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9 Feb 2004 : Column 1192W—continued

School Buildings

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which education authority is regarded by his Department as having the greatest need for renewal of school buildings. [152953]

Mr. Miliband: We are in the course of assessing data on the suitability and condition needs of school buildings provided to us by authorities as part of the asset management process and will shortly be making information available. This will help to show the relative needs of authorities' schools in regard to suitability and condition. These needs are however usually only one of the factors that are taken into account in decisions to school renew buildings.

Student Finance

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the demographic changes to the number of students liable to pay top-up fees over each of the 10 years from 2006; and if he will make a statement. [152573]

Alan Johnson: Demographic changes will mean an increase in student numbers up to 2010. The number of students affected by variable fees will depend on a wide range of factors, including decisions on fee levels to be taken by institutions providing higher education to full-time undergraduates.

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Planned total number of students 2005/06 to 2007/08 will be set as part of the current spending review which will conclude later this year.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the governance structure is of the Student Loans Company; and whether it is an incorporated body. [152660]

Alan Johnson: The Student Loans Company is incorporated under the Companies Acts 1985. It has been designated an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) by the Cabinet Office. The arrangements for internal governance are set out in its annual report which is placed in both Houses of Parliament Libraries.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much grant he has provided to higher education institutions for foundation degree students in this financial year. [152683]

Alan Johnson: The Higher Education Funding Council for England estimate that they will make £59 million available to higher education institutions for foundation degree students in the current academic year.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is responsible for distribution of funding to higher education institutions for foundation degree courses. The Council funds higher education institutions on the basis of academic years (August to July), therefore the figures provided relate to August 2003 to July 2004.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what powers he plans to take to restrict the level of fee charged for a foundation degree; [152733]

(2) what his policy is on the charging of tuition fees to foundation degree students. [152689]

Alan Johnson: The Higher Education Bill contains powers that will enable us, from 2006, to limit the level of fees for all degrees, including foundation degrees, to no more than £3,000, provided a higher education institution has an access agreement approved by the Office for Fair Access, or to a basic amount—expected to be £1,200—if a higher education institution does not have an access agreement.

Students taking foundation degrees will be subject to tuition fees on the same basis as students on other full time undergraduate courses.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what financial support he plans to make available from his Department to mature students in higher education institutions. [152736]

Alan Johnson: Our proposals for 2006/07 are designed to help higher education students generally but one in particular will be of especial help to mature students. We expect a third of all those getting the grant of £2,700 to be independent students although they are a much smaller percentage of all students. Mature students will also benefit from the increases in the levels of student loans, the raising of the repayment threshold from £10,000 to £15,000 and the 25-year cap on the repayment period.

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Existing targeted support already helps certain mature students who are eligible for a range of additional grants such as the child care grant and parent's learning allowance, for student parents, the disabled students allowance and the adult dependants grant dependants grant. In addition, student parents are eligible to receive child tax credit from the Inland Revenue.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total estimated cost is of educational maintenance allowances in each of the next three years. [152784]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The estimated cost of the national EMA scheme for each of the next three years is:

2004–05—cost £238 million—estimated number of young people on EMA 274,000

2005–06—cost £374 million—estimated number of young people on EMA 390,000

2006–07—cost £462 million—estimated number of young people on EMA 439,000

PRIME MINISTER

Antarctic

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with (a) the President of the United States and (b) others regarding the protection of the Antarctic from physical exploitation; and if he will make a statement. [152969]

The Prime Minister: I regularly have discussions with President Bush and others on a wide range of international issues including on the environment.

However, I have not had any recent discussions regarding the protection of the Antarctic environment from physical exploitation.

The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty sets out a framework for the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment, including from physical exploitation. Under the Protocol, all activities within Antarctica must be planned and conducted as to limit adverse impacts on the Antarctic environment. The Antarctic Act 1994 ensures adherence to the provisions of the Protocol within the UK.

BBC

Mr. Gale: To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of his letter dated 19 March 2003 to Mr. Greg Dyke in his capacity as Director General of the BBC; [153478]

(2) if he will list the telephone calls made by Mr. Alastair Campbell to members of BBC staff between 12 March 2003 and 14 April 2003. [153479]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. McLoughlin) in the debate on Lord Button's report on 4 February, Official Report, column 768.

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Business Social andEnvironmental Impact Reports

Andy King: To ask the Prime Minister if he will restate his challenge of October 2000 that all the FTSE 350 companies should publish annual environmental reports by the end of 2005. [154275]

The Prime Minister: I still believe that our largest companies should take up the challenge of publishing annual environmental reports. The White Paper on Modernising Company Law (CM5553) published in July 2002 included a proposal to require economically significant companies to include information on environmental, social and community issues amongst others in a new Operating and Financial Review, where these issues are judged by directors to be essential to an understanding of the company's business. This should provide further encouragement for directors to consider seriously their company's impact on the environment.

Butler Committee

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Prime Minister what selection procedures were used to appoint the chair to the committee investigating intelligence sources in the events before the invasion of Iraq; and what assessment he made of the views of prospective members of the committee on whether the Government was right to go to war when deciding on its composition. [153247]

The Prime Minister: Following precedent, I chose individuals of standing and relevant experience including members of the Intelligence and Security Committee to conduct this task. I am very grateful to Lord Butler and the members of his Review team for agreeing to undertake this task. I made no assessment of their views on the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Prime Minister whether he intends Lord Butler's Committee to report on differences between (a) the intelligence gathered, evaluated and used by the Government before the conflict and (b) the intelligence and what has been discovered by the Iraq Survey Group since the end of the conflict. [154214]

The Prime Minister: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary (Mr. Straw), set out the terms of reference for Lord Butler's review on 3 February 2004, Official Report, columns 625–28. It is for Lord Butler to determine, within those terms of reference, the scope of his report.

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