---

2 Feb 2004 : Column 658W—continued

Higher National Diplomas/Foundation Degrees

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has for the retention of Higher National Diplomas; and if he will make a statement. [151499]

Alan Johnson: It is our expectation that in due course the Foundation Degree will replace the Higher National Diploma. Higher National Diplomas have served employers well in the past and while employer loyalty exists in some sectors, the numbers applying for these courses are in decline.

Edexcel, who award the BTEC Higher National Diploma, have announced plans to make BTEC Foundation Degrees available. Colleges and universities currently offering HNDs will make decisions about whether they retain their HND provision, develop their own Foundation Degrees, or move to new BTEC Foundation Degrees. In doing so, they will take account of student and employer demand.

Lottery Revenue

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total value is of lottery revenue used to support Government-sponsored projects within his Department since 1997. [149626]

Mr. Stephen Twigg [holding answer 26 January 2004]: My Department has no policy or operational responsibility for distribution of National Lottery proceeds. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 26 January 2004 by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Arts.

Management Consultants

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost to his Department of using management consultants has been in each of the last five years. [148019]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The following table shows the expenditure in the last five financial years on management consultancy in the Department for Education and Skills and its predecessor, the Department for Education and Employment, (including the Sure Start Unit and the then Children and Young People's Unit).

Expenditure on management consultancy

	£ million
1998–99	5.0
1999–2000	3.7
2000–01	4.3
2001–02	5.0
2002–03	4.0

These figures are for consultancy falling within the Department's administrative cost limit and exclude programme consultancy costs, which are currently not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

2 Feb 2004 : Column 659W

Modern Apprenticeships

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on Modern Apprenticeships in each year since their inception. [150004]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Modern Apprenticeships (MA), in England are funded through the work based learning for young people budget of the Learning and Skills Council. This budget covers Advanced MAs, Foundation MAs, NVQ Learning and Entry to Employment. The LSC estimate that of the £673 million budget for Work Based Learning £467 million was spent on MAs in 2001–02. In 2002–03 the LSC's budget for WBL was £828 million of which it is estimated that £539 million was spent on MAs. The LSC's budget for WBL for 2003–04 is £791 million. Before April 2001 MAs were funded by the Training and Enterprise Councils (TEC). Disaggregated data showing the amount of funding spent on MAs from their work based learning for young people budget in this period is not available.

NVQs

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the percentage of the population of London who have National Vocational Qualifications at level (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3. [151071]

2 Feb 2004 : Column 660W

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The percentages of the working age ¹ population in London who have National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) at level 1, 2 or 3 are presented in table 1 as follows:

¹ Working age is defined as males aged 16–64 and females aged 16–59.

Table 1: Highest level of NVQ held by people of working age, London and England, autumn 2003

	England		London
Level	Thousand	Percentage	Thousand	Percentage
Level 1	438	1.4	53	1.1
Level 2	1,274	4.1	117	2.4
Level 3	973	3.1	67	1.3
Level 4	181	0.6	18	0.4
Level 5	45	0.1	(18)—	(18)—
Level unknown	389	1.2	36	0.7
Total	3,301	10.5	294	5.9
Working age population	31,296		4,971

⁽¹⁸⁾ Sample size too small for reliable estimate.

Source:

Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2003.

School Absenteeism

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in England and Wales missed at least one half day session of school in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2002–03 in each local education authority. [150148]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 26 January 2004]: The information requested is shown in the following table for local education authorities in England.

The average number of sessions missed per absent pupil due to authorised and unauthorised absence has also been provided together with the attendance rate in percentage terms.

Absence information for schools in Wales can be obtained from the National Assembly for Wales.

Public absence in maintained primary and secondary schools in England, 1997/98 and 2002/03

