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1 Jul 2003 : Column 198W—continued
Transport Aircraft
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on chartering transport aircraft in each month since October 2001; and if he will make a statement. [116143]
Mr. Ingram: The amounts in cash terms actually paid against submitted invoices for the period October 2001 to March 2003, are as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| October 2001 | 4.505 |
| November 2001 | 5.534 |
| December 2001 | 2.506 |
| January 2002 | 1.287 |
| February 2002 | 3.578 |
| March 2002 | 9.190 |
| April 2002 | 5.025 |
| May 2002 | 6.755 |
| June 2002 | 3.212 |
| July 2002 | 4.427 |
| August 2002 | 3.913 |
| September 2002 | 4.360 |
| October 2002 | 3.281 |
| November 2002 | 1.801 |
| December 2002 | 4.217 |
| January 2003 | 0.831 |
| February 2003 | 4.675 |
| March 2003 | 15.688 |
Note:
These figures are provisional and subject to final audit.
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The Ministry of Defence does not necessarily pay the charter fees in the same month as the activity takes place and a direct correlation cannot therefore be drawn month by month between aircraft chartered and costs paid. Neither is there necessarily a particular significance between the fluctuating amounts committed or paid each month.
Commercial aircraft are chartered by the MOD when required to supplement the strategic aircraft resources of the RAF, particularly when the timescale and size of arising operations overseas necessitate the rapid deployment of equipment in support of United Kingdom expeditionary Forces.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Illiteracy
Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people are illiterate in the United Kingdom. [122524]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 30 June 2003]: The International Adult Literacy Survey in 1996 suggested that in Great Britain there are 7.9 million adults aged 16–65 who are functionally illiterate. This is equivalent to 22 per cent. of the population aged 16–65.
The Department has commissioned a new representative sample survey of working age adults in England to provide an up-to-date assessment of the scale of literacy and numeracy need. These estimates will be mapped to the new national basic skills standards and will be published in September 2003.
Leading Edge Schools
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received about the criteria for funding Leading Edge Schools; and if he will make a statement. [119231]
Mr. Miliband: My Department has received a small number of letters and phone calls related to the funding criteria for the Leading Edge Programme, most of them general funding inquiries. Each school will receive £60,000 per year to support the development and sharing of innovative teaching practice in partnership with a group of named secondary schools.
Regulatory Bodies
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the (a) number of staff employed by and (b) budget of each regulatory body for which his Department is responsible in each year since 1997. [117780]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested for Regulatory Bodies is listed as follows.
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The QCA was established on 1 October 1997 from the merger of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) and the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ). The staff figure shown for 1997/98 is that of SCAA and NCVQ combined. The grant in aid figure for 1997/98 is that for SCAA, NCVQ and QCA combined. The grant in aid figure for 2003/04 does not include funding for specific items of work that the QCA may be asked to undertake in the coming year.
| Year | Staff employedat start of the financial year | Grant in aid(£ million) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000/01 | n/a | 4.0 |
| 2001/02 | 68 | 9.0 |
| 2002/03 | 94 | 3.7 |
| 2003/04 | 121 | 1.4 |
Grant in aid payments to the GTC began in September 2000. Funding in 2000/01, therefore, covers the period September 2000 to March 2001.
Sector Skills Councils
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress the Government are making in establishing sector skills councils. [121744]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Good progress is being made in establishing Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). To date there are two fully licensed SSCs and a further 18 in development including the five trailblazer SSCs. I anticipate that the full network of around 25 SSCs will be in place by May 2004.
Truancy
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what action may be taken against parents who knowingly allow and encourage their children to truant from school; and how many parents have had action taken against them since 1997; [121515]
- (2) what measures are in place to ensure that parents who are unable to control whether their children attend school do not have action taken against them. [121516]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: If a child of compulsory school age who is registered at a school fails to attend regularly at the school then the parent is guilty of an offence under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996. Sanctions that might be imposed following a conviction under section 444(1) include a parenting order or a fine.
Since March 2001 there has been a more serious offence where a parent who, knowing that his child is failing to attend regularly at school, fails without
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reasonable justification to cause him to attend (Education Act 1996 section 444(1A) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Court Service Act 2000). Prosecution under section 444(1A) can lead to a custodial sentence.
Information about the number of prosecutions under sections 444(1) and 444(1A) is not collected centrally.
Local education authorities have discretion whether or not to prosecute in individual cases. On conviction, magistrates must consider the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence before deciding on a sentence.
Further measures to reinforce parental responsibility for school attendance are being introduced in the Anti-social Behaviour Bill. New parenting contracts will enable formal agreements between parent and school or parent and LEA in which each side sets out the steps they will take to secure an improvement in the child's attendance. Penalty notices will provide an alternative to prosecution and a much quicker and cheaper way of sanctioning parents who are capable of improving their child's school attendance and simply need a reminder of their responsibilities.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent research he has conducted into the percentage of primary school children who play truant without their parents' knowledge. [122015]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department recently commissioned research into the causes and effects of truancy. The report, "Absence from School", Scottish Council for Research in Education, 2003, was published on 29 May.
The research found that 27 per cent. of the primary pupils interviewed said that they had truanted from school without their parents' knowledge. It is important to note that these findings come from a relatively small sample of local education authorities and are therefore not necessarily representative of the whole country. The national primary school unauthorised absence rate for last year was 0.5 per cent. of half days missed.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on truancy levels for children of (a) primary and (b) secondary school age in March (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003. [122016]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Truancy data is collected annually and not broken down into monthly figures. Data for the 2002/03 academic year will be available in the Autumn. The percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence in 2001/02 was 0.5 per cent. in primary schools and 1.1 per cent. in secondary schools. These figures have remained consistent since national data was first collected in 1994/95.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Afghanistan
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to have UK nationals held in custody in Afghanistan
1 Jul 2003 : Column 202W
returned to the UK for treatment in cases where their medical condition is causing concern; and if he will make a statement. [121896]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer of 26 June 2003]: As far as we are aware the Afghan authorities are holding one British national in custody. He is currently receiving medical treatment in hospital. However, the necessary facilities to diagnose his condition do not appear to be available in Afghanistan and, in these exceptional circumstances, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary wrote to the Afghan Foreign Minister on 16 June to request the individual's release so that he could be returned to the UK for the specialist medical attention he appears to require.
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