) 2000–01. [103420]

Margaret Hodge: In England and Wales students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families are expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition only if they can afford to do so.

The percentage of students in England and Wales in academic years 1999–2000 and 2000–01 (latest year for which data are available) who have been assessed to make a full, partial or nil contribution towards the cost of their tuition is shown in the table:

	(22)All students (percentage)
Academic Year	1999–2000	(23)2000–01
Full contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	35	39
Partial contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	20	19
Nil contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/partner	45	42

⁽²²⁾ Contributions towards the cost of tuition are assessed by local education authorities in England and Wales for students normally domiciled in their area and studying in the UK.

⁽²³⁾ 2000–01 data are provisional.

Source: F503G survey of local education authorities

National level data are published in the Department's Statistical First Releases (SFR 18/2001 and SFR 08/2002 for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 respectively). Data are collected from the Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to produce national estimates and the data collection exercise does not allow the production of firm figures below this level, and therefore data by Government Office Region are not available.

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Youth Inclusion Programme Areas

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the rates of (a) truancy and (b) school exclusions were in each of the Youth Inclusion Programme areas in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000, (iii) 2001, and (iv) 2002. [102471]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Aggregated data on exclusions and truancy are collected at school and LEA level. Youth Inclusion Programmes involve specific individuals and not whole schools or areas. Limited data have been kept on the individuals involved, which will be published in the programme's evaluation report covering the first three years of operation and will be available on the Youth Justice Board's website from 28 March.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Age Discrimination

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce legislation to outlaw discrimination against people on the grounds of age. [103254]

Mr. Browne: I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 18 March 2003, Official Report, columns 650–51W (96852).

Care Services (Complaints)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints have been lodged in relation to (a) nursing and (b) residential homes in Northern Ireland in (i) the public sector and (ii) the private sector in the last three years. [96856]

Mr. Browne: There are no nursing homes run by the statutory sector in Northern Ireland. The following table sets out the number of complaints made against residential and nursing homes for the years 1999–2000; 2000–01 and 2001–02, the most recent figures available.

	Total number of complaints	Number in public sector	Number in private sector	Percentage in nursing homes	Percentage in residential homes
1999–2000	234	18	216	82	18
2000–01	222	25	197	83	17
2001–02	195	4	191	81	19

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Financial Priorities

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been allocated for the financial year 2003–04 for the (a) Assets Recovery Agency, (b) Organised Crime Taskforce and (c) Police Ombudsman; and what criteria were used to determine the financial priority given to each organisation. [100675]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The information is as follows:

(a) Assets Recovery Agency

The annual budget for the Assets Recovery Agency is allocated by the Home Office. The final budget for 2003–04 is under discussion but will be between £10 million and £15 million. The budget for the Northern Ireland Branch of the ARA is allocated from this at the discretion of the Director. The Director has made it clear that the Agency will function as a whole and where a specific case in Northern Ireland demands extra support, this will be provided by staff resources based in London.

Staff in London will also provide many support services for the branch in Northern Ireland leaving the team free to focus on investigations.

(b) Organised Crime Task Force

With the exception of a publicity budget of £50,000 to meet the cost of publishing the annual OCTF Threat Assessment and Strategy Documents and to promote the role of the OCTF and operational successes of partner agencies throughout 2003–04, no specific funding has been allocated to the Organised Crime Task Force. Individual constituent members of the OCTF are responsible for funding their involvement from within their overall organisational budgets. Costs for administrating the OCTF will be met from the overall resources allocated to the Security Policy and Operations Division of the Northern Ireland Office.

(c) Police Ombudsman

The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has been allocated funding of £7.38 million in the financial year 2003–04.

In determining the financial priority for the Police Ombudsman's office, the budget allocation for 2003–04 was based on a submission to the NIO by the Ombudsman in relation to the 2002 Spending Review, which requested appropriate funding to allow the Ombudsman's Office to meet it's statutory duties based on anticipated workload.

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