	Academic year 1997/98
	Authorised absence		Unauthorised absence
	Number of pupils that missed a session	Average number sessions missed	Number of pupils that missed a session	Average number sessions missed	Attendancerate (%)
Barking and Dagenham	21,291	24	6,665	16	91.3
Barnet	35,677	21	5,409	14	93.1
Barnsley	27,900	23	7,372	15	91.5
Bath and North East Somerset	20,039	19	2,273	11	93.8
Bedfordshire	47,755	20	5,261	11	93.4
Bexley	30,184	22	3,597	11	92.6
Birmingham	141,422	25	35,831	15	90.9
Blackburn with Darwen	21,215	24	4,482	15	91.6
Blackpool	17,197	24	3,867	16	91.5
Bolton	36,805	22	5,356	21	92.5
Bournemouth	17,773	22	4,090	11	91.9
Bracknell Forest	11,839	18	1,490	9	94.1
Bradford	66,183	22	21,422	17	91.6
Brent	24,425	21	4,963	13	92.9
Brighton and Hove	22,624	22	4,711	13	92.1
Bristol, City of	40,468	23	10,219	15	91.3
Bromley	35,062	20	5,136	11	93.3
Buckinghamshire	56,038	19	4,807	11	94.1
Bury	22,806	21	3,036	13	93.4
Calderdale	27,386	22	3,653	13	92.9
Cambridgeshire	59,249	20	9,576	11	93.4
Camden	16,357	25	4,609	17	91.1
Cheshire	82,786	19	10,479	13	93.9
Cornwall	60,822	21	8,016	9	92.9
Coventry	40,387	24	6,167	16	91.9
Croydon	36,245	24	5,808	12	92.3
Cumbria	60,232	22	4,358	15	93.2
Darlington	12,504	24	1,416	23	91.8
Derby City	28,722	21	6,323	12	92.6
Derbyshire	87,758	19	13,312	14	93.4
Devon	78,240	20	12,721	9	93.1
Doncaster	39,941	26	7,369	20	91.0
Dorset	44,416	22	6,714	8	93.2
Dudley	38,047	21	3,894	12	93.0
Durham	62,196	25	6,477	23	91.5
Ealing	31,241	22	6,504	14	92.2
East Riding of Yorkshire	38,688	20	5,697	12	93.2
East Sussex	50,293	20	9,412	13	92.9
Enfield	35,406	21	8,772	13	92.6
Essex	159,335	21	24,169	12	93.0
Gateshead	22,551	24	3,420	22	92.1
Gloucestershire	68,726	20	7,319	9	93.5
Greenwich	26,837	23	10,456	17	90.8
Hackney	20,116	24	6,583	16	91.2
Halton	17,808	22	3,536	15	92.4
Hammersmith and Fulham	11,207	24	3,685	20	90.9
Hampshire	142,310	19	21,598	11	93.7
Haringey	21,936	23	8,124	16	91.8
Harrow	24,390	25	3,778	11	92.5
Hartlepool	12,229	22	2,316	23	92.0
Havering	29,254	20	3,522	11	93.3
Herefordshire	19,847	20	1,727	14	93.4
Hertfordshire	125,895	19	15,697	11	93.9
Hillingdon	28,936	22	7,764	13	92.2
Hounslow	27,188	24	6,299	12	91.3
Isle of Wight	15,845	24	2,108	10	91.9
Isles of Scilly	221	21	9	13	92.7
Islington	18,402	23	6,366	17	91.5
Kensington and Chelsea	7,832	21	2,551	17	91.5
Kent	161,121	21	20,573	12	93.0
Kingston upon Hull, City of	36,197	28	11,099	20	89.0
Kingston upon Thames	15,115	20	1,709	14	93.0
Kirklees	51,449	20	12,343	14	92.9
Knowsley	22,664	25	5,876	20	90.7
Lambeth	20,675	24	7,715	12	91.4
Lancashire	144,388	21	18,210	14	93.3
Leeds	87,620	23	18,733	18	91.9
Leicester City	37,981	25	8,904	16	91.2
Leicestershire	77,014	21	8,452	17	93.3
Lewisham	24,291	22	9,524	16	91.3
Lincolnshire	74,147	19	9,203	15	93.5
Liverpool	58,721	28	13,326	20	90.3
London, City of	131	10	85	11	95.6
