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12 Nov 2003 : Column 345W—continued

Smoking

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect of raising the minimum age for smoking to (a) 18 and (b) 21 years old, with particular reference to the development and health of young people. [136811]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 10 November 2003]: The Government is aware of the difficulties in enforcing the existing age limit for smoking. We are not convinced that raising the minimum age to 18 or 21 will resolve the problem of teenage smoking. The key is to improve enforcement of existing legislation. The Department continues to work closely with representatives of Trading Standards and the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services to achieve this.

STDs

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes for sexually transmitted diseases there were in each English region in each of the last six years. [137368]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 10 November 2003]: The number of finished consultant episodes for sexually transmitted diseases diagnosed in genitourinary medicine clinics in each of the English national health service regions (up to 2002) are shown in the table.

Data for episodes diagnosed and treated in other settings, such as contraception services, are not held centrally. Nor does the data identify the grades of staff undertaking the diagnoses, therefore it will include diagnoses and treatment undertaken by other clinic staff, such as nurses, as well as consultants.

MaleFemaleTotal
East Midlands
199714,67920,17434,853
199814,83319,81134,644
199914,26917,91632,185
200015,74519,14234,887
200116,66720,43737,104
200217,14722,08439,231
Eastern
199716,79522,49039,285
199818,29524,29942,594
199919,95626,27346,229
200021,07927,31248,391
200122,72629,86552,591
200224,70232,69457,396
London
199774,84686,839161,685
199878,53894,155172,693
199982,07298,626180,698
200086,360101,676188,036
200193,059108,868201,927
200297,891112,582210,473
North East
19977,8698,96616,835
19987,9248,89216,816
19998,5929,83918,431
20009,13810,71519,853
20018,65210,29518,947
20029,00510,56019,565
North West
199720,95823,98744,945
199823,14225,15948,301
199925,71728,11153,828
200028,12330,14458,267
200130,27333,07563,348
200232,02234,63666,658
South East
199730,38538,33268,717
199832,95539,58672,541
199935,02042,09077,110
200039,09745,62884,725
200140,74846,97687,724
200244,36650,04094,406
South West
199716,42919,03035,459
199817,56820,58538,153
199918,74121,56240,303
200020,88823,97144,859
200122,21426,06648,280
200224,24027,22051,460
West Midlands
199716,55420,99037,544
199815,37719,31834,695
199916,83520,83537,670
200018,56023,11141,671
200120,95226,83447,786
200221,81528,71650,531
Yorkshire and Humber
199718,40124,16842,569
199819,45225,06144,513
199919,44025,10144,541
200020,25225,80246,054
200122,00428,25950,263
200223,68830,01053,698

Source:

Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns


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Termination Payments

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many termination payments have been made by NHS trusts to (a) chief executives and (b) senior managers since January 2000; and what the total amount paid was for each trust. [138100]

Mr. Hutton: This information is not collected centrally as determination of such payments are a local matter.

12 Nov 2003 : Column 347W

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Ticket Office (College Green)

Mr. Flook: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission when the ticket office on College Green will be dismantled. [136945]

Sir Archy Kirkwood: The work will be carried out later this month.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Class Sizes

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the Vale of York was for each of the previous three academic years. [137002]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.

Maintained primary and secondary schools(14): average class size(15),(16): Vale of York parliamentary constituency

Taught by one teacher
Position at January each yearMaintained primaryMaintained secondary
200124.421.2
200223.620.8
200324.120.8

(14) Includes middle schools as deemed.

(15) Classes as taught during one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.

(16) Classes taught by one teacher.

Source:

Annual Schools Census


Euro K4

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local authorities allocated money under the Euro K4 project. [135649]

Alan Johnson: Euro K4 is a project run by Worcestershire county council. No other local authorities receive funding from the project.

Graduate Tax

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the expected deficits or surpluses are over the first 20 years for the Government in relation to higher education spending under the present proposals for income-contingent loans, assuming a zero real rate of interest; [137685]

12 Nov 2003 : Column 348W

Alan Johnson: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 30 October 2003, Official Report, column 429, and also to the two letters to my hon. Friend from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, dated 11 April 2003 and 3 June 2003. Copies of both letters are in the House Library.

Higher Education

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned on Government expenditure on higher education in EU member states. [137678]

Alan Johnson: My Department has not directly commissioned any specific research in this area. My Department uses OECD's annual "Education at a Glance" publication as the best source of comparative information of this nature, and we contribute both financially and in time spent by our statisticians, to its production. It gives statistical information on Government expenditure on higher education in all the current EU member states and in four of the states due to accede in 2004: Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics.

In "Education at a Glance", each country's expenditure on higher education is reported as a percentage of total public expenditure and as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. The publication

12 Nov 2003 : Column 349W

also gives the relative proportions of public and private expenditure on higher education institutions, for both 2000 and 1995.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional resources the Government have allocated to higher education establishments in each of the last five years in (a) the north west region and (b) St. Helens. [138012]

Alan Johnson: The table shows the resources for higher education provided via the Higher Education Funding Council for England in St. Helens and for the north west region in each of the last five years.

£ million

North WestSt. Helens
1999–2000471.72.2
2000–01488. 12.4
2001–02505.82.5
2002–03539.02.6
2003–04576.32.5
Total2,580.912.1

As a result of the 2002 Spending Review publicly planned spending per FTE in higher education will rise by 7 per cent. in real terms between 2002–03 and 2005–06. Higher education in the north west will receive its share of this increase.


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