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10 Dec 2003 : Column 480W—continued
Smoke Alarms
Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to make smoke alarms in rented property a legal requirement. [142776]
Phil Hope: The Housing Bill 2003 provides that a local housing authority can impose as a condition for a house in multiple occupation to be licensed under Part 2, or for any house subject to selective licensing under Part 3 of the Bill, that the property is equipped with smoke alarms. Schedule 4 of the Bill provides that it is mandatory condition that where smoke alarms are installed they are properly maintained.
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
Mr. Steen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will respond to the Select Committee on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's recommendation that a tenancy deposit scheme should be introduced; and if he will make a statement. [142866]
Keith Hill: The government published its response to the Select Committee on 10 November 2003.
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Mr. Steen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will establish a fast track procedure to enable tenants' deposits withheld by private landlords after the termination of their contract to be speedily returned. [142867]
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Keith Hill: As indicated by the government's response to the Select Committee on the Housing Bill of 10 November 2003, we are considering detailed proposals.
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EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Modern Apprenticeships
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage the take-up of apprenticeships. [141885]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 8 December 2003]: The Government are wholly behind Modern Apprenticeships as a high quality work-based learning option for young people. We are fully committed to implementing the reforms recommended by the Modern Apprenticeships Advisory Committee under Sir John Cassels, which included a major boost to the marketing of MAs, and to more recent Skills Strategy announcements. Under Sir Roy Gardner a business-led Modern Apprenticeship Task Force is taking a key role in promoting MA to employers and thereby contributing to increased take-up. We have adopted a PSA target for 2004 of 28 per cent. of young people entering a Modern Apprenticeship before the age of 22. We have made sufficient resources available to ensure that we meet this target and are on course to achieve it.
LEA Staff (Assault)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to introduce a
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national incident reporting system for recording physical assaults on (a) teachers and (b) other local education authority staff. [141810]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Employers are already required to report to the Health and Safety Executive incidents, including ones resulting from acts of physical violence, which cause injuries to staff resulting in more than three days' absence from work. Local education authorities and other employers of school staff also have their own reporting arrangements. The Government have no plans to add to these systems.
Civil Servants
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many senior civil servants in his Department are disabled expressed in actual terms and as a percentage of FTE staff. [143067]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department has two senior civil servants who have declared a disability. This equates to 1.3 per cent. of FTE staff.
School Exclusions
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have been excluded from (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools in (i) Portsmouth, South and (ii) England in each year since 1999–2000. [141348]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is shown in the table.
| 1999/2000 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage(2) | Number | Percentage(2) | Number | Percentage(2) | |
| Portsmouth, South constituency | ||||||
| Primary(3) | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Secondary(3) | 9 | 0.17 | 10 | 0.19 | 4 | 0.07 |
| Special(4) | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Total | 9 | 0.07 | 10 | 0.08 | 4 | 0.03 |
| England | ||||||
| Primary(3) | 1,226 | 0.03 | 1,436 | 0.03 | 1,451 | 0.03 |
| Secondary(3) | 6,713 | 0.21 | 7,305 | 0.23 | 7,741 | 0.24 |
| Special(4) | 384 | 0.40 | 394 | 0.41 | 343 | 0.36 |
| Total | 8,323 | 0.11 | 9,135 | 0.12 | 9,535 | 0.12 |
(2) Number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of school population.
(3) Includes middle schools as deemed.
(4) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census
Higher Education
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the paper by the hon. Members for The Wrekin (Peter Bradley) and for Southampton, Test (Dr. Whitehead) on the funding of higher education; and if he will publish his assessment. [142539]
Alan Johnson: I shall be writing to my hon. Friends concerning their proposal. A copy of this letter will be placed in the House Library in due course.
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will meet the vice chancellors of (a) South Bank University, (b) University of Glamorgan and (c) University College Wales, Newport to discuss the future of higher education. [142540]
Alan Johnson: I have frequent meetings with vice chancellors in which our proposals for the future of higher education are discussed. However, as a devolved matter, issues related to higher education institutions in
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Wales such as the University of Glamorgan and University College Wales are a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many universities he expects will be in a position to offer bursaries to students from poorer backgrounds under the Government's new higher education funding proposal; [142902]
- (2) what his estimate is of the percentage of students from poorer backgrounds who could qualify for a bursary under the new higher education funding proposals. [142956]
Alan Johnson: We are considering and discussing the contents of access agreements and the duties of the Office for Fair Access, and will make a statement in due course.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what grants OFFA will be involved in distributing and on what basis; and where its funding will come from. [143072]
Alan Johnson: We have no plans for the Office for Fair Access to distribute any grants. It will be a regulatory body, not a funding body.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his policy to intervene to prevent universities charging the full top-up fee to its students. [142516]
Alan Johnson: We propose that all universities will be able to charge variable fees of up to 3,000 from academic year 2006/07, provided they have an Access Agreement approved by the Office for Fair Access.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received from (a) student representative bodies and (b) the university sector in Scotland on the subject of top-up fees. [142730]
Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations from various stakeholders in Scotland on the subject of variable fees.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what written representations he has received from the First Minister of Scotland on the subject of top-up fees. [142765]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 8 December 2003]: My right hon. Friend has had a number of discussions with the First Minister of Scotland on the subject of variable fees and other higher education issues.
Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans to link the threshold for repayment of tuition fees to (a) the cost of living and (b) average earnings. [143176]
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Alan Johnson: We will set out the Government's policies on repayment thresholds for student loans in the new year in the Regulatory Impact Assessment, which will set out the financial implications of the policies announced in the Higher Education White Paper.
Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what consultation there has been with mature entrants to university on the impact of variable tuition fees. [142601]
Alan Johnson: The Department has received a number of representations from a variety of sources following the publication of the White Paper. We have taken steps to stimulate debate about the future of higher education among all interested groups. We want to encourage able students of all ages to take advantage of a university education. Under our proposals for variable tuition fees, every graduate would repay according to their personal financial circumstances regardless of their age.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many universities have indicated their intention to waive fees for students embarking on (a) science, (b) engineering and (c) mathematics degrees; and if he will make a statement. [142785]
Alan Johnson: It will be for higher education institutions themselves to decide what level of fees they set for each of their courses from 2006/07 onwards, between £0 and £3,000. I would expect them to consider a range of factors in doing so, including the likely impact of their decisions on demand by students for their courses.
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