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Educational Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the progress of the pilot schemes on the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme. [131408]

Alan Johnson: An independent evaluation of EMAs has been taking place since 1999. Evidence from the second year of the pilots, which was published in July 2002, shows that EMAs have increased the number of eligible young people in full time education in year 12 in pilot areas by 5.9 percentage points compared to local authority areas without EMAs. The EMA scheme will be available across the whole of England from 2004 and the pilot scheme will continue until then.

Evaluation of the pilots has also provided information on which features of the different variants are most effective. This has informed development of the national model.

EU Enlargement

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time students in British higher education came from countries which are (a) about to be admitted to the EU and (b) in the European Economic Area, in the last year for which figures are available; and what estimate he has made of the likely loss of income to higher education institutions from fees revision when enlargement takes place. [129986]

Alan Johnson: In 2001/02, 3,258 full-time undergraduate students in British higher education came from countries which are about to be admitted to the EU, and 55,356 came from the European Economic Area.

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Assuming that international students would pay an average fee of upwards of £6,500 in 2004/05, then the likely loss of income to higher education institutions from those students admitted to the EU would be at least £17 million. Students studying in England would become eligible for funding from HEFCE; the amount depending on the course of study.

European Higher Education Reform

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the conclusion of the Berlin Conference on the Bologna Process for higher education institutions, held in September 2003. [131534]

Alan Johnson: The Government welcome the outcomes of the recent Berlin ministerial meeting on the Bologna process of European higher education reform. The process of reform will make it increasingly easy for students and researchers to gain the social and educational benefits from studying in another European country. In Berlin, Education Ministers set clear goals for 2005 on making progress across Europe on degree structures, on credit systems and on quality assurance. This will ensure that there is no danger of the process of reform slowing down.

In addition, another seven countries joined the Bologna process in Berlin. This raises to 40 the total number of countries committed to working together to build a successful and attractive European higher education area by the end of the decade, an important plank of the Lisbon agenda on competitiveness.

Food Expenditure

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent on food by his Department and by each agency for which it is responsible in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; what proportion of that food by value was produced in the United Kingdom; what guidance he has issued to encourage the procurement of home-grown food; and if he will make a statement. [129382]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: In 2001–02 DfES recorded expenditure of £448,893 on hospitality and £71,829 on contract payments. The figures for 2002–03 were £531,494 and £19,487 respectively. Expenditure on food in DfES is generally limited to official hospitality and canteen subsidies/contract payments. Records of spend on food provided at external conferences and like events are not kept centrally and so have not been included. Unfortunately, we are unable to breakdown this expenditure further. Our service provider is encouraged to purchase fresh UK produce wherever possible. Guidance produced by Defra on "Integrating Sustainable Development into Public Procurement of Food and Catering" has been issued to our service provider and associated action plan completed.

GCSE Pass Marks

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of changes in GCSE examination pass-marks in the last (a) five and (b) 10 years. [131807]

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Mr. Miliband: QCA as the statutory regulator for public examinations has responsibility for the maintenance of standards. The Chief Executive of QCA will write to the hon. Member providing details of the assessments the Authority has made.

Learning and Skills Councils

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the impact of Reshaping in the Learning and Skills Councils on the delivery of the organisations functions. [131733]

Alan Johnson: The Learning and Skills Council is undertaking a reshaping exercise which is designed to build on its existing strengths to enhance its capacity to work with partners to develop and to implement the strategies necessary to achieve national targets for skills and learning, while streamlining routine administrative arrangements. The reshaping programme will not damage the LSC's ability to deliver. It will improve the organisation's overall efficiency and effectiveness. The reshaping programme is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, and I have therefore asked Mark Haysom, the council's chief executive, to write to my hon. Friend with further information. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much he estimates will be saved by the exercise Reshaping in the Learning and Skills Councils; [131734]

(2) how many staff he estimates will leave their posts as a result of the exercise Reshaping in the Learning and Skills Councils; [131735]

(3) what the timetable is for the completion of the exercise Reshaping in the Learning and Skills Councils. [131736]

Alan Johnson: These are matters for the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, the council's chief executive, will write to my hon. friend with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Non-EU Students

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the 50 further education colleges with the lowest percentage of non-European Union students successfully completing their courses, giving (a) the percentage for each institution and (b) the number of non-EU students at each institution in the last year for which figures are available. [131727]

Alan Johnson: The information requested is not available. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) only publish success, retention and achievement rates for those learners funded by the council in further education colleges and external institutions in England. However, the majority of learners from countries outside of the European Union are not funded by the LSC—so figures are not available.

Furthermore, the LSC do not publish further education institution success, retention and achievement rates based on less than 500 learners as they can be

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misleading. In 2001/02, less than 15 further education institutions in England had more than 500 LSC funded non-European Union students.

Physical Education

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list for each school in Shrewsbury and Atcham the average number of hours for which schoolchildren undertake physical education. [132286]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: This information is not currently held in the format requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of schools provide a minimum of two hours physical education per week for school children. [132287]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Government are investing more than £1 billion in England to transform physical education (PE) and school sport. This funding will help deliver an ambitious Public Service Agreement target, shared by DfES and DCMS, to increase the percentage of school children who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent. by 2006. Currently, about a quarter of schools provide this entitlement at key stage 1, two-fifths at key stage 2 and a third at key stages 3 and 4.

School Catering

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in Shrewsbury and Atcham allow the sale of drinks with a high added sugar content to schoolchildren. [132285]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills does not collect this information.

School Curriculum (Music and Dance)

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is towards including the promotion of English folk songs and English folk dances in the school curriculum; and if he will make a statement. [131611]

Mr. Miliband: We believe that a broad range of high quality music and dance experiences should be available to all our young people, whatever their background and wherever they live.

Opportunities for pupils to sing, dance and make music from a range of times, places and cultures are firmly embedded within the National Curricula for Music and Physical Education. In England, we have a rich folk tradition which teachers can draw upon. However, it is for the individual teacher to select their repertoire, based on their own professional judgement and expertise.

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