Luton	24,982	21	6,076	10	92.8
Manchester	55,120	30	15,385	20	88.9
Medway	35,930	21	6,330	11	92.7
Merton	17,698	23	5,312	15	91.7
Middlesbrough	19,390	26	4,041	15	91.0
Milton Keynes	27,790	23	3,258	13	92.1
Newbury	19,029	22	1,697	14	91.1
Newcastle upon Tyne	30,171	27	5,248	18	90.9
Newham	35,427	21	19,203	15	92.7
Norfolk	88,667	21	12,707	13	91.6
North East Lincolnshire	23,776	23	3,325	25	92.9
North Lincolnshire	20,161	21	3,075	15	93.5
North Somerset	21,883	19	2,490	17	93.0
North Tyneside	24,011	21	1,582	23	94.1
North Yorkshire	65,408	18	5,049	12	93.1
Northamptonshire	79,026	21	13,657	12	93.4
Northumberland	38,235	21	2,872	17	90.2
Nottingham City	32,818	26	11,802	20	92.8
Nottinghamshire	93,785	20	15,729	17	91.6
Oldham	33,330	25	7,473	17	93.0
Oxfordshire	67,119	20	13,318	13	92.1
Peterborough City	23,068	23	4,879	12	93.1
Plymouth	32,983	20	5,942	10	92.5
Poole	15,127	22	3,135	9	91.1
Portsmouth	21,952	25	5,228	16	92.8
Reading	13,836	20	3,806	14	92.9
Redbridge	30,052	21	6,083	10	91.9
Redcar and Cleveland	20,093	24	2,035	22	93.1
Richmond upon Thames	16,702	21	1,505	18	91.7
Rochdale	25,822	25	5,595	18	91.9
Rotherham	35,586	23	6,582	18	93.7
Rutland	3,997	20	373	14	90.7
Salford	27,039	27	5,601	18	90.9
Sandwell	40,438	26	8,130	16	92.7
Sefton	38,173	22	4,476	12	91.3
Sheffield	58,674	24	16,740	18	93.7
Shropshire	33,566	18	4,625	9	92.6
Slough	13,462	22	3,103	11	93.1
Solihull	29,547	21	2,553	13	93.4
Somerset	57,371	20	6,294	11	93.5
South Gloucestershire	30,396	19	5,258	10	92.5
South Tyneside	20,419	24	1,137	12	92.2
Southampton	26,104	22	6,301	13	92.5
Southend-on-Sea	19,532	21	4,157	15	91.6
Southwark	23,725	23	9,502	18	92.6
St Helens	23,287	23	2,484	10	93.5
Staffordshire	103,311	20	10,580	11	93.2
Stockport	34,554	20	6,561	13	92.6
Stockton on Tees	26,885	22	1,646	22	91.9
Stoke on Trent	31,563	23	5,218	14	93.8
Suffolk	77,371	19	7,336	12	92.2
Sunderland	40,658	24	5,092	16	93.4
Surrey	106,334	20	9,540	11	93.5
Sutton	21,589	20	2,815	10	92.4
Swindon	24,252	23	4,897	10	92.1
Tameside	30,435	24	4,152	17	92.2
The Wrekin	21,919	22	3,932	12	91.8
Thurrock	18,058	23	3,729	16	92.0
Torbay	15,254	23	2,240	9	91.0
Tower Hamlets	25,759	22	13,707	14	92.9
Trafford	28,119	22	2,941	16	92.5
Wakefield	42,261	22	9,319	11	91.4
Walsall	36,899	25	8,141	13	91.6
Waltham Forest	27,576	22	8,338	15	92.0
Wandsworth	19,906	24	4,474	15	93.8
Warrington	25,740	20	2,407	14	93.2
Warwickshire	61,503	21	6,146	14	94.1
West Sussex	83,925	18	9,807	11	93.2
Westminster, City of	13,219	21	4,620	10	90.3
Wigan	41,916	26	5,313	20	92.5
Wiltshire	51,372	24	6,698	20	93.8
Windsor & Maidenhead	14,961	19	1,699	10	93.7
Wirral	42,125	20	4,901	11	92.3
Wokingham	18,953	23	2,345	18	94.4
Wolverhampton	31,133	17	7,312	9	90.8
Worcestershire	64,153	26	8,501	15	93.0
York, City of	17,644	21	1,946	14	94.0
Total	5,974,052	18	1,029,549	14	92.6

