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10 Nov 2003 : Column 81W—continued
Licensed Deficit Arrangements
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on how he estimates the granting of additional transitional funds to a local education authority will affect its obligations under the licensed deficit arrangements. [136888]
Mr. Miliband: Local education authorities which allow licensed deficits for schools have various obligations specified in their schemes, including the maintenance of limits on the repayment periods and adherence to a maximum proportion of total school balances used to underwrite the deficits. None of these obligations will be directly affected by transitional support grant announced on 29 October, except insofar as use of such grant is likely to produce less pressure on local resources since the transitional grant is to be targeted specifically at those schools facing the greatest difficulty in bringing their budgets back into balance, on the basis of costed plans produced by those schools.
National Healthy School Award
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the costs have been of setting up the National Healthy School Award; [136209]
- (2) how many schools have signed up to the Healthy Schools programme; and how many of those schools have been accredited with the National Healthy School Standards, broken down by local education authority. [136210]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The table shows the level of direct financial support for the National Healthy Schools Standard (NHSS) from central Government sources since its launch in 1999–2000. Information on any additional support from the local NHSS or from Local Education Authorities is not held centrally.
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| Year(allocations) | From the Department of Health | From the Department for Education and Skills | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2000–01 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 2001–02 | 5.8 | 2 | 7.8 |
| 2002–03 | 5.5 | 2 | 7.5 |
| 2003–04 | 5.5 | 2 | 7.5 |
Over 14,000 schools have signed up to the Healthy Schools programme of which we expect 9,482 to be accredited as working at the most intensive level of involvement of level 3 by March 2004. The table attached shows the number of schools accredited with the standard and the breakdown by each local education authority.
Ofsted
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people have been employed by OFSTED on a (a) part-time, (b) full-time and (c) contractual basis in each year since 1997. [137170]
Mr. Miliband: This is a matter for OFSTED. HM Chief Inspector, David Bell, will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of his letter in the Library.
Retained Funding
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his assessment of whether its proposed levels of retained funding for 2004–05 will leave local education authorities with sufficient funds to meet their obligations to provide universal support for all three-year-olds from April 2004. [136891]
Mr. Miliband: Draft Regulations placing limits on the sums that local education authorities can retain for central expenditure within their Schools Budget in 2004–05 were published, for consultation, on 29 October. A copy of the draft Regulations has been placed in the Library of the House.
The draft Regulations recognise that some authorities will need to increase their central expenditure in order to deliver universal three year-old nursery provision, and, in placing limits on central expenditure, specifically allow for such increases.
School Meals
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that the content and quality of school meals is regularly monitored and evaluated. [136735]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: It is the responsibility of the local education authority or, where a budgetary element 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, has commissioned research by Kings College London to assess whether food provided for and consumed during school lunches in a sample of
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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.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make it his policy to prevent school meals providers from advertising or promoting food or drink with a high fat or sugar content; and if he will make a statement. [136736]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: It is the responsibility of the governing body to decide what food and drink products should be available or promoted on school premises.
The Department in conjunction with the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers and the National Consumers' Association has published 'Commercial Activities in Schools: best Practice Principles'. The purpose of this guidance is to identify best practice and to ensure that educational benefits are not compromised by commercial considerations.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what training is provided for school governors on (a) their responsibility for ensuring that school meals meet the required standards and (b) the methods to be used for evaluating the quality of school meals. [136737]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills has produced the 'Healthy School Guidance' to help governors and caterers implement the nutritional standards.
The October 2002 newsletter for governors contains a section on nutrition and further information on food related programmes operated by this Department and other organisations. A copy of the governors newsletter can be viewed on the website—www.dfes.gov.uk/governor.
In the publication 'A Guide to the Law for School Governors', chapter five contains information on support and training for governors. This can also be viewed on the website.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to promote the use of new technology to provide a menu assessment tool for primary school meals. [136738]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills has no plans to introduce a menu assessment tool for school meals.
In the Department's Healthy School Lunches guidance for school caterers on implementing the national minimum nutritional standards, there is an example of a self monitoring checklist for compulsory requirements. The guidance includes enough information to monitor the nutritional standards. The guidance can be viewed on the Department's website—www.dfes.gov.uk/schoollunches.
School Funding
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his policy to adhere to the 2002 spending review increase in the national control total for 2004–05. [134671]
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Skills for Life Survey
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the finding in the recent Skills for Life survey carried out by his Department that the expansion to access in higher education has not led to marked improvements in literacy and numeracy. [136716]
Alan Johnson: The Skills for Life survey shows that education is highly correlated with literacy and numeracy skills—both in terms of age of completing full time education and the highest qualification. The vast majority of those with degrees have Level 2 or higher literacy and numeracy, and the converse is true for those with low level or no qualifications.
The survey provides the first national profile of adult literacy and numeracy skills and demonstrates the need for the Government to continue its sustained drive to improve adult basic skills training and school standards. To date over 1.8 million adults have started basic skills courses as part of the Government's 'Skills for Life' programme.
Student Finance
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much will be spent by his Department on maintenance grants for students at university in financial years (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [137164]
Alan Johnson: The Higher Education Grant is being introduced for new students starting in the 2004/05 academic year and the cost will build up cohort by cohort. We estimate that the cost will be between £63–£75 million in the 2004–05 financial year and £146–£177 million in the 2005–06 financial year, depending on the actual number of students entering higher education in those years and their precise income distribution. We expect the steady state cost of the higher education grant to be around £300 million.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the average income from part-time or full-time work of students studying in higher education. [137201]
Alan Johnson: The Department has conducted a Student Income and Expenditure Survey (SIES) for the 2002–3 academic year. It will provide up-to-date information on students' employment patterns and their income from paid work 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 2002–3.
The Department will announce a date for publication once the research report has been finalised. Once published, the Department will use the data for further analysis of students' income and employment.
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