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29 Jan 2004 : Column 523W—continued

DORE Achievement Centres

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2004, Official Report, column 503W, on DORE achievement centres, when the meeting between

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officials and representatives of the DORE achievement centres and the dyslexia, dyspraxia and attention deficit treatment programme will take place. [150207]

Mr. Miliband: A meeting between officials from the Department's Special Educational Needs and Disability Division and representatives of the DORE Achievement Centres/DDAT programme has been arranged for the afternoon of 19 February 2004.

Education Funding

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the formula spending share figure for Cambridgeshire for 2004–05 takes account of the requirement for Cambridgeshire to spend

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£4.5 million more on schools set out in the direction notice from his Department to Cambridgeshire county council. [151584]

Mr. Miliband: The direction notice sent to Cambridgeshire county council asks the authority to increase its Schools Budget to a level consistent with full passporting. Full passporting means increasing the 2003–04 Schools Budget by the increase in the Schools Formula Spending Share from 2003–04 to 2004–05. Therefore the direction notice is based on the Schools Formula Spending Share figure for Cambridgeshire.

Information Technology

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what audit mechanisms are in place to determine whether information technology (a) hardware and (b) software products are being used properly in his Department. [150934]

Mr. Charles Clarke: All members of the Department for Education and Skills have access to the internet. Filtering software is installed to block access to inappropriate sites and all accesses are monitored and recorded. Attempts to access inappropriate sites are referred for disciplinary action—staff have to accept the conditions for use of the equipment each time they log into the network.

Much of the software used by the Department are purchased on a corporate licence—where this is not the case records are maintained to ensure that only the number of licences purchased are used. All hardware is configured to prohibit the loading of unauthorised software.

The Department have started to use auditing software to reconcile the amount of software in use against the central records of software purchases. It is planning to conduct three monthly audits to achieve this.

Hardware is purchased centrally and details of all hardware items are held in an asset database. Hardware is subject to an annual audit where every item on the asset database is checked either physically or using auditing software to ensure it is still in being used correctly.

Appropriate action is taken in any cases where hardware cannot be found.

The Department's Internal Audit Division conduct regular audits to ensure that the conditions for use of hardware and software are both appropriate and are being enforced.

Landfill Tax Credit

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding for environmental educational initiatives will be lost by schools following the end of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme; and if he will replace such lost funding from his departmental budget. [150644]

Mr. Miliband: The Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (LTCS) has not ended, although two of the objects of the scheme were withdrawn in April 2003, those which concerned research and development, and education on sustainable waste management. Since April 2003 a number of projects in categories c and cc have continued to be financed by legacy funding through the Department for Environment,

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Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh and Scottish Assemblies and the Northern Ireland Authorities but the current arrangements will cease at the end of March. The value of environmental education projects funded in calendar year 2003 under these categories is £71,300, although that amount may increase since claims can be made until April 2004. However, some types of education projects are currently, and will still be, eligible for funding under some of the remaining objects of the scheme, for example biodiversity.

As part of the sustainable waste delivery public expenditure programme established as a result of the reform of the LTCS, and managed by Defra, work will be taken forward on waste awareness. Therefore, my Department has no plans to increase the level of funding for environmental educational in schools.

Local Government

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what aggregate percentage of central Government funding provided to Staffordshire local education authority is made up of the formula spending share. [150618]

Mr. Miliband: For 2003–04 Staffordshire's local education authority formula spending share made up 84 per cent. of the total resource funding for education made available to the authority, the remaining 16 per cent. being revenue grant funding within DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits.

School Buildings

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money has been spent on school buildings in Chorley, broken down by school, in each year since 1997. [151279]

Mr. Miliband: The Department does not collect detailed information about work carried out, but this should be held by Lancashire LEA. The following table sets out the capital allocations made by this Department to Lancashire LEA and its schools from 1997–98 to 2003–04.

Lancashire capital allocations 1997–98 to 2003–04£000

	Capital allocation made
1997–98	13,288
1998–99	16,957
1999–2000	35,179
2000–01	38,021
2001–02	29,778
2002–03	46,470
2003–04	62,607

Physical Education

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average number of hours per week of physical education in schools in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire was in the last year. [151318]

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Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is not currently held in the format requested. Detailed data on physical education and school sport is now being collected for the first time—for publication in April 2004—including the amount time spent each week on physical education in schools.

Pupil Funding

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the (a) average funding of each schoolchild in England and (b) the level of funding for a schoolchild in Shrewsbury and Atcham. [151407]

Mr. Miliband: The average national funding for 2004–05 provided through the Education Formula Spending Share for 2004–05 is £3,515. The formula for the main primary and secondary sub-blocks comprises a basic entitlement for each pupil, which is the same across the country, plus a top-up for each pupil with additional educational needs, which is again the same across the country, plus top-ups for areas where it costs more to recruit and retain teachers. Local education authorities with a greater proportion of pupils with additional educational needs or higher average earnings will receive a higher level of funding per pupil. The Government do not directly fund school children in Shrewsbury and Atcham. The Government provide funding to Shropshire county council which is then responsible for funding its schools.

School Meals Service

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many representations he has received on the decision of Essex local education authority to delegate the school meals service to primary schools; and if he will make a statement. [151763]

Mr. Miliband: Since December 2003, the Department have received five representations about meals provision in Essex; three have been received from schools, including correspondence from a school via my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich. There have also been two emails—one from an Essex County Councillor and a general inquiry from Governor Line.

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School Teachers

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time (i) primary and (ii) secondary school teachers were employed in the Ribble Valley and Fulwood area in each year since 1997. [149802]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the number of regular teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools in the hon. Gentleman's constituency at January in each year since 1997.

		Maintained primary			Maintained secondary
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
1997	290	110	430	70
1998	300	110	440	60
1999	300	140	450	80
2000	300	130	460	70
2001	310	150	460	60
2002	310	150	470	70
2003	310	150	480	90

Notes:

1. Includes middle schools as deemed.

2. Includes teachers on schemes leading to QTS and teachers not recognised as qualified.

Source:

Annual Schools' Census

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