2 Feb 2004 : Column 663W

Academic year 2002–03

	Authorised absence		Unauthorised absence
	Number of pupils that missed a session	Average number sessions missed	Number of pupils that missed a session	Average number sessions missed	Attendance rate (%)
Barking and Dagenham	23,161	20	10,116	12	92.1
Barnet	36,343	19	7,642	12	93.5
Barnsley	29,266	22	8,556	11	92.1
Bath and North East Somerset	20,332	19	3,838	10	93.4
Bedfordshire	51,651	19	6,578	8	93.6
Bexley	31,442	21	4,911	11	93.0
Birmingham	140,769	21	39,297	12	92.4
Blackburn with Darwen	21,379	22	3,973	14	92.6
Blackpool	17,452	22	4,028	13	92.0
Bolton	36,109	20	5,860	15	93.4
Bournemouth	17,480	20	2,928	7	93.4
Bracknell Forest	12,382	18	1,972	9	93.8
Bradford	64,625	19	25,293	12	92.6
Brent	28,999	21	5,741	10	92.9
Brighton and Hove	25,231	22	6,224	12	92.2
Bristol, City of	39,959	23	11,886	15	91.3
Bromley	37,486	20	7,482	12	93.1
Buckinghamshire	58,283	17	6,847	12	94.3
Bury	24,429	19	3,860	10	93.8
Calderdale	27,343	20	4,974	9	93.6
Cambridgeshire	65,190	19	11,320	10	93.3
Camden	15,632	23	4,629	12	91.5
Cheshire	84,589	18	13,295	13	93.9
Cornwall	62,898	21	9,994	8	92.8
Coventry	38,885	23	5,451	13	92.3
Croydon	39,205	22	10,189	11	92.4
Cumbria	62,095	19	9,001	11	93.8
Darlington	12,296	23	1,316	18	92.3
Derby City	30,258	21	6,842	13	92.7
Derbyshire	93,928	20	19,086	11	93.4
Devon	82,585	20	15,437	10	93.1
Doncaster	40,130	22	8,991	13	92.3
Dorset	46,206	19	6,192	9	93.5
Dudley	42,356	21	6,856	12	92.8
Durham	62,598	22	6,211	12	92.8
Ealing	31,320	20	4,445	11	93.1
East Riding of Yorkshire	41,856	20	5,750	10	93.5
East Sussex	56,132	19	14,364	10	93.1
Enfield	37,968	20	13,889	12	92.4
Essex	167,654	20	27,392	11	93.1
Gateshead	22,882	21	2,925	15	93.1
Gloucestershire	70,961	19	7,520	11	93.7
Greenwich	26,943	21	11,100	15	91.7
Hackney	19,410	21	7,055	15	92.1
Halton	16,628	21	3,717	19	92.2
Hammersmith and Fulham	12,722	21	3,002	16	92.1
Hampshire	150,092	18	27,073	12	93.8
Haringey	26,570	20	12,017	12	91.8
Harrow	24,991	20	2,800	9	93.4
Hartlepool	12,657	19	3,196	16	93.2
Havering	31,577	20	3,738	10	93.0
Herefordshire	20,743	19	2,835	11	93.7
Hertfordshire	134,247	19	20,499	11	93.7
Hillingdon	32,489	21	9,099	12	92.4
Hounslow	26,953	19	7,856	12	92.9
Isle of Wight	16,398	22	2,147	14	92.4
Isles of Scilly	214	17	79	6	93.5
Islington	19,050	21	7,527	11	92.0
Kensington and Chelsea	8,202	19	2,395	10	93.1
Kent	171,884	20	23,907	12	93.3
Kingston upon Hull, City of	34,655	23	9,433	17	91.2
Kingston upon Thames	15,906	19	1,679	10	93.7
Kirklees	52,205	19	10,747	12	93.4
Knowsley	21,427	23	5,657	20	91.5
Lambeth	21,618	19	7,033	9	93.1
Lancashire	146,327	20	19,805	13	93.5
Leeds	89,166	21	21,540	15	92.5
Leicester City	38,771	21	12,139	16	92.0
Leicestershire	80,182	19	12,594	14	93.6
Lewisham	26,789	19	10,890	12	92.6
Lincolnshire	82,913	19	12,184	11	93.6
Liverpool	57,430	24	12,316	16	91.7
London, City of	170	17	0	0	94.7
Luton	27,104	22	5,605	10	92.5
Manchester	52,019	24	12,829	16	91.4
Medway	36,808	21	6,359	10	93.0
Merton	16,915	21	3,935	11	92.8
