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Students
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information he collates on possible changes to the pattern of student enrolment paying (a) controlled undergraduate fees and (b) undergraduate fees as a result of his student support proposals. [129991]
Alan Johnson: We do not have any specific estimates of the possible change to the pattern of student number enrolments as we do not know which universities will be charging the variable fees and which will be charging controlled fees. However initial analysis suggests that we can expect enrolment to continue to rise over the course of the decade. We continue to monitor enrolment through a number of sources such as UCAS, HESA and HEFCE.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has collated on the opportunity costs incurred by full-time students in higher education. [129729]
Alan Johnson: The opportunity costs incurred by students participating in higher education (HE) comprise the earnings they could have earned had they not been studying net of the income they receive through working during their studies. Both these income streams vary between individuals.
Individuals with two or more A-levels who have been in the labour market for up to three years have average net annual earnings of around £8,300 1 . Over a three year, full-time HE course this would be equivalent to around £25,000 in foregone earnings.
However, many students also work while studying. Student Income and Expenditure Survey (SIES) data indicate that full-time first-degree students typically earn around £5,000 2 over the duration of their course. This means that an overall opportunity cost for full-time first-degree students who enter with two or more A-levels is on average around £20,000. However, this average figure will vary widely between individual students.
- 1 Based on spring 2003 LFS data for the UK, covering men and women aged 18–24 whose highest qualifications are two or more A-levels. Individuals are assumed to be UK employees who have been in the labour market for up to three years. Individuals are assumed to work 52 weeks per year.
- 2 Based on SIES 1998/99 data for full-time first-degree UK students aged 18 to 24-years-old. Net earnings are up-rated by the average earnings index in order to get equivalent spring 2003 data.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Office for Fair Access will share (a) chief executives and (b) accounting officers. [129732]
Alan Johnson: As we set out in "Widening Participation in Higher Education", the Office for Fair Access will be separate from but supported by HEFCE. It will exercise its independent judgment in considering
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and monitoring access agreements. We will give more detail on its organisation when we introduce the Higher Education Bill.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if the remission of tuition fees for higher education by British public sector organisations has been approved as (a) a state aid under European legislation and (b) non-taxable under British revenue law. [129733]
Alan Johnson: State aid (as defined under Article 87(1) of the European Treaty) does not apply to educational functions such as the remission of tuition fees for higher education students. There is therefore no need for approval.
No special approvals are required for the treatment of fee remission arrangements. Existing tax law provides methods by which such arrangements can be exempt from tax, depending on the circumstances.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has for obtaining information on (a) students' financial situation, (b) living conditions and (c) academic experiences from interested bodies, with particular reference to the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the National Union of Students, and for disseminating information between these bodies. [129764]
Alan Johnson: The Department has conducted a Student Income and Expenditure Survey (SIES) for the 2002/03 academic year. It will provide up-to-date information on the finances and living arrangements for full-time, young, single, childless, English and Welsh domiciled students who are undertaking an undergraduate degree at publicly funded higher education institutions in England and Wales in 2002/03. The National Union of Students (NUS) and Universities UK (UUK) are represented on the SIES steering committee.
The new National Student Survey, which is being developed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, will collect students' views on their learning experiences from 2004 onwards. The Council is working with key sector partners, including the National Union of Students, to develop the Survey. The results of the Survey will be publicly available.
Sure Start
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many relevant children there are in each of the Birkenhead Sure Start areas; and how many of these children have been contacted by Sure Start. [129170]
Margaret Hodge: The three Sure Start local programmes in Birkenhead were developed and approved on different timescales. This is reflected in their level of activity and the number of children they are reaching.
Sure Start Birkenhead North was approved in August 2000 and has reported that since then it has contacted over 95 per cent. of the 648 children living in the area. Sure Start Ferries was approved in January 2002 and has estimated that it has to date contacted over 74 per cent. of the 741 children living in the area. Sure
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Start Birkenhead Central was approved in January 2003 and has so far contacted 33 per cent. of the 868 children living in the area.
Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the benefits of the Sure Start Scheme. [130383]
Margaret Hodge: A large scale, comprehensive evaluation of the Sure Start programme is under way. This will establish what works to improve outcomes for young children and their families, in the short, medium and long term.
By its nature many of the benefits of Sure Start will be long term: so the evaluation is tracking 8,000 children over time—initially at nine months, three years and five years—and then beyond. The first information will be available by spring 2004.
The evaluation is also examining how the programme is being implemented. To date assessments have been published on Setting Up Sure Start, Early Experiences of Implementing Sure Start, Characteristics of Sure Start Areas and Fathers in Sure Start Areas. These assessments show that many of the necessary building blocks for successful Sure Start programmes, such as joint working and involvement of parents in planning and delivering services, are being put in place.
These publications and further information about the National Evaluation can be found at www.surestart.gov.uk/ensuringquality/research/local programmeevaluation/
Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Sure Start schemes there are in the north east; and what their total cost has been. [130384]
Margaret Hodge: A total of 63 Sure Start Local Programmes have been approved in the north east of England. To date we have given approval for over £33.2 million capital and paid just over £46.1 million in revenue for Sure Start Local Programmes in the North East of England to help reach 238,000 0 to 3-years-old children. Some of the programmes have started delivering full Sure Start services for parents and families in their area and others are at various stages of delivery.
Teachers
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the relationship between SATS scores and the results of teacher assessment at Key Stage Two. [129030]
Mr. Miliband [holding answer 11 September 2003]: Testing of all pupils at the end of each key stage of education provides objective evidence, against a national standard, of what children have learned in the core subjects. Teacher assessment is an important part of the overall statutory assessment framework and covers the full range and scope of the programmes of study, taking into account evidence of achievement in a range of contexts, including that gained through discussion and observation.
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The evidence from both types of assessment, together provides, valuable information to support the future learning of each pupil.
The results from teacher assessment and tests are broadly consistent, but they are derived from different sources of evidence of a pupil's attainment.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers he estimates will lose their jobs in (a) the Chesham and Amersham constituency and (b) Buckinghamshire as a result of the financial problems encountered by schools in England in the next school year; and how many (i) teaching and (ii) other staff posts he estimates will remain unfilled for the same reason. [129890]
Mr. Miliband: My right hon. Friend has made no such estimate. Provisional statistics on teacher and support staff numbers and teacher vacancies at January 2003 were published in April in Statistical First Release 10/2003. Statistics released on 9 September provided regional and LEA level breakdowns of these figures. Provisional national figures for January 2004 are due to be published next April. As I made clear in my reply to the hon. Member of 8 September 2003, Official Report, column 112w, the broad assessment of changes in teaching staff numbers made by my Department in liaison with local education authorities (LEAs) in May this year did not provide a definitive picture.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the subjects which have missed targets for teacher training recruitment in the last year for which figures are available. [127284]
Mr. Miliband: My Department has moved from a system which obliges teacher training providers to aim for a particular intake target to one that incentivises them to recruit as many good candidates as they can in the areas where new teachers are needed most. That is why 4,000 more conventional teacher training places and over 5,000 more employment-based training places will be funded in 2003/04 than were being funded in 1996/97. The table shows the number of conventional teacher training places funded in 2002/03 by subject and phase; the number of entrants who took up these places; and the number of recruits to employment-based teacher training in that year. Numbers of funded employment-based training places are not specified in advance by subject or phase.
(46) Technology includes design and technology, business studies and information technology
Source:
TTA
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