House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 31 Mar 2003 (pt 15)

31 Mar 2003 : Column 542W—continued

Jamia Rehmania

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what applications for financial help have been made to the Learning and Skills Council since its inception by Jamia Rehmania. [105353]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 27 March 2003]: Information about requests for funding received by the Learning Skills Council (LSC) is the responsibility of the Council. John Harwood, the Council's Chief Executive, will reply to the hon. Member providing the information requested, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Higher Education

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people entered higher education from (a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley and (c) South Yorkshire in each year since 1997. [101697]

Margaret Hodge: The latest available information is shown in the table.

31 Mar 2003 : Column 543W

Accepted applicants to full-time and sandwich undergraduate course by area of home residence

Year of entry

Students from: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Doncaster 991 1,000 1,036 1,005 1,180 1,070

Barnsley 685 732 751 836 856 776

South Yorkshire⁽²⁰⁾ 5,168 4,833 4,803 4,965 5,321 5,237

	Year of entry
Students from:	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002


Doncaster	991	1,000	1,036	1,005	1,180	1,070
Barnsley	685	732	751	836	856	776
South Yorkshire⁽²⁰⁾	5,168	4,833	4,803	4,965	5,321	5,237

⁽²⁰⁾ Includes students from Doncaster, Barnsley, Sheffield and Rotherham.

Source:

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research studies are available to her Department on the educational value added of higher education courses, classified by type of secondary school attended by the student and broken down into (a) independent schools, (b) state grammar schools, (c) other state selection schools and (d) comprehensive schools, and assessed for (i) individual institutions, (ii) individual years of tertiary study and (iii) completed first degree courses. [104100]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 24 March 2003]: Research that looks at the educational value added of higher education courses, classified by type of secondary school attended by the student includes:

"Schooling Effects on Subsequent University Performance: Evidence for the UK University Population" 2002 Robin Naylor and Jeremy Smith University of Warwick Working Paper;

Determinants of individual degree performance in UK universities: with particular reference to Economics" 1999 Robin Naylor and Jeremy Smith University of Warwick;

"Gender Differences in Educational Attainment: The Case of University Students in England and Wales" 2002 Robert McNabb, Sarmistha Pal and Peter Sloane Economica; and

"Interim findings on the effects of school performance on higher education achievement" HEFCE presented at UUK's Fair Enough conference January 2003. A fuller report will be published later this year.

This research shows that, on average, individuals that attend state schools do as well at university, for example, in terms of class of degree, as individuals who do better at A-level but attend Independent schools.

The Department is not aware of research that looks at how the educational value added of higher education by school type varies by institution or by years of tertiary education. However, some universities have conducted their own research in this field. For example, research at Bristol University found that on the whole, of all the students who entered the University of Bristol with excellent A levels, those who came from weaker schools gained better degrees than the students from stronger schools ("School Performance and the Likelihood of getting into Bristol" by Jeff Odell in 1999).

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the levels of participation in higher education were in each education authority in (a) 1980, (b) 1990 and (c) 2000. [102425]

Margaret Hodge: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Tyneside, North (Mr. Byers) on 3 February 2003, Official Report, column 95W, which contains the available data on HE participation for each LEA since 1994. Comparable figures for earlier years are not available centrally.

31 Mar 2003 : Column 544W

Infant Classes

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average infant class size in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk, (c) Essex and (d) Cambridgeshire was in each year since 1977. [104797]

Mr. Miliband: Information on infant class size has been collected in the September Class Size Count which started in 1998. The available figures are shown in the table.

Maintained Primary Schools: Infant class sizes taught by one teacherPosition in September each year

Average infant class size

By local education authority 1998⁽²²⁾ 1999⁽²³⁾ 2000⁽²³⁾ 2001⁽²³⁾ 2002⁽²³⁾

Suffolk⁽²¹⁾ 24.1 23.1 22.9 22.8 22.7

Norfolk 26.1 23.5 23.0 22.7 22.9

Essex⁽²¹⁾ 26.4 24.7 24.2 23.9 24.1

Cambridgeshire 27.7 26.5 25.7 25.5 25.1

	Average infant class size
By local education authority	1998⁽²²⁾	1999⁽²³⁾	2000⁽²³⁾	2001⁽²³⁾	2002⁽²³⁾
Suffolk⁽²¹⁾	24.1	23.1	22.9	22.8	22.7
Norfolk	26.1	23.5	23.0	22.7	22.9
Essex⁽²¹⁾	26.4	24.7	24.2	23.9	24.1
Cambridgeshire	27.7	26.5	25.7	25.5	25.1

⁽²¹⁾ In 2000, less than 95 per cent. of expected returns were received from these local education authorities.

⁽²²⁾ For Essex and Cambridgeshire, before Local Government reorganisation.

⁽²³⁾ For Essex and Cambridgeshire, after Local Government reorganisation.

Source:

September Class Size Count

Learning and Skills Council Areas

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) young people aged 19 or under and (b) adults are studying in further education colleges in each of the 47 Learning and Skills Council areas in England. [104079]

Margaret Hodge: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. John Harwood, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested and will place a copy of his reply in the Library.

New Deal for Schools

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will list for (a) England and (b) each local education authority, the (i) number and (ii) value of funding bids made to his Department under the New Deal for Schools programme in each financial year since 1999–2000 for the repair of school buildings; [104598]

31 Mar 2003 : Column 545W

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 24 March 2003]: Information available on the number of bids, their value, and the allocations made to the original bid-based New Deal for Schools (NDS 1–4) programme to 2000–01 is shown in a table which has been placed in the Library, together with formulaic allocations from 2000–01. The Department currently allocates most capital funding to schools and local education authorities (LEAs) by needs-related formulae, and it is for LEAs to assess and prioritise the capital needs of their school buildings through their asset management planning process, in consultation with local schools.

I am also announcing today further allocations of capital funding for schools from the totals that are available over the next three years.

There will be 15 private finance initiative (PFI) projects with a total allocation of £830 million PFI credits, in response to the invitation we made in 2002 to all LEAs to apply for this funding. I am also establishing four LEA pathfinders, to be funded through PFI credits, to help develop the Building Schools for the Future programme. In total, this represents around £1 billion of support to schools PFI projects.

There will be Targeted Capital funding to 78 LEA projects totalling £199 million at 71 LEAs, and £146 million of support for 56 projects in voluntary aided schools at 41 LEAs, which should start in 2003–04. These projects support our educational priorities, including promoting inclusion, advancing the 14–19 agenda, and standards-led investment at schools causing concern.

We are also allocating a new formulaic Modernisation programme of just over £1 billion in 2004–05 and £717 million in 2005–06. The new programme brings together the existing Condition and Modernisation programmes and will include £300 million of funding in each year targeted at building needs in primary schools to encourage up to 25 per cent. more investment in that sector.

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