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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

CPS Direct

Vera Baird: To ask the Solicitor-General what plans she has for CPS Direct. [156335]

The Solicitor-General: A key component of the Government's criminal justice reform is to transfer responsibility for determining the charge in criminal proceedings from the police to the Crown Prosecution Service. This change is embodied in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The early involvement of prosecutors will ensure that the right charge is put before the court and will help police officers to gather more quickly the evidence the prosecutor will need to prove the case.

To fulfil this new role the CPS will make prosecutors available to provide early advice or charging decisions at any time of the day or night. Daytime cover will generally be provided by local prosecutors based in police stations, but this is not feasible or cost-effective throughout the night. The CPS will therefore provide cover during quieter periods by means of a national telephone-based service known as CPS Direct.

In September 2003, the CPS Direct pilot was launched to provide out of hours cover for police stations in Humberside, parts of West Yorkshire and the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. The pilot uses sophisticated telephony and IT links to connect police officers to prosecutors and is currently staffed by 13 experienced prosecutors working from their homes. They provide cover from 5 pm to 9 am each weekday and for 24 hours a day at the weekend and on public holidays. As at 22 February 2004, the pilot scheme had provided the police with 6,866 written decisions or advices.

Many CPS areas and police forces already have "shadow" arrangements in place ahead of the new statutory provisions and from 1 April 2004, there will be a phased migration to the full statutory scheme. As areas move to the statutory scheme CPS Direct will gradually expand to provide them with out of hours cover. Current forecasts indicate that CPS Direct will eventually require around 80 prosecutors.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Deaf-blind Children and Adults

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether children's trusts will be given responsibility for implementing Social Care for Deaf-blind Children and Adults Local Authority Circular (2001)8; [154640]

(2) whether children's directors will be given specific responsibilities in relation to deaf-blind children. [154643]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Green Paper "Every Child Matters" set out proposals for the development of children's trusts to integrate children's services and said one of the key services within trusts should be children's social services. "Every Child Matters" also set out that the Government intend to put forward legislation to require directors of children's services to be appointed, who would be accountable for education and children's

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social services and for overseeing services for children delegated to the local authority by other services. We are currently considering responses to the Green Paper and will shortly set out a programme for change for children's services.

Excellence in Cities Programme

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on the Excellence in Cities programme in each year since 1998–99; what his estimate is of annual expenditure up to 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [156585]

Mr. Miliband: Expenditure on the Excellence in Cities programme since 1998 is as follows:

£

	Expenditure
1999/2000	24,344,435
2000/01	138,849,734
2001/02	245,230,101
2002/03	242,016,353
2003/04 (provisional)	272,164,265

Estimated expenditure between 2004/05 and 2005/06 is as follows:

£

	Estimated expenditure
2004/05	306,240,000
2005/06	386,240,000

These figures reflect the success of this programme and its rapid expansion. They do not include expenditure on the related Behaviour Improvement Programme (BIP) and the Leadership Incentive Grant (LIG) which are overseen by EiC partnerships in EiC areas. Currently the Department invests £65.9 million annually on BIP and £148.5 million annually on LIG. The figures also exclude spending on specialist and beacon schools which, although utilised as part of the EiC strategy, belong to wider national programmes.

The EiC programme now covers 57 whole authority areas as well as 51 Excellence Clusters covering smaller pockets of deprivation.

As well as continuing to expand Excellence Clusters, we are also expanding primary EiC to provide behavioural support and extended opportunities for gifted and talented children in our most deprived primary schools. This help will not be confined to EiC areas but will include all schools meeting the relevant criteria, and will provide the support they need to ensure that their most disadvantaged pupils are better able to access the national primary strategy.

The EiC programme is now paying off. GCSE exam results last year were the best yet for EiC schools. Schools in Excellence in Cities whole authority partnerships improved at more than twice the rate of schools elsewhere with average gains of 2.5 percentage points compared to 1.2 percentage points in non-EiC schools.

There was also a significant impact on behaviour and attendance—with standards again improving fastest in EiC schools.

