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7 Jul 2003 : Column 624W—continued

Local Authority Funding

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what specific or direct grants have been made by his Department to local authorities for 2003–04 (a) in England and (b) broken down by local authority, identifying whether the grant is (i) ring fenced, (ii) a specific formula grant, (iii) within aggregate external finance and (iv) outside aggregate external finance. [114915]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Local Education Authorities

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much extra money his Department has provided to each local education authority to help ameliorate the effects of this year's school funding problems. [123044]

Mr. Miliband: The funding of schools is a shared responsibility of central and local Government. In 2003–04, there have been a number of very significant pressures on LEA and school spending. Nationally, the additional resources provided for education more than match those pressures. However, changes to the distribution formula for Education Formula Spending, together with the ending of a substantial body of ring-fenced grants from my Department's Standards Fund,

7 Jul 2003 : Column 625W

have meant that different LEAs and schools have received a wide range of year-on-year increases in overall support for education.

The department has taken steps through an additional grant of £28 million to ensure that all LEAs have at least a minimum increase of 3.2 per cent. per pupil, in addition to taking account of the effect of the Standards Fund and teachers' pension changes. We have also provided a special grant costing £11 million to 18 London LEAs to help them fund this year's increases in London weighting. The allocations of these grants are shown in the following table. In addition, LEAs and schools will be given the additional flexibility to use their devolved formula capital funding from the Department to support revenue expenditure. The decision to use a school's capital funding in this way will need to be made jointly by the school and its LEA, and should only be taken in those circumstances where failure to do so would lead to excessive instability within that school.

£ million

	Additional support grant	London budget grant	Total
Barking and Dagenham	1.128	1.031	2.159
Barnet		0.579	0.579
Bedfordshire	0.135		0.135
Bexley	1.492	0.490	1.982
Bournemouth	0.140		0.140
Brighton and Hove	0.960		0.960
Bromley	0.815	0.594	1.409
Camden	1.168	0.698	1.866
Croydon	1.302	0.695	1.997
Dorset	0.318		0.318
East Sussex	0.110		0.110
Enfield	1.147	0.665	1.812
Essex	1.162		1.162
Hammersmith and Fulham	0.886	0.739	1.625
Hampshire	0.278		0.278
Haringey	1.330	1.292	2.622
Havering	1.089	0.475	1.564
Hertfordshire	1.000		1.000
Isle of Wight	0.110		0.110
Kensington and Chelsea	0.288	0.491	0.779
Knowsley	0.736		0.736
Lambeth	1.282	0.391	1.673
Leicestershire	0.835		0.835
Medway	1.295		1.295
Norfolk	1.595		1.595
North East Lincolnshire	0.033		0.033
Plymouth	0.831		0.831
Portsmouth	0.891		0.891
Redbridge	0.903	0.017	0.920
Richmond upon Thames	0.152	0.261	0.413
Slough	0.376		0.376
Southampton	1.016		1.016
Southend-on-Sea	0.358		0.358
Suffolk	0.108		0.108
Sutton	0.503	0.378	0.881
Thurrock	0.308		0.308
Waltham Forest	2.140	0.534	2.674
Wandsworth		1.141	1.141
Westminster		0.818	0.818

Masters Degrees

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many taught Masters degrees (a) were awarded and (b) were enrolled for in each year since 1992. [121329]

Alan Johnson: The latest available information is shown in the table. Comparable figures for earlier years are not held centrally.

7 Jul 2003 : Column 626W

Numbers of enrolments and awards for taught Masters degrees

Academic Year	Enrolments	Awards
1994/95	126,136	16,823
1995/96	142,665	19,030
1996/97	142,488	19,347
1997/98	141,751	20,951
1998/99	151,510	21,354
1999/00	158,713	22,064
2000/01	164,691	23,142
2001/02	175,665	23,644

Source:Higher Education Statistics Agency

Musically Gifted Pupils

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria the Department employs in assessing parental contributions under the Aided Pupils Scheme for musically gifted pupils at specialist schools; and how housing costs are allowed for. [123441]

Mr. Miliband: The Aided Pupil Scheme, part of the Music and Dance Scheme, is an annually assessed means-tested scheme that required parents to make a contribution towards fees according to their means. Gross income from all sources is assessed so that all parents are placed on a similar footing wherever they live. The amount (if any) parents pay is on a sliding scale linked to total income and the scales are constructed so that the least well-off families benefit most. No deductions are made in respect of outgoings such as mortgage repayments, pension contributions and the normal day to day costs of living when assessing a family's total gross income. The method of income assessment ensures that a proper balance is struck between the amount parents can realistically be expected to contribute and the amount of taxpayers' money that is provided for the scheme.

Nurseries (Leeds, West)

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Leeds, West constituency had places in (a) day nurseries and (b) school nurseries in each of the last 10 years. [122673]

Mr. Miliband: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information is shown in the table.

