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Higher Education White Paper

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in which category postcards from students at (a) Loughborough and (b) other universities to the Prime Minister were placed in the Government's response to the consultation on the Higher Education White Paper. [137552]

Alan Johnson: We have received postcards from students at various universities in a number of campaigns over the last year. However, we received no such postcard campaigns in response to the higher education White Paper, during the period for comment which ran until 30 April.

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in which category of response the submission by the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme was placed in the responses to the consultation on the Higher Education White Paper. [137553]

Alan Johnson: The hon. Member's letters to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills were responded to separately and in full by my right hon. Friend. They were accordingly not included in the commentary of responses which was published on 28 July.

Independent Adjudicator (Higher Education)

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the estimated annual case workload of the Independent Adjudicator for higher education is; and what annual resources have been allocated for this function. [137875]

Alan Johnson: We are informed by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) that its annual case workload is estimated initially to be

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around 300 cases a year. The Department is providing up to £1 million in total over the two financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05 to establish the OIA. Thereafter, the OIA is expected to be funded by institutions.

Knowledge Transfer Centres

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the Higher Education White Paper proposals for regional centres for knowledge transfer. [137876]

Alan Johnson: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has been seeking views on the knowledge transfer proposals in the Higher Education White Paper through its consultation on the future development of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). This included the role of knowledge exchanges to spread good practice in interactions between higher education and business at regional level. The consultation exercise closed on 24 October and the HEIF 2 guidance is currently being reviewed in the light of the responses received.

Qualifications

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has conducted into the differential in the qualifications required for future jobs between (a) newly-created jobs and (b) replacement jobs; and what estimate he has made of the number of jobs in each category. [136458]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Research conducted by the Department into the area in question consists of the Projections of Occupations and Qualifications 2000/2001 commissioned from the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research and Cambridge Econometrics and covering estimates for the period 1999 to 2010. New projections have been commissioned by the Sector Skills Development Agency and will be published in early 2004.

This research estimates that about two million additional jobs will be created over the period 1999 to 2010. However, there will be a net requirement for about 13.5 million job openings to cover these new jobs and to replace people retiring and dying and moving into and out of their jobs.

The research did not cover the differential in the qualifications required for these two categories of jobs. However, the same research suggests that, between 1999 and 2010, the number of people employed with qualifications at levels 4 and 5 will increase from 7.10 million to 9.43 million, the number of people employed with level 3 qualifications will increase from 5.10 million to 5.38 million, the number of people employed with qualifications at level 2 will fall from 6.17million to 6.12 million and the number of people employed with qualifications at level 1 will increase from 5.78 million to 6.25 million.

School Pupil Statistics

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the breakdown by (a) gender and (b) ethnic groups as a percentage of (i) primary and (ii) secondary school pupils was in each local education authority as at 1 January. [137172]

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Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

Scientific Careers

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is being done to promote scientific careers to school students; and what involvement professional bodies have in such information and promotion schemes. [137539]

Alan Johnson: Our strategy for science, engineering and technology was set out in "Investing in Innovation" published in July 2002 in response to the recommendations made in Sir Gareth Roberts' report "SET for Success". Our response to Baroness Greenfield's report "SET Fair" outlines our strategy to tackle under-representation of women in science. Both of these included looking at the promotion of science careers. We are working closely with colleagues at the DTI and the Promoting SET for Women Unit to take forward the recommendations in those reports.

We believe that a good way of promoting science, including careers, in schools is by introducing current scientific developments into the classroom. As well as making science both exciting and relevant this will give young people an understanding of the role of science in society. We are working with a range of bodies, including professional bodies, to achieve this. We have consulted on the programme of study for science at Key Stage 4, following a review by the QCA. The new programme of study will set out a core for science, suitable for all learners, to increase flexibility of qualifications at Key Stage 4. From September 2003, a new science GCSE, "Science in the 21st Century" will be piloted in 50 schools. It aims to provide a sound and stimulating science education that will engage all students with contemporary science issues; and to increase the number of young people studying science subjects post-16. Connexions Personal Advisers provide independent advice to students on all careers, including scientific careers.

The Science and Engineering Ambassadors' scheme (SEAs) launched jointly by this Department and the DTI in January 2002, aims to show young people the links between what they learn at school and the world of work. Ambassadors work with young people across the key stages and give them an understanding of the opportunities that a science, engineering or technology based career can offer.

Specialist Status Colleges

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 27 October 2003, Official Report, column 80W, whether, with reference to specialist status colleges, a school's previous performance in value added terms is a factor in any bid for specialist status. [137890]

Mr. Miliband: A school's previous performance in value added terms is taken into account by the Department's specialist school assessors.

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Student Finance

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to increase financial support for undergraduate students of medicine. [137098]

Alan Johnson: Undergraduate medical students already receive more help overall than other higher education students.

For the first four years of their courses, English domiciled medical students receive support from my Department. Students from poorer backgrounds receive means-tested grants for fees of up to £1,125 per year (2003/04 rate). For years five and six, support is provided by the Department of Health, and currently students in those years pay no fee contributions. Most of the cost of their courses is met by the Government through HE Funding Council support.

Medical students will benefit from the new Higher Education Grants of £1,000 to be introduced in academic year 2004/05, which three in 10 of all students will receive in full and an additional number will receive in part. And in addition to the non means-tested loans undergraduate medical students receive from the Student Loans Company, they can receive means-tested bursaries from the Department of Health in years five and six.

Students Charter

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Students' Charter was last revised; and if he will make a statement. [137877]

Alan Johnson: The Charter for Higher Education was published in 1993 by the last Government and an addendum was produced in 1997. The document is now obsolete and no longer issued by the Department. Information about students' general entitlements and responsibilities while at university is best prepared at a local level, allowing it to be tailored to reflect the circumstances of the particular institution. Many universities do publish charter-type documents of their own and there are no plans to republish a central document. In addition, our proposals for improving student information mean that institutions will be publishing far more information than ever before about the quality and standards of their provision.

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