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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Costs

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what (a) the total budget and (b) the cost of administration were in the latest year for which figures are available for (i) her Department and (ii) each of the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department. [105009]

Tessa Jowell: As published in the Department's resource accounts 2001–02, the total budget and administration costs of the Department were £33,032,000 and £31,584,000 respectively.

The total budgets of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by the Department are listed in Note 7, Section M, to the resource accounts 2001–02 under the estimate column. Copies of the Department's resource accounts may be obtained from the Library of the House.

Information on administration costs of each of the non-departmental bodies is not held centrally and can be obtained from the bodies' annual reports and accounts for 2001–02, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the running costs in 2002 were of (a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff, and (b) her Department. [105999]

Dr. Howells: The running costs information relating to the Ministers' private offices and the Department for 2001–02 is shown in the table. Figures for the running costs for 2002–03 will be published later in the year in the departmental resource accounts 2002–03.

FY 2001–02	(£millions)
DCMS running costs	31.584
Ministers' private offices running costs	1.667
Ministers' private offices staff costs	1.263

Departmental Staff

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff were employed by (a) her Department and (b) each of the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department in each of the last five years. [105010]

Dr. Howells: The information for DCMS is set out in the following table.

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	Staff
2003	475
2002	468
2001	405
2000	400
1999	372

The Department does not maintain a central record of staff within each of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by us. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Iraq

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures are in place to ensure that British broadcasters do not violate the Geneva Convention in their coverage of the war in Iraq. [106221]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 1 April 2003]: The ITC establish high standards in relation to privacy and human dignity by placing, in their programme code, certain requirements on UK broadcasters. These include guidance on respect for human dignity and treatment of minorities. Broadcasters must adhere to these rules and respect them as regards prisoners of war. Equally these rules apply to the treatment of footage of dead soldiers and civilians. I expect that current ITC regulations will prevent the violation of the Geneva Convention occurring in material broadcast from a UK licensed service.

BBC producers' guidelines also recognise the principles of the Geneva Convention. The BBC believes that its editorial policies are fully consistent with the principles of the Geneva Convention. Their editorial policies (which are in the public domain) include guidelines on the coverage of casualties, death and injury and prisoners of war.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will investigate whether there has been a violation of the Geneva Convention by the BBC following their televising of film of United States soldiers held by Iraq as prisoners of war; and if she will make a statement. [106222]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 1 April 2003]: The BBC producers' guidelines recognise the principles of the Geneva Convention; individual editorial decisions on content are ultimately matters for the BBC Board of Governors.

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff are employed by her Department. [106292]

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Dr. Howells: The Department currently employs 475 staff.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Academic Achievement

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on academic achievement at (a) Key Stage 3, (b) GCSE and (c) A-level for pupils from pupil referral units in each academic year since 1997. [102557]

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Mr. Ivan Lewis: The tables refer to the Key Stage 3 and GCSE achievements of pupils solely registered at Pupil Referral Units at the time of the tests and examinations. These pupils are not obliged to take Key Stage 3 tests nor GCSE examinations.

Information on the GCE A level achievement of pupils in PRUs is not readily available. Very few students in the PRUs take A-levels and for some years there are no students at all.

(a) Key Stage 3 Test for pupils in Pupil Referral Units in England 1997–2002

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Percentage of pupils achieving level 5 or above	—	—	—	—	—	—
English	7	9	3	4	5	7
Mathematics	14	11	7	10	13	16
Science	10	7	3	6	10	11
Number of eligible pupils	—	—	—	—	—	—
English	301	381	742	581	730	741
Mathematics	331	419	811	627	781	784
Science	324	406	779	599	751	778

(b) GCSE/GNVQ achievements of 15 year old pupils in Pupil Referral Units in England 1997–2002

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Percentage achieving	—	—	—	—	—	—
5 or more grades A*—C	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.6	1.1	1.5
1 or more grades A*—G	36.2	45.2	43.2	63.1	62.7	63.0
Number of 15 year old pupils	3,853	3,835	4,139	3,004	3,081	2,960

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 24 February, ref 96714, what assessment he has made of the impact of narrow in-school variation on value-added standards of achievement at Key Stage 3 and GCSE. [100255]

Mr. Miliband: The variation within schools in pupils' Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 attainment is only slightly associated statistically with the progress they make during Key Stage 3 (as indicated by the 2002 Performance Tables school-level Key Stage 2–3 Value Added measure). In general, the smaller the variation in Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3 performance between pupils within their schools, the marginally greater the level of aggregate relative progress recorded by the value added measure. These features are also evident in the progress made during Key Stage 4.

Autism

Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) autism units attached to maintained schools, (b) generic special schools and (c) autism specialist schools there were in Kent in each year since 1997. [105864]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for Education and Skills does not currently hold this information centrally. The total number of special schools in Kent in each of the years 1998 to 2002 is shown in the following table:

Special schools

	Maintained	Non-maintained	Total
1998	34	4	38
1999	31	4	35
2000	30	4	34
2001	29	4	33
2002	29	4	33

Kent local education authority has informed the DfES that there are seven specifically designated resourced mainstream maintained provisions for children and pupils on the autistic spectrum in Kent, in addition 119 Kent maintained mainstream schools meet the needs of pupils with statements of special educational need where the primary need type is identified as autism and the need is described as very severe and complex. Many other Kent maintained mainstream schools meet the needs of pupils on the autistic spectrum, some with statements of special educational needs and others without.

There is no DfES definition of a generic special school. However the Kent authority has told us that there is one Kent special school which meets the needs of pupils with both moderate learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties, which may be one definition of "generic". There will be many other Kent special schools which cater for children with a range of special needs.

None of the Kent maintained special schools is specifically designated for children with autism. However there are 16 that will meet the needs of pupils who are on the autistic spectrum and there are other special schools which will take pupils who have needs associated with autism.

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There are also a number of independent and non-maintained schools in Kent that make provision for pupils with primary autistic needs.

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