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Financial Literacy

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he will take to increase the level of financial literacy. [135757]

Mr. Miliband: Some aspects of financial literacy are covered within the new Citizenship curriculum, which is already compulsory in secondary schools. For example, 14 to 16-year-old pupils should be taught about how the economy functions, including the role of business and financial services. The non-statutory framework for Personal, Social and Health Education, provides for personal finance education to be taught to all age groups, allowing teachers to cover the wide range of topics as set out in the Department's "Financial Capability through Personal Financial Education" guidance for schools.

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From 2005/6 a new £60 million Enterprise Education entitlement will provide all Key Stage 4 pupils with the equivalent of five days' enterprise activity which will develop enterprise capability—including personal financial capability as well as business understanding. 151 Pathfinder projects in nearly 400 secondary schools were approved for September 2003 start. They will help DfES to develop additional guidance including case studies and lesson plans related to financial literacy, including advice from the Financial Services Authority and financial institutions.

Free School Milk

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what measures he will take with local authorities to ensure that all children under the age of 11 receive free school milk; [136069]

(2) what measures he will take to encourage education authorities to use the EU subsidy for provision of school milk; [136070]

(3) what financial support he will give to (a) education authorities and (b) schools to provide free school milk for all those aged 11 and under; [136071]

(4) what discussions he has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding (a) the provision of free school milk and (b) the provision of free school milk to all those aged 11 and under. [136102]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: This Department supports the provision of free and paid for milk in maintained schools and encourages schools and local education authorities to offer it to pupils. In addition, our guidance on school lunches includes a strong recommendation that drinking milk is made available to all pupils as an option every day. Following a 20 per cent. reduction in the EU subsidy on school milk from January 2001, this Department agreed jointly with the Department of Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to top up the annual £1.5 million shortfall. This assistance helps prevent increases in the cost of providing school milk.

Key Stage 3 Strategy

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what evaluation of the Key Stage 3 strategy has taken place that compares schools in the original pilot with a similar range of schools outside the pilot; and what the result was. [136305]

Mr. Miliband: Final school-level Key Stage 3 data will become available later this year when school performance tables are published. We will then be undertaking an analysis comparing the performance of schools which participated in the Key Stage 3 pilots and other schools in similar circumstances. I will write to the hon. Member to inform him of the outcome of this analysis in the New Year.

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Local Education Authority Expenditure

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average (a) primary and (b) secondary formula spending share per pupil will be in each local education authority in England and Wales for (i) 2004–05 and (ii) subsequent years. [136167]

Mr. Miliband: Figures for 2004–05 will not be available until we have announced the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in mid-November: figures for future years will become available at the time of the Settlement for each year. The system in Wales is different and is the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly.

Parliamentary Questions

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will answer the questions, references (a) 129889 and (b) 129891, tabled by the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham on 10 September 2003. [135964]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education on 3 November 2003, Official Report, columns 449W and 455W.

School Funding

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average per pupil funding for (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools was in each Excellence in Cities area for (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04. [133604]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 21 October 2003]: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether his pledge of increased school funding is related to a baseline that involves excluding (a) capital funding used for revenue purposes, (b) balances used to permit higher revenue spending, (c) staff reductions, redundancies or non-appointments made to reduce revenue spending and (d) funding incorporated into school mainstream budgets in 2002–03 that in previous years was made by way of special grants; [136301]

(2) if he will make a statement on the base used to calculate each school's 4 per cent. increase in funding. [136302]

Mr. Miliband: The proposed baseline for the per pupil minimum funding guarantee is an adjusted version of a school's budget share for the financial year 2003–04. It therefore does not include any reference to capital funding used for revenue, spend from school balances, the effect of staffing changes, or additions to 2002–03 budgets. The adjustments to the 2003–04 budget shares would have the effect of adding to the baseline any sums

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made available from Additional Budget Support Grant, whether within a redetermined budget share or allocated separately; and excluding the following items: rates; amounts for named pupils, including those for special educational needs; prior year adjustments and sixth form funding from the Learning and Skills Council.

School Meals

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what systems are in place to ensure that compulsory nutrition standards for school lunches are maintained. [133909]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: It is the responsibility of the local education authority or, where the budget for school meals has been delegated to them, a school's governing body, to ensure that the statutory nutritional standards for school lunches are met. The Department for Education and Skills, in partnership with the Food Standards Agency, have commissioned research by Kings College London to assess whether food provided for and consumed during school lunches in a sample of maintained secondary schools in England complies with statutory nutritional standards and associated guidance. We expect that the findings of this survey will be available in spring 2004.

Specialist Schools

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the performance of (a) specialist schools and (b) specialist schools in Redcar and Cleveland borough, in achieving 5A*-C grades at GCSE compared to the national average; and if he will make a statement. [135903]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 3 November 2003]: 56.1 per cent. of 15-year-olds in specialist schools ¹ gained 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE/GNVQ in 2003, based on provisional data. For non-specialist ² schools, the figure was 48.7 per cent. The national average was 52.6 per cent.

This supports our view that every secondary school should be given the opportunity to attain specialist status when it is ready to do so. The breakdown of data for specialist schools in Redcar and Cleveland is not yet available. GCSE/GNVQ Performance Table data will be published in January 2004.

¹ Specialist schools cover the 979 maintained, mainstream schools which were operational specialists as at September 2002, with 2003 GCSE/GNVQ results.

² Non-specialist schools cover maintained, mainstream schools with 2003 GCSE/GNVQ results.

Source:

SFR 29/2003, October 8th 2003: GCSE/GNVQ Examination Results for Young People in England, 2002/2003 (Provisional), Tables 1 and 2. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000419/index.shtml

Student Income

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average gross income of students was in the last 12 months, broken down by income quintile. [135358]

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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 students' income in the 2002/03 academic year 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 Department will announce a date for publication once a finalised report has been agreed with the researcher. Once published, the Department will use the data for further analysis of students' income.

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