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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Correspondence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many staff have been employed in the Ministerial Correspondence Unit of the Department in each of the last two years. [115872]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is in the following table.

	Full-time permanent members of staff	Full-time casual members of staff	Other
April 2001	5	2	—
April 2002	6	—	—
April 2003	4	2	1 part-time permanentmember of staff

Free School Meals

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of state-educated pupils in (a) Leeds, West constituency and (b) Leeds Metropolitan district receive free school meals. [116189]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is shown in the following table.

Maintained schools: School meal arrangements

	Day pupils(2)
January 2003(Provisional)	Number on roll	Number known to be eligible for free school meals	Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals
	Leeds, West parliamentary constituency
Primary(3)	7,702	2,009	26.1
Secondary(3)	4,141	1,028	24.8
Special(4)	186	67	36.0
Pupil Referral Units	26	13	50.0
	Leeds local education authority
Primary(3)	65,400	12,224	18.7
Secondary(3)	47,806	8,085	16.9
Special(4)	955	346	36.2
Pupil Referral Units	223	80	35.9

⁽²⁾ Excludes boarding pupils.

⁽³⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.

⁽⁴⁾ Excludes non-maintained special schools.

Source:

The Annual Schools Census

School Funding (Croydon)

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will meet the hon. Member for Croydon, South to discuss funding for (a) Woodcote High School, Croydon and (b) education funding in Croydon. [111686]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: I would be happy to meet the hon. Member. My Private Office will be in contact shortly.

Sustainable Development

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which United Kingdom commitments arising from the World Summit on

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Sustainable Development (a) have been incorporated into the Department's existing delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements and (b) will be incorporated in its delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements in advance of the 2004 Spending Review. [113885]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The interdepartmentally cleared Annex to the Memorandum submitted to the Environmental Audit Committee, in response to their inquiry on WSSD follow up, showed no outcomes for which this Department has responsibility,

Therefore, we see no need to change our existing delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements now, or in the future, in advance of the 2004 Spending Review.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Legal Aid

Mr. Mullin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in what circumstances defendants are entitled to legal aid before being charged; and what plans he has to amend the legal aid regulations in the light of Section 23 and Schedule 2 of the Criminal Justice Bill. [102070]

Yvette Cooper: Criminal Defence Service funding, in the form of advice and assistance, is available to anyone who is the subject of an investigation which may lead to criminal proceedings. Advice and assistance from a duty solicitor is free where an individual is arrested and held at a police station. In other circumstances, a defendant will be eligible for help where his weekly disposable income does not exceed £89 and his disposable capital does not exceed £1,000. There is no need to change the regulations in light of the Criminal Justice Bill, as advice and assistance is already available to cover any of the circumstances that may arise under Schedule 2.

Transsexuals

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on progress towards achieving equal rights for transsexuals. [116293]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government's policy on transsexual people remains unchanged from that set out in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 16 December 2002 ,Official Report, column 36WS. We are committed to legislating as soon as possible to give transsexual people their Convention rights. Our aim is to publish a draft Bill later this session with substantive legislation following when Parliamentary time allows.

SCOTLAND

Counselling Services

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements are made in her Department to allow staff to access counselling services. [111951]

Mrs. Liddell: Staff in my Department have access to an in-house counselling and welfare service as well as to an external employee assistance programme. These

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arrangements reflect my commitment to helping staff deal with concerns both inside and outside the workplace.

Mental Health

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many of her staff retired on medical grounds due to mental health problems in the last year. [111956]

Mrs. Liddell: No staff from the Scotland Office retired on medical grounds in 2002.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many of her staff have taken sick leave due to mental health problems in the last year. [111978]

Mrs. Liddell: In 2002, a small number of staff in my department had sickness absence relating to mental health problems. Further details of cases are covered by Exemption 12 (Privacy of an Individual) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many sick days were lost over the last year by her Department through staff mental health problems. [112067]

Mrs. Liddell: In 2002, 180 working days were lost due to staff illness involving mental health problems.

Ministerial Meetings

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to her answer of 9 April 2003, Official Report, column 278W, on ministerial meetings, if she will give the date of her last meeting with (a) the Minister of State for Trade and Investment and (b) the Scottish Minister responsible for Scottish Trade International. [114964]

Mrs. Liddell: I met the Minister of State for Trade and Investment on 6 February this year. My last engagement with the Scottish Minister responsible for Scottish Trade International was on 3 March. I also have frequent telephone conversations with each.

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many times she has met the Chairman of Scottish Enterprise in each of the last five years; and when her last meeting was. [114965]

Mrs. Liddell: Scottish Enterprise is formally responsible to Scottish Ministers for the conduct of its business. Therefore, while my predecessor and I have had continuing informal contacts with the Chairman and past Chairman of Scottish Enterprise over the past four years in a variety of different contexts, there has been no reason to keep detailed records of such contacts since devolution.

Tax Credit

Mr. Peter Duncan To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many employees in Scotland are (a) entitled to and (b) in receipt of working tax credit; [115815]

(2) how many families in Scotland are (a) entitled to and (b) in receipt of child tax credit. [115814]

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Mrs. McGuire: 430,000 families in Scotland are expected to receive the Child Tax Credit and 90,000 families in Scotland are expected to receive the Working Tax Credit, including some who are expected to receive the Child Tax Credit. Statistics on awards of these tax credits will be published in August.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

National Institute for Medical Research

11. Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the future of the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. [116515]

Ms Hewitt: No decision has been taken regarding the future of the National Institute for Medical Research.

Manufacturing

12. Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received concerning competitiveness from representatives of the manufacturing sector. [116516]

Alan Johnson: I and my colleagues frequently receive representations from industry on a range of issues, including competitiveness. We value and encourage such exchanges.

13. Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the change in the number of manufacturing jobs since 1997 in Shrewsbury and Atcham. [116517]

Alan Johnson: Since December 1998, the earliest base year available, it is estimated that manufacturing jobs in Shrewsbury have fallen by around 550, a decrease of 12 per cent. In the same period, overall employment in Shrewsbury increased by 8.7 per cent.

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