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Departmental Staff

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for his Department in each year since 1996. [126483]

Fiona Mactaggart: The figures can be found in Table C of the annual publication "Civil Service Statistics" published by Her Majesty's Stationary Office for the Government Statistical Service annually, and which covers permanent staff numbers in each Department and Agency from 1995 to 2002. Information on the Civil Service is published annually in 'Civil Service Statistics', copies of which have been placed in the Library. The latest edition, based on April 2002 data, was published on 24 July 2003. These figures include statistics on press officers, but the term "advisers to civil servants" is not one that is recognised.

Gun Trade

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the (a) trade in and (b) possession of (i) replica guns and (ii) disabled guns and (c) incidence of conversion of such guns to fire live ammunition; and what proposals he has to bring forward legislation to tackle gun crime. [132546]

Caroline Flint: There are no reliable statistics relating to the number of imitation and deactivated firearms in circulation. Imitation weapons were involved in 1,201 recorded offences in 2001–02. An examination of 217 real guns submitted to the Forensic Science Service between April-June 2003 showed that 59 had been converted from blank firing replicas, 19 from air weapons and two from de-activated guns.

Offences involving the use of guns are varied and need to be tackled on a number of different fronts. Tough laws and effective enforcement are important and the current Criminal Justice Bill includes proposals for a five-year minimum sentence for the illegal possession of prohibited firearms. We have also included provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour Bill which will ban the carrying of imitation firearms or air weapons in a public place without reasonable excuse. The sale, manufacture, transfer and import of air weapons which use the self-contained air cartridge system—which is readily converted to fire conventional ammunition—will also be banned. The law already regards any imitation which can be readily converted as a firearm which means that it is banned if it is a handgun.

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Police

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Chairman of the Association of Police Authorities on next year's funding settlement. [133610]

Ms Blears: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has regular meetings with the Chairman of the Association of Police Authorities to discuss a range of issues, including prospects for future funding.

Prison Population

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) unconvicted and (b) convicted unsentenced prisoners are held in prisons in England and Wales, broken down by sex. [131767]

Paul Goggins: On 31 July 2003 there were 7,163 untried and 4,603 convicted unsentenced males, and 537 untried and 495 convicted unsentenced females in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Football Association (Financial Support)

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what level of financial support was given by Sport England to the Football Association in the last year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement on the purpose to which this expenditure is put. [133231]

Mr. Caborn: None. All Sport England Lottery support for football is channelled through the Football Foundation, a partnership between the Government, the Football Association and the FA Premier League. The Foundation receives income from the three funding partners in roughly equal proportions. It received approximately £17 million from public sources in 2002–03. Sport England's contribution to the Foundation was £6 million in that year, the balance of the £17 million coming from the New Opportunities Fund and the Reduction in Pool Betting Duty.

75 per cent. of the Foundation's total income is used to develop grass roots football, the balance funding community and education projects, and essential ground safety work.

Terrestrial Television

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to improve reception to terrestrial television in areas that traditionally have suffered from a weak signal. [130583]

Estelle Morris: There are no plans to develop further the analogue terrestrial television transmission network, this is to enable the broadcasters to concentrate their resources on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) network. The Digital Television Action Plan tasks Government to determine and agree a target level of coverage for digital terrestrial public services post-switchover in 2004. This spectrum plan will also enable us to assess the possibilities of improving current

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reception levels of DTT services across the UK. The latest version of the Digital Television Action Plan is available at: www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Breast Feeding

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he is taking to ensure that health objectives relating to breast feeding are supported within the school curriculum. [133607]

Mr. Stephen Twigg [holding answer 22 October 2003]: The Department has no plans to specifically address breast feeding in the school curriculum. However, through Personal, Social and Health Education pupils learn about health and well-being, including making healthier, safer choices. They are taught to think about the alternatives and long and short term consequences when making decisions about personal health; and to seek professional advice confidently and find information about health. They also consider social and moral dilemmas, for example, how the choices they make affect others.

Class Sizes

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the average class size was in secondary schools, broken down by (a) school year and (b) local education authority in each year since 1997; [133688]

(2) what the average class size in primary schools was, broken down by (a) school year and (b) local education authority in each year since 1997. [133689]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The available information has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

Data on class size by year group was not collected prior to 1998 for primary schools and prior to 2001 for secondary schools.

Early Literacy Support

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what pilot studies were carried out in assessing the effectiveness of the Early Literacy Support approach to the teaching of reading; and if he will make a statement on the study and the results. [128687]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: A systematic study covering the one-year pilot of the Early Literacy Support (ELS) programme was taken forward during 2000–01 by a team of primary HMI, who have evaluated the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies since 1998. Their detailed findings informed the development of the programme and were summarised in Ofsted's third Annual Report on the Literacy Strategy. Participating teachers, teaching assistants and literacy consultants also provided systematic feedback on the pilot which resulted in the materials and the programme being appropriately modified and refined before publication.

Teacher Training

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will reward the fourth year

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undergraduate initial teacher training students with similar financial treatment to that for those committing to a Post Graduate Certificate in Education. [133582]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 22 October 2003]: My right hon. Friend has no present plans to change the eligibility conditions for teacher training bursaries.

Tuition Fees

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information he has collated on (a) the administration costs to (i) local education authorities, (ii) the Student Loan Company and (iii) the Department of Assessment and Implementation of Tuition Fees Remission and (b) the compliance cost to higher education institutions of this system. [133421]

Alan Johnson: The information requested is not available.

Government funding of higher education institutions in England through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) takes account of the cost to universities and colleges of administering tuition fees. The forecast income that institutions receive from student contributions to fees is abated by 5 per cent. for collection of fees and any default. For 2002–03, that amounts to an estimated £21.36 million. The latest survey of the non-payment of fee contributions, published by Universities UK in November 2002, found that the amount unpaid at July 2002 across the UK was well within the 5 per cent. set aside for administration and default.

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