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Food Advertisements (Schools)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans his Department has to ban fast food advertising from vending machines in schools in England; and if he will make a statement. [152518]

Mr. Miliband: The Department for Education and Skills has no plans to ban fast food advertising from vending machines in schools. The Headteacher and governing body of a school decide whether or not to install vending machines in schools, and where they are installed, the products that are sold.

Higher Education Funding

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects of tuition fees on women medical students. [149761]

Alan Johnson: Under our proposals for the introduction of variable fees from 2006, women medical students who commence their undergraduate course in 2006 or later, will be liable to pay variable fees of up to £3,000 per year, if the institution they attend decides to charge them.

The Government have made a number of proposals to safeguard access to higher education for those from low income families. Such students will continue, as now, to have the cost of the standard tuition fee (£1,125 in 2003/04) met by the Government. Around three in 10 students will also receive means tested Higher Education Grants of £1,000, to be raised to £1,500 for new students from 2006. In addition, many students

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from lower income families will be eligible for partial grant as well as bursaries and other support from universities under arrangements agreed by the Office of Fair Access.

Fees for English domiciled medical students in years five and six are currently paid by the Department of Health. These students also qualify for means tested NHS bursaries in their fifth and subsequent years of study. Department of Health Ministers have indicated that they will, if necessary, take measures to ensure that any increase in the level of tuition fees will not have an adverse impact on the supply, retention, diversity or quality of students on health professional courses, including medicine. Arrangements for repayment of fee loans will, for all graduates, be heavily subsidised: graduates will repay their loans at zero real rate of interest and only when their income exceeds £15,000 per year. Repayments will then be made at a rate of 9 per cent. of income above £15,000. Loans will be written off after 25 years: that could particularly benefit female doctors who opt to take a career break.

Figures collected in March 2003 show that 73 per cent. of newly qualified medical graduates in hospital posts earn £34,533 per annum. This compares very favourably with the salaries of other newly qualified graduates. According to Graduate Prospects, the average starting salary for graduate-level jobs was £18,000 in 2002/03.

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his policy that trainee teachers will be exempt from university top-up fees; and if he will make a statement. [151238]

Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend announced on 27 January that he will commission a report next year to examine gateways into the professions and the recruitment of graduates to the public services under the new student finance system. The findings of the report will inform the next comprehensive spending review.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether after the introduction of higher student fees he intends to maintain the universities block grant in real terms. [151966]

Alan Johnson: Future levels of funding for higher education will be subject to the outcomes of the current and subsequent spending reviews. I am, however, committed to safeguarding the level of funding for universities already set out to 2005–06 and expect to be able to deliver increases in future years.

Learning and Skills Councils

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to transfer powers and responsibilities held by Learning and Skills Councils to elected regional assemblies where they are introduced. [152100]

Alan Johnson: None. However, elected Regional Assemblies, where introduced, will have an important economic role. In our White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" we set out proposals for each Assembly to

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appoint two members to the Board of each local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in its region, and for the national LSC to consult Assemblies on its guidance to the local LSCs. We also propose that local LSCs will be required to have regard to Assembly strategies, including in drawing up their spending plans; and to consult the relevant Assembly about their local plans.

School Funding

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the implications of the grant settlement for 2004–05 on local education authorities' ability to provide centrally funded services. [152135]

Mr. Miliband: The increase in Formula Grant for local education authorities for 2004–05 is 6.1 per cent. The increase for Schools Formula Spending is 5.7 per cent., which includes funding for centrally provided education services. The increase in the LEA sub-block is 3.4 per cent. which is higher than the rate of inflation. It is for authorities to balance their overall resources and spending pressures in drawing up their budgets.

School Meals

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his Answer of 26 January 2004, Official Report, column 145W, on school meals, who has statutory responsibility for the provision of school meals if the governing body of a school resigns. [152219]

Mr. Miliband: School meal provision is the responsibility of the governing body of a school if the school's delegated budget share included funding for meals. If the members of the governing body of such a school all resigned, the governing body would still exist as a corporate entity and would retain the statutory responsibility for meals provision. Although the head teacher would be able to exercise decision-taking powers in accordance with any formal delegation previously agreed by the governing body, it would be for the local education authority to make arrangements as soon as possible for the reconstitution of the governing body membership.

School and College Performance(Value Added Measures)

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how value added measures will be used to determine action to be taken in (a) individual schools and (b) local education authorities. [152307]

Mr. Miliband: Value added information on individual schools is published within the DfES School and College Performance Tables. The data may be used by schools and local authorities, alongside other information, to evaluate their performance in relation to pupils' progress. Local education authorities may augment the published information by providing schools with additional value added data, for example in relation to the performance of individual departments.

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The Government are keen to promote intelligent accountability of performance by individual schools as a key step in self-evaluation, and in order to identify areas where improvements may be needed. Value added data may also identify strong areas of the curriculum, and therefore examples of best practice, where expertise may be shared within schools, and with other schools. The Pupil Achievement Tracker, supplied by the DfES, enables schools to benchmark their value added performance against other schools with similar characteristics.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what value added score (a) a school and (b) a local education authority will need to achieve to be judged as satisfactory. [152335]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 2 February 2004]: Independent judgments about both schools and LEAs are principally a matter for Ofsted, through the inspection system. While an Ofsted judgment is likely to take into account value added criteria, the overall decision will be made on the basis of a wide range of inspection evidence.

The Government have not set any upper or lower benchmarks in relation to published value added scores, but it is recognised that schools with scores at the lower end of the distribution for schools with similar levels of prior attainment are likely to be underperforming.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Common Agricultural Policy

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the Government's response to the proposed Common Agricultural Policy reform. [151958]

Alun Michael: The Government will announce in a matter of weeks their decision on the method of payment for the CAP reform agreed last June.

The Government are also engaged in the EU negotiations on proposals for further reform of the cotton, hops, olive oil, sugar and tobacco regimes.

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