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4 Mar 2004 : Column 1105W—continued
School Meals
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of salt in school meals; and if he will make a statement; [158647]
- (2) what research his Department has carried out into the salt content of school meals; and if he will make a statement. [158648]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department's guidance 'Healthy School Lunches' makes various recommendations for reducing salt in cooking and what to use as an alternative. The guidance can be viewed on the website www.dfes.gov.uk/schoollunches
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The Department for Education and Skills, together with the Food Standards Agency, has taken forward a project looking at school meals in 80 secondary schools in England. The project is assessing the food provided; consumption; and nutrient intake. The project is also looking at the use of salt in food preparation and availability at meal times. The results of this research will be published late spring 2004, and will inform future policy decisions on this issue.
School Photos
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether he plans to issue clarification to local education authorities on the guidance he has issued on the photographing of children at school; and if he will make a statement; [150531]
- (2) when the hon. Member for Chelmsford will receive an answer to his question reference 150531 which received a holding answer on 26 January 2004. [157919]
Margaret Hodge [holding answers 26 January 2004 and 2 March 2004]: My Department has published information on its website in response to inquiries from schools about using video and photographic images of pupils in school publications, or on the internet. In brief, that advises that schools should obtain parental permission to publish images of pupils, they should not identify individual pupils, and that photographs of pupils should be kept secure.
We were told last year that some local authorities and schools had misinterpreted that advice: either applying it to the use of cameras and videos by parents when
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filming or photographing school events, or using it to form the basis of policies relating to the publication of photographs in local newspapers. As a result we revised the advice to make it clear that it does not apply to those areas and that schools and local education authorities are free to set their own policies about those issues in light of local circumstances and sensitivities.
The Newspaper Society and the Society of Editors recently raised concerns about some schools unwillingness to allow the publication of photographs of pupils in the local press. Representatives of both societies met with officials of my Department last week to discuss the issues and officials agreed to consider amplifying the information on the Department's website about that.
Schools (Vending Machines)
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many schools he estimates raise funds from food and drink vending machines; [158686]
- (2) what estimate he has made of the number of schools raising funds from food and drink vending machines. [158947]
Mr. Miliband: This information is not collected centrally. Schools are free to install food and drink vending machines and collect income from them. We would encourage schools to consider doing this as part of a whole-school approach to promoting a healthy diet rather than for purely financial reasons, and to strike a sensible balance in the food and drink sold. This policy underlies the 'Food in Schools' initiative, which will include projects on healthier vending as announced on 5 January 2004.
Specialist Schools
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list each (a) specialist school and (b) non-specialist school designated under section 104 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, together with the number of pupils they have selected in each of the last six years. [155623]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.
Student Loan/Debt
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the outstanding stock of student debt owed to public funds was (a) on 1 March 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available; and how much of each sum was (i) debt in arrears and (ii) debt written off. [158653]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The total amount outstanding for publicly-owned debt, the arrears value, and the amount which has been written off or cancelled during the financial year are shown in the table. The data reflect the position at the end of each financial year. Data at 1 March are not available. The answer refers to both mortgage-style and income-contingent loans.
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| 1996–97 | 2001–02(8) | 2002–03(8) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total amount outstanding at the end of the financial year(9) , (10) | 2,691.0 | 8,394.0 | 10,827.5 |
| Of which: | |||
| Arrears value(11) | 11.2 | 131.7 | (12)— |
| Amount written off/cancelled during the financial year | 0.9 | 1.4 | 2.6 |
(8) Provisional.
(9) The amount outstanding is after repayments of income contingent loans according to the latest known information. The SLC are notified of repayments by the Inland Revenue usually within one year of the end of the tax year they relate to, e.g. there will be some borrowers who have repaid their accounts in full in financial year 2002–03 but this will not be reported until the reconciliation has been made with SLC records.
(10) Includes loans not yet due for repayment.
(11) The arrears value is the overdue amount and does not include administration charges
(12) Not yet available.
Source:
Student Loans Company.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information on individual student debt is made available to credit rating agencies. [158654]
Alan Johnson: We do not make information on student loans available to credit reference agencies (CRAs) for credit scoring. CRAs do, however, have access to information in the public domain, including county court judgments (CCJs), which may be obtained by the Student Loans Company against default on student loans.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what order of precedence state student debt has in relation to other creditors in personal bankruptcy proceedings. [158655]
Alan Johnson: Student debt in relation to other creditors in bankruptcy proceedings is treated like all other non-preferential debts and has no precedence over any of these debts.
There is a clause amendment relating to preferential creditors which will be debated in the Higher Education Bill Standing Committee on Tuesday 9 March (afternoon session).
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to extend the incentive for teachers on repayment of student loans beyond June 2005. [157850]
Mr. Charles Clarke: An evaluation of the current pilot of the Repayment of Teachers' Loans scheme is under way. This will inform decisions on the future of the scheme.
PRIME MINISTER
Iraq
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Prime Minister on what date the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee was first informed as to which Iraqi weapons the 45-minutes claim in the Iraq's weapons of mass destruction dossier applied. [158771]
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The Prime Minister: The Joint Intelligence Committee Chairman was aware in September 2002 that the 45 minutes claim referred to battlefield munitions. As he told Lord Hutton, battlefield munitions were interpreted as covering multiple rocket launchers and artillery with ranges of up to 40 kilometres.
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Prime Minister on what date the Cabinet Secretary was first informed as to which Iraqi weapons the 45-minutes claim in the Iraq's weapons of mass destruction dossier applied. [158772]
The Prime Minister: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer the Foreign Secretary gave him on 10 February 2004, Official Report, column 1305W. The Cabinet Secretary was informed of the particular weapons referred to in similar circumstances and with the same timings as my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.
Official Secrets Act
Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Prime Minister who is to chair the review of the Official Secrets Act 1989; and if he will make a statement. [158687]
The Prime Minister: The Official Secrets Act, as with all areas of the criminal law, is kept under review. The Home Secretary has made it clear that the Home Office is considering the implications of recent events for this legislation.
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