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School Funding

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the funding available per pupil to schools in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) the South East of England from (i) central and (ii) local government. [120064]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is contained in the following table:

£

	Total fundingper pupil	Total funding per pupil (inc pensions transfer)
	(i) Funding from central government 2003–04
North East Lincolnshire	3,560	3,630
South East with London Government Office Regions	3,990	4,070
(ii) Funding from local government 2003–04
NE Lincolnshire	3,980	—
South East with London Government Office Regions	4,400	—

Notes to funding from central government:

1. Figures reflect education SSA/EFS settlement (all sub-blocks) plus revenue grants in DfES departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to EFS pupils aged 3–19.

2. Figures exclude EMAs and grants not allocated at LEA level. They also exclude pensions transfer to EFS and LSC for 2003–04 unless otherwise indicated.

3. The pupil numbers used are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC 3-year-old FTE maintained pupils and estimated 3–4 year old pupils funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers.

4. 2003–04 figures are forecasts. Figures are in cash terms and rounded to the nearest 10.

5. Pupil numbers have not been calculated on the same basis as those in the local government table, and therefore the unit funding is not directly comparable.

Notes to funding from local government:

1. LEA Budget Figures are provided gross of all income (whether DfES grant, grants from other sources, or other income).

2. Figures provided are from the 'Total Education Revenue Expenditure' line of LEAs section 52 budget statements table 1, as submitted by the LEA (Line 4 in 1999–2000, Line 5 for 2000–01 to 2002–03 and Line 3 for 2003–04).

3. Pupil Numbers for 03–04 are maintained pupils from January 03 ASC and are provisional.

4. Pupil numbers have not been calculated on the same basis as those in the central government list above, and therefore the unit funding is not directly comparable.

5. Figures are as reported by the LEAs as at 30 June 2003.

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School Rolls

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the obligation of community schools to admit up to their published admission number if they have sufficient applications on a set date. [124135]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 7 July 2003]: None. Admission authorities have a statutory duty to comply with parental preference, and if applications are made for available places, they should admit pupils up to the school's published admission number. The local education authority is normally the admission authority for community schools. They should not reserve places, for example, in the expectation that there may be later applications from families moving into the catchment area.

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether community schools may reserve places at the beginning of an academic year for pupils who move into the defined catchment area after the cut off date for admissions, but before the start of the academic year. [124136]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 7 July 2003]: The School Admissions Code of Practice published in January 2003 specifically advises against reserving places in the expectation that there may be later applications from families moving into the catchment area.

The Rotherham judgment in 1997 clarified that local education authorities—who decide on admissions to community schools—must not allocate places at their schools to local catchment area parents who have not expressed a preference, over parents living outside the catchment area who have expressed a preference. School places must be allocated to parents who have expressed a preference for them by the application deadline, until all preferences are met or (if the school is oversubscribed) the published admission number is reached.

SCOLA System-built Schools

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures he will take to ensure that local authorities with significant numbers of SCOLA system-built schools retain sufficient capital allocations to maintain their fabric and improve facilities under his new proposals. [123345]

Mr. Miliband: Overall capital funding to schools and local education authorities in England has increased from less than £700 million in 1996–97 to £3.8 billion in 2003–04. This will increase further to more than £5 billion in 2005–06. The bulk of this funding is allocated by formula, based partly on need identified in local asset management plans (AMPs), and it is for

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authorities and schools to deploy this funding in line with locally agreed priorities identified in the AMP, including the replacement of system buildings.

Skills Training

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action the Government have taken to improve skills in the UK through better education for young people and greater training opportunities for those in the workforce. [124215]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government have introduced many improvements in recent years to raise the levels of skills in the workforce, including: major school reforms; the expansion of modern apprenticeships; and new initiatives such as Learndirect's network of learning centres, Skills for Life and the Union Learning Fund. On 9 July 2003 we will be publishing a groundbreaking Skills Strategy, which outlines how these developments and other new ones will be used to bring about the further transformation in skills the country needs in order to support a productive, modern economy.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of the workforce in the UK have at least level 2 skills; and how many adults lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. [124217]

Alan Johnson: The Labour Force Survey in autumn 2002 showed that 70.9 per cent. of the workforce in the UK were qualified to at least level 2.

The International Adult Literacy Survey in 1996 estimated that in Great Britain ¹ there were 7.9 million adults aged 16–65 who lacked basic literacy skills (below level 1), equivalent to 22 per cent. of the population aged 16–65. The survey also showed that 18.6 million adults lacked basic numeracy skills (below level 1), equivalent to 51 per cent. of the population aged 16–65.

¹ IALS data is not available for the UK

Specialist Schools

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his Answer of 23 June, Official Report, column 555W, on specialist schools, if he will list average point scores for each of the four specialisations. [124171]

Mr. Miliband: The 2002 results, for those schools which were operational specialist schools ¹ as at September 2001, are shown in the following table.

2002 average capped GCSE/GNVQ point score

Arts Colleges	34.2
Language Colleges	39.1
Sports Colleges	33.7
Technology Colleges	36.2

⁽¹⁾ Special schools are excluded from these figures.

Student Drop-Outs

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in the UK dropped out of university during the academic year 2002/03. [122010]

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Alan Johnson: The available information on non-completion rates is published annually by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in "Performance Indicators in Higher Education". The latest figures show that the overall non-completion rate for students starting full-time first degree courses in the UK in 1999/2000 is 17 per cent., which represents around 49,000 students.

Figures published in 2002 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the UK as a whole has one of the lowest non-completion rates among OECD countries.

Student Finance

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students paying tuition fees in higher education institutions in England and Wales are resident in Scotland. [122294]

Alan Johnson: The latest data shows that, of the 368,100 UK domiciled students on full-time first degree courses in England and Wales in 2001/02 who were paying some or all of their tuition fees, 3,100 had recorded their normal place of residence as Scotland.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether part-time students studying for their first level 4 qualification will have their fees deferred after 2005–06; and what estimate he has made of the cost of his support for part-time students. [122560]

Alan Johnson: [holding answer 30 June 2003]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) on our plans for improving the financial support offered to part-time students on 14 April 2003, Official Report, column 563W.

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