| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
1 May 2003 : Column 485W—continued
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what expenditure has been incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [106260]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information is as follows:
1. The Department commissions tightly focused market research to help inform the strategic development of, and evaluate, publicity campaigns. The spend in 2002 was £2,684,967.
1 May 2003 : Column 486W
2. Information is not held in a form that would allow the projects to be differentiated into the categories requested; some would involve a combination of methodologies. Some campaigns where strategic communications research, creative development research or evaluation research have been commissioned in 2002 include the child care recruitment campaign, AimHigher, Modern Apprenticeships, Adult Basic Skills and development of online portals for parents, employers, schools governors and adult learners.
3. The Department also conducts research to help us understand the education, skills and communication needs of our customers. It has sampled and consulted on the views of teachers, parents and other groups affected by the Department's policies on specific issues. For example, the project "A longitudinal study of factors contributing to variations in teacher effectiveness" will investigate the factors which contribute to the effectiveness of teachers at different stages in their career, working in a range of schools in different contexts, and how this changes over time. Part of this study is to track 300 teachers over three years measuring their effectiveness by pupil outcome measures and other qualitative techniques. "Sixth annual survey of parents of three and four year old children and their use of early years services" is part of a programme of annual surveys of parents of three and four-year-old children which has been undertaken to measure patterns of participation in early years education and child care. These surveys provide valuable information on changes in participation over time as early years policy is being implemented and they also provide information on parental perceptions of the quality, range and type of provision offered and used year by year. The Department plans to replace the annual survey of parents of three and four-year-old children with a new survey of parents which combines both
- the survey of parents of three and four-years-olds and
the parents' demand for child care survey.
4. Information about opinion polls, focus groups and other forms of research commissioned by the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally.
Education Funding (Wandsworth)
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding has been made available to Wandsworth Education Authority in each of the last eight years. [110461]
Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the Department's total Education Standard Spending Assessment, recurrent and capital grant allocated to Wandsworth Local Education Authority for the financial years 1997–98 to 2002–03. Complete figures for 2003–04 are not yet available.
| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSA | 89.1 | 93.7 | 98.2 | 101.9 | 105.2 | 102.9 |
| Recurrent Grant | 3.1 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 8.8 | 14.2 | 22.2 |
| Capital Grant | 0.9 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 7.4 | 7.0 | 12.3 |
| Total | 93.1 | 96.4 | 104.5 | 118.1 | 126.4 | 137.4 |
1 May 2003 : Column 487W
School Standards Fund
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his policy that schools will integrate activities funded by the Standards Fund into their base cost. [110068]
Mr. Miliband: The Government are not requiring that schools continue in the same way those activities previously supported through the Standards Fund. The purpose of reducing the proportion of funding provided through ring-fenced grants is to give schools greater control of their resources. It will be for schools to decide how best take forward action in areas previously supported through these grants, taking account of local priorities.
This year's increased funding for education of over £2.6 billion, 11.6 per cent. extra, is more than £250 million greater than the pressures due to pay, pensions, inflation and ending specific grants in order to reduce the proportion of ring-fenced funding, giving schools greater control of their resources.
Teachers' Pay Costs
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of the change in cost to maintained schools in (a) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (b) England resulting from (i) changes in pension funds, (ii) national insurance contribution increases and (iii) the shortening of the teachers' pay spine; and what financial provision will be made to compensate for shortfall. [108287]
Mr. Miliband: The Department does not collect information on the distribution of teaching salaries by local education authority or school. It is therefore not possible for us to calculate the additional cost of the national insurance contribution or the shortening of the teachers' pay spine for each local education authority. It will not be possible to calculate the additional cost of the increase in employers' contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme for each local education authority for 2003–04 until we have analysed the contributions data for March and April 2003.
In 2003–04, the national increase in funding is sufficient to cover all the pressures that authorities face. The increase in Education Formula Spending (EPS)—the base funding for schools and LEAs that forms a part of local government funding system—and School Standards Grant—additional base funding that goes directly to every school—is a 11.6 per cent. cash increase over 2002–03. This includes a baseline adjustment to the Education Formula Spending total of £586 million to cover the pre-16 costs of the 4.75 per cent. increase in employers' contribution that arises from the inclusion of pensions increase on the scheme. Further transfers have
1 May 2003 : Column 488W
been made of £20 million, to meet the additional costs of Threshold grant payments, and £44 million to the Learning and Skills Council in respect of sixth forms.
Local education authorities will need to use their increase to cover the contributions to the Teachers' Pensions scheme; teachers' pay award for 2003–04; pay rises for non-teaching staff; inflation; and the national insurance increase.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Civil Service (People with Disabilities)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in meeting targets for the proportion of people with disabilities in senior posts in the Department. [110521]
Clare Short: DFID's target for 2002–03 in respect of the proportion of people with disabilities in the Senior Civil Service was 1.7 per cent. That target has been met. Our target for 2004–05 is 3.3 per cent. We are increasingly advertising senior posts outside the Department and we use the disability media where possible. Adverts carry a statement encouraging applications from under-represented groups, including people with disabilities. We also provide financial support for a bursary scheme for Civil Servants run by the Cabinet Office, that aims to improve the representation of people with disabilities in the Senior Civil Service.
Global Health Fund
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when her Department will come to a conclusion upon financing the next round of funding to the Global Health Fund; on what criteria this judgment will be based; and if the details of this judgment will be made publicly available. [110364]
Clare Short: DFID have committed $200 million (£124 million) over the five-year period to 2006 and have already disbursed $80 million.
Wherever possible the fund should be providing support behind the strategies that help deliver sustainable improvements in health care. We will work with the Global Fund on developing methods for assessing its contribution to this agenda as future DFID funding to the fund will depend on its effectiveness. Monitoring systems are being put in place to measure the impact of its investments—the results of which will be made available by the fund.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman), 13 March 2003, Official Report, column 355W, what other instruments designed to improve basic health care
1 May 2003 : Column 489W
in poor countries her Department plans to use; and if she will make a statement on her conclusion that performance of the Global Health Fund has been mixed. [110424]
Clare Short: In addition to our commitment to the Global Fund, we have also committed £1.5 billion to support the development of health systems in developing countries. There are a variety of aid instruments available to deliver this support. We will work with governments of recipient countries to decide which is appropriate according to national priorities and plans. Our goal is to support their effort to lift themselves out of poverty.
We believe that wherever possible the fund should be providing support behind national strategies that help deliver sustainable improvements in health care. The fund is at a very early stage of development; it is putting in place systems to monitor its performance both as an organisation, and in terms of its impact at country and global level. We will use these measures of effectiveness to assess our future contributions.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |