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15 Dec 2003 : Column 659Wcontinued
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the levels of educational attainment in the UK coalfields, and on Government action to improve them. [142946]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In England, the increase in levels of educational attainment in coalfield areas since 1998, reflects that of England as a whole. In addition we are
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already seeing evidence that the gap between attainment in coalfield areas and non-coalfield areas is beginning to close.
DfES is committed to working closely with other Departments in order to develop a package of support for former coalfield areas. We know that coalfield areas have suffered from low levels of educational attainment and we have a range of targeted initiatives to raise attainment. We are succeeding in raising aspirations and attainment though policies that aim to ensure that all learners attain the highest standards, regardless of where they live.
DfES also works closely with all the key coalfield organisations such as Coalfield Communities Campaign (CCC), Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT), Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO) and Coalfield Learning Initiative Partnership (CLIP) to improve our targeting and tackle problems.
Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding his Department has allocated in each year to the Sure Start programme since its establishment; and how it has been spent in (a) St. Helens South, (b) St. Helens, (c) Merseyside and (d) the North West Region. [141475]
Margaret Hodge: The total annual budget (capital and revenue) allocated to Sure Start local programmes since the policy was established has been as follows:
£ million | |
---|---|
19992000 | 84 |
200001 | 184 |
200202 | 184 |
200203 | 449 |
200304 | (5)355 |
(5) Grant has been re-profiled to take account of previous year's rate of spend Individual programmes have been established through six planning rounds. In each round, eligible local authority districts were invited to identify a catchment area and set up a programme. The resulting programme has been provided with an indicative annual revenue profile and a single capital allocation to develop necessary facilities.
524 local programmes are being developed across the country. Of these, 108 are in the north-west of England26 in Merseyside. The St. Helens district has five programmes of which three are in St. Helens South.
The financial information requested for the north-west region is set out in the following table. Information is drawn from local programmes' grant letters and their audit certificates as well as the Sure Start Unit's finance and performance monitoring IT system. Explanatory notes are attached at the end of each table.
Revenue (£) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
200102 | 200203 | 200304 | Capital (£) | |||||||
Round | Sure Start local programme | Year of approval | Allocation | Spend | Allocation | Spend | Allocation | Spendto date | Allocation | Claimto date |
4 | Fourways | 5/9/2001 | 102,691 | 102,691 | 382,400 | 332,170 | 594,200 | 253,115 | 1,000,000 | 0 |
5 | Happy Elephant | 27/6/2002 | 0 | 83,652 | 365,069 | 281,417 | 539,914 | 405,695 | 1,000,000 | 11,500 |
6 | Phoenix | 6/5/2003 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 560,000 | 0 | 1,000,000 | 0 |
Total funding | 102,691 | 186,343 | 747,469 | 613,587 | 1,694,114 | 658,810 | 3,000,000 | 11,500 |
Notes:
1. Local programmes are allocated funds at the beginning of each financial year based on their delivery plan.
2. Programmes claim grant quarterly using the Sure Start Unit's online claims system.
3. n/a denotes that the programme was not operational in that year.
4. Where there is spend against a nil allocation, this indicates start up or advance payments, which are anticipated from the first financial year of operation.
5. Claims for the 200304 financial year are still on-going£0 indicates that a claim has either not been made or is in the process of being made.
6. Capital funding for Sure Start local programmes is normally a single allocated sum from which programmes draw down funds for particular projects. As programmes do not make regular claims, this has been shown as spend (or claims) to date. Programmes are encouraged to use their capital allocation within 35 years of their delivery plan being approved.
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Revenue (£) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
200001 | 200102 | 200203 | |||||||
Round | Sure Start local programme | Year of approval | Allocation | Spend | Allocation | Spend | Allocation | Spend | |
1 | Parr(6) | (6)20/1/2000 | 519,000 | 300,600 | 547,000 | 405,079 | 694,950 | 624,509 | |
4 | Fourways | 5/9/2001 | n/a | n/a | 102,691 | 102,691 | 382,400 | 332,170 | |
5 | Happy Elephant | 27/6/2002 | n/a | n/a | 0 | 83,652 | 365,069 | 281,417 | |
5 | Central Link | 6/9/2002 | n/a | n/a | 0 | 98,660 | 323,129 | 189,236 | |
6 | Phoenix | 6/5/2003 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
Total funding | 519,000 | 300,600 | 649,691 | 690,082 | 1,765,548 | 1,427,332 |
Revenue (£) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
200304 | Capital (£) | |||||
Round | Sure Start local programme | Year of approval | Allocation | Spend to date | Allocation | Claim to date |
1 | Parr(6) | 20/1/2000(6) | 755,170 | 413,914 | 1,250,000 | 15,700 |
4 | Fourways | 5/9/2001 | 594,200 | 253,115 | 1,000,000 | 0 |
5 | Happy Elephant | 27/6/2002 | 539,914 | 405,695 | 1,000,000 | 11,500 |
5 | Central Link | 6/9/2002 | 519,094 | 202,392 | 1,000,000 | 0 |
6 | Phoenix | 6/5/2003 | 560,000 | 0 | 1,000,000 | 0 |
Total funding | 2,968,378 | 1,275,115 | 5,250,000 | 27,200 |
(6) Sure Start Parr was approved in financial year 19992000 but because of late approval, spend was negligible in that financial year.
Notes:
1. Local programmes are allocated funds at the beginning of each financial year based on their delivery plan.
2. Programmes claim grant quarterly using the Sure Start Unit's online claims system.
3. n/a denotes that the programme was not operational in that year.
4. Where there is spend against a nil allocation, this indicates start up or advance payments, which are anticipated from the first financial year of operation.
5. Claims for the 200304 financial year are still on-going£0 indicates that a claim has either not been made or is in the process of being made.
6. Capital funding for Sure Start local programmes is normally a single allocated sum from which programmes draw down funds for particular projects. As programmes do not make regular claims, this has been shown as spend (or claims) to date. Programmes are encouraged to use their capital allocation within 35 years of their delivery plan being approved.
Number of programmes(26 across six rounds) | |
---|---|
Revenue | |
200001 | |
Allocation | 2,871,232 |
Spend | 1,595,000 |
200102 | |
Allocation | 5,228,760 |
Spend | 3,678,612 |
200203 | |
Allocation | 9,390,882 |
Spend | 8,213,327 |
200304 | |
Allocation | 15,999,058 |
Spend to date | 5,773,821 |
Capital | |
Allocation | 27,199,839 |
Spend to date | 3,765,510 |
1. A few round 1 programmes were approved at the end of the financial year 19992000 but, given the late start, spend in that financial year was negligible.
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Notes:1. We are unable to provide an accurate picture of the overall revenue spend for the North West region as a whole for financial year 200001 because data processes were not set up to collect this information on a regional basis until 200102.2. Audit certificates for the financial year 200203 are still being submitted to the Sure Start Unit from some of the North West programmes and therefore spend figures for the region as a whole are unavailable at present.
3. The capital spend to date figure refers to the total value of capital projects approved to date, which programmes are able to draw down. The actual amount claimed to date is £15.3 million. The discrepancy is due to building work not being completed (and so not claimed for) or accountable bodies funding work and not yet claiming it back.
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