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Higher Education Bill

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received since 27 January from (a) the Scottish Executive and (b) Scottish universities on the effects of the Higher Education Bill on Scotland. [155476]

Alan Johnson: We have not received representations from the Scottish Executive or from Scottish universities since 27 January. However, my right hon. Friend and I are in regular contact with Ministers in all devolved Administrations and with Universities UK which represents the interests of universities in all devolved nations as well as in England.

Lord Levy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the purpose was of the education-related meeting attended by Lord Levy on 21 January; who the other attendees were; and if he will make a statement. [157755]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Lord Levy did not attend any meetings with Education Ministers on 21 January.

New Schools

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) value and (b) number of new schools built in each of the regions of England was in the last five years for which records are available. [156957]

Mr. Miliband: We do not hold information about the value and number of new schools that have been built. This information is held locally. We have, however, made available significant support to build new schools and to expand, replace and repair school accommodation. The majority of our support is allocated by needs-related formulae to local authorities and schools, who make individual investment decisions, based on priorities in their asset management plans. Total central Government support for school buildings capital investment over the last five years and for future years is as follows:

	£ billion
1999–2000	1.4
2000–01	2.1
2001–02	2.2
2002–03	2.8
2003–04	3.8
2004–05	4.5
2005–06	5.1

Pupil Places (Romsey)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many spare places have been available at the beginning of each school year at each school in the Romsey constituency since 1997–98. [157078]

Mr. Miliband: The number of spare places at each school in the Romsey constituency since 1998 as collected through the annual surplus places survey is set

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out in the following tables. The figures state the position at the beginning of the calendar year rather than the

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school year. We do not have figures for 2002 as there was no surplus places survey in that year.

Romsey primary schools surplus places

School name	1998	1999	2000	2001	2003
Basset Green Primary School	0	0	0	0	0
Awbridge Primary School	43	50	37	50	4
Knightwood Primary School	—	0	2	0	0
Braishfield Primary School	0	1	0	0	7
Broughton Primary School	29	28	21	26	26
Chandler's Ford Infant School	67	90	97	92	59
Merdon Junior School	0	0	0	0	14
North Baddesley Infant School	77	47	60	46	22
Fryern Junior School	74	75	90	101	2
Romsey Infant School	2	18	24	44	60
Romsey Junior School	56	41	35	36	68
Cupernham Junior School	12	12	12	0	0
Stockbridge Primary School	8	19	12	16	0
Wallop Primary School	41	23	18	37	57
Wellow School	38	31	29	37	0
Wherwell Primary School	0	0	0	6	4
Fryern Infant School	33	41	40	37	27
Hiltingbury Infant School	0	0	0	0	8
North Baddesley Junior School	104	118	124	134	0
Hiltingbury Junior School	0	0	0	0	0
Halterworth Community Primary School	0	0	15	4	0
Scantabout Primary School	19	23	0	0	0
Cupernham Infant School	16	23	41	68	68
Ampfield Church of England Primary School	27	18	21	16	17
Barton Stacey Church of England Primary School	65	49	48	56	30
King's Somborne Church of England Primary School	12	17	29	22	20
Nursling Church of England Primary School	17	2	10	11	1
Rownhams St. John's Church of England Primary School	0	0	2	0	0
West Tytherley Church of England Primary School	0	0	1	1	3
Lockerley Church of England Endowed Primary School	0	0	8	2	7
Longparish Church of England Primary School	5	8	3	7	0
Romsey Abbey Church of England Primary School	7	0	21	1	0
St. Swithun Wells Catholic Primary School	130	157	50	72	84
Bassett Green Primary School	—	61	31	57	71
St Francis Church of England Primary School	0	0	0	8	20
Total	882	952	881	987	679

Romsey secondary school surplus places

School name	1998	1999	2000	2001	2003
The Mountbatten School	0	6	0	0	15
The Toynbee School	33	0	11	0	0
The Romsey School	68	5	0	0	23
Test Valley School	8	0	0	0	3
Thornden School	0	0	0	0	0
Cantell School	113	321	324	228	115
St. George Catholic School for Boys	—	0	0	0	86
Total	222	332	335	228	242

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