Number of places at day nurseries and children at maintained nursery schools—Leeds local authority area 1994 to 2003

	Number of places		Headcount of children
	Day nurseries(20)	Full day care(21)	Maintained nursery schools(22)
1994	n/a	n/a	92
1995	n/a	n/a	77
1996	n/a	n/a	53
1997	n/a	n/a	39
1998	3,500	n/a	46
1999	3,900	n/a	0
2000	5,100	n/a	0
2001	4,400	n/a	0
2002	n/a	n/a	0
2003	n/a	5,700	0

n/a = Not available

⁽²⁰⁾ Children's day care facilities

⁽²¹⁾ Ofsted

⁽²²⁾ Annual Schools' Census

7 Jul 2003 : Column 627W

Information on the number of places in day nurseries is not available at parliamentary constituency level. Information on the number of pupils in nursery schools at parliamentary constituency level is not available prior to 1998. From 1998, there were no nursery schools in Leeds, West parliamentary constituency.

Day care figures for 2001 and earlier years for England and Government Office regions were published in DfES Statistical Bulletin 08/01 "Children's Day Care Facilities at 31 March 2001", which is available in the Library and on the DfES website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics. Figures for 2001 for out of school clubs and holiday schemes have recently been revised. Latest child care statistics were published in a report by Ofsted

7 Jul 2003 : Column 628W

'Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 31 March 2003', which is available on the Ofsted website, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.

Pre-Schools

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have attended pre-schools in each year since 1973; how many pre-schools there were in (a) England and (b) Sefton in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002; and how many there are in 2003. [122300]

Mr. Miliband: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information for 1999 onwards is shown in the tables.

Number of three and four year olds^{(23),(24),(25)} by type of early years education provider—England

Position in January each year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003 (provisional estimates)
Private and voluntary providers(26)
Number of three year olds	n/a	268,800	285,100	283,200	(27)327,700
Number of four year olds	95,100	96,000	101,100	96,500	(27)117,500
Total number of three and four year olds	n/a	364,800	386,200	379,800	(27)445,200
Independent schools
Number of three year olds	n/a	25,900	27,200	27,400	26,300
Number of four year olds	28,700	28,500	28,300	29,400	28,500
Total number of three and four year olds	n/a	54,400	55,500	56,800	54,800
Maintained nursery and primary schools
Number of three year olds	n/a	229,900	226,800	223,500	218,500
Number of four year olds	496,400	483,700	482,800	477,700	472,200
Total number of three and four year olds	n/a	713,600	709,600	701,200	690,700
Special schools(28)
Number of three year olds	n/a	2,300	2,300	2,100	1,900
Number of four year olds	2,900	2,700	2,700	2,700	2,500
Total number of three and four year olds	n/a	4,900	5,000	4,800	4,500
All providers(29)
Number of three year olds	n/a	526,900	541,300	536,300	(27)574,400
Number of four year olds	623,100	610,900	614,900	606,300	(27)620,700
Total number of three and four year olds	n/a	1,137,700	1,156,300	1,142,700	(27)1,195,200

n/a = Not available.

⁽²³⁾ Headcount of children aged three and four at 31 December in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest 100.

⁽²⁴⁾ Numbers of three and four year olds in schools may include some two-year-olds.

⁽²⁵⁾ Any child attending mere than one provider may have been counted twice

⁽²⁶⁾ Includes some local authority providers (other than schools) registered to receive nursery education grants; excludes independent schools and providers not registered to receive nursery education grants.

⁽²⁷⁾ Scaled up from the data as returned by providers to all providers of early years education.

⁽²⁸⁾ Includes general hospital schools.

⁽²⁹⁾ Rounding of components may cause discrepancies in totals.

Number of schools with pupils aged 3 or 4⁽³⁰⁾

	Sefton LEA				England
Position in January each year: 2000 to 2003(31)	2000	2001	2002	2003(31)	2000	2001	2002	2003(31)
Nursery Schools
Number of schools	4	4	4	4	514	506	494	471
Primary Schools
Number of schools	86	86	86	86	15,844	15,847	15,868	15,830
Special Schools(32)
Number of schools	4	4	4	3	599	586	584	579
Independent Schools
Number of schools	6	6	6	6	1,509	1,498	1,494	1,441
Direct Grant Nursery Schools
Number of school	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2

⁽³⁰⁾ Includes pupils aged under 3.

⁽³¹⁾ Provisional.

⁽³²⁾ Includes both maintained and non-maintained special schools

7 Jul 2003 : Column 629W

Nursery Schools and Early Years Private and Voluntary Providers—England and Sefton local education authority area

	Number of nursery schools
Position in January each year	England	Sefton
1999	522	4
2000	516	4
2001	508	4
2001	496	4

Additionally, there were 19,400 private and voluntary providers in England in January 2003, of which 80 were located in the Sefton local education authority area.

School information prior to 1999 is available in the Statistical Volume 'Schools in England 2002', a copy of which is available from the Library. The latest figures on three and four-year-olds in early years education providers were published by the Department in the Statistical First Release "Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England: January 2003 (provisional) (15/2003)" in May 2003. Copies of both are available from the Library and electronically from the Department's website (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).

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