Middlesbrough	18,585	24	3,872	11	91.9
Milton Keynes	28,668	21	4,396	9	93.2
Newbury	19,399	24	2,981	17	91.9
Newcastle upon Tyne	29,416	17	4,942	9	93.6
Newham	35,746	21	16,931	11	92.7
Norfolk	95,378	22	19,621	14	92.2
North East Lincolnshire	23,120	21	4,891	10	93.1
North Lincolnshire	20,887	20	3,815	15	93.2
North Somerset	22,949	20	3,503	16	93.5
North Tyneside	23,607	18	2,408	10	94.0
North Yorkshire	72,758	20	8,109	11	93.0
Northamptonshire	86,330	21	17,324	13	93.2
Northumberland	38,763	22	2,793	16	91.8
Nottingham City	31,294	20	8,503	15	92.9
Nottinghamshire	96,572	21	19,248	13	92.6
Oldham	32,869	18	7,737	10	93.7
Oxfordshire	69,733	21	14,085	11	93.0
Peterborough City	23,508	21	4,907	10	92.9
Plymouth	32,297	18	4,266	10	93.5
Poole	15,953	20	3,448	12	92.4
Portsmouth	21,949	20	6,025	15	92.7
Reading	13,228	18	2,768	10	93.6
Redbridge	32,332	21	8,007	13	93.0
Redcar and Cleveland	19,775	18	2,992	16	93.4
Richmond upon Thames	16,657	21	3,569	13	92.7
Rochdale	28,286	21	7,157	14	92.7
Rotherham	36,857	17	7,338	13	94.4
Rutland	4,346	22	345	14	91.8
Salford	28,092	24	7,358	15	91.3
Sandwell	40,336	20	7,937	12	93.3
Sefton	36,540	21	4,255	15	92.3
Sheffield	61,795	19	16,686	7	93.8
Shropshire	35,004	19	4,247	13	92.9
Slough	15,684	18	3,999	12	93.7
Solihull	29,841	19	4,244	11	93.3
Somerset	61,448	19	7,924	9	93.4
South Gloucestershire	33,294	22	7,974	10	92.8
South Tyneside	19,548	22	2,412	14	92.1
Southampton	25,571	20	5,030	15	92.8
Southend-on-Sea	21,153	18	4,216	12	92.7
Southwark	26,935	22	13,369	18	93.0
St Helens	22,410	19	2,950	10	93.6
Staffordshire	105,022	19	15,492	10	93.7
Stockport	35,473	21	6,084	15	93.3
Stockton on Tees	25,194	20	2,467	14	92.7
Stoke on Trent	29,934	19	7,397	13	93.5
Suffolk	81,873	23	14,165	15	92.6
Sunderland	38,199	18	4,447	11	93.6
Surrey	111,866	18	18,997	10	93.8
Sutton	23,679	19	3,532	11	93.8
Swindon	24,412	22	3,022	9	93.1
Tameside	30,755	21	4,549	9	93.1
The Wrekin	22,289	20	3,067	13	92.4
Thurrock	19,554	20	4,465	10	92.9
Torbay	15,746	18	4,196	9	92.7
Tower Hamlets	28,361	18	14,674	12	94.3
Trafford	27,769	21	2,940	11	92.9
Wakefield	42,799	23	9,397	11	92.2
Walsall	38,143	20	7,503	12	93.0
Waltham Forest	27,687	22	6,816	10	92.8
Wandsworth	20,154	18	5,153	10	94.1
Warrington	25,992	19	4,256	12	93.6
Warwickshire	62,174	19	7,632	10	93.7
West Sussex	89,031	19	12,737	10	93.4
Westminster, City of	14,724	19	5,338	10	92.9
Wigan	41,821	21	4,535	13	93.3
Wiltshire	54,251	19	7,933	9	93.7
Windsor & Maidenhead	15,319	18	3,431	8	93.9
Wirral	42,322	20	4,600	14	93.4
Wokingham	19,181	18	2,451	10	94.0
Wolverhampton	31,702	22	5,819	14	92.3
Worcestershire	65,012	20	8,738	12	93.4
York, City of	19,800	19	4,030	12	93.6
Total	6,183,071	20	1,196,333	12	93.1

Notes:

1. Figures relate to maintained primary and secondary schools but exclude maintained special schools and CTCs.

2. Figures cover pupils that were absent between September 1997 and May 1998, and September 2002 and May 2003.

2 Feb 2004 : Column 669W

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