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8 Mar 2004 : Column 1346W—continued

City Academies

Mr. Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools from the independent sector have expressed interest in sponsoring city academies; and what proportion of city academies have already been sponsored by independent schools. [159787]

Mr. Miliband: Three schools from the independent sector are already sponsoring Academies and a number of others have expressed an interest. The United Learning Trust (ULT), a subsidiary of the Church Schools Company, which runs a federation of eight independent schools, sponsors the Manchester Academy, which opened in September 2003. ULT also sponsor a further four Academies which are currently in development.

Classroom Assistants

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) part-time and (b) full-time classroom assistants were (i) recruited and (ii) employed in each London borough in each year since 1997. [159170]

Mr. Miliband: Data for recruitment of teaching assistants are not available. Data for teaching assistants in employment are available only as a total full-time equivalent (FTE) number at LEA level. The table shows the total FTE number of teaching assistants employed in maintained nursery, primary, secondary, all special schools and pupil referral units in January of each year since 1997 by London LEA ^{1 , 2} .

¹ Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools.

² Includes nursery assistants in nursery schools, special needs support staff and minority ethnic pupil support staff.

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		FTE number of teaching assistants
		1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
	London	8,210	8,910	9,840	11,790	14,380	15,390	17,590
202	Camden	200	240	250	300	360	440	470
201	City of London	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
204	Hackney	210	250	290	380	420	490	530
205	Hammersmith and Fulham	190	200	210	250	240	260	300
309	Haringey	350	360	380	420	490	650	680
206	Islington	250	250	270	350	360	350	480
207	Kensington and Chelsea	130	140	140	170	210	220	260
208	Lambeth	300	350	390	500	560	580	640
209	Lewisham	280	290	320	410	570	470	560
316	Newham	280	280	390	500	960	720	1,070
210	Southwark	350	420	430	650	810	750	710
211	Tower Hamlets	370	400	450	510	800	970	950
212	Wandsworth	330	370	370	460	470	380	530
213	Westminster	150	170	160	190	190	310	280
301	Barking and Dagenham	300	290	310	320	400	500	510
302	Barnet	290	340	400	480	550	740	720
303	Bexley	200	230	280	310	380	320	560
304	Brent	260	300	360	390	440	450	470
305	Bromley	220	240	250	290	370	440	520
306	Croydon	400	410	510	530	660	630	870
307	Ealing	340	360	370	400	510	450	530
308	Enfield	250	290	290	500	590	810	880
203	Greenwich	360	400	430	510	650	650	730
310	Harrow	270	270	290	300	300	330	430
311	Havering	170	170	200	260	300	310	520
312	Hillingdon	330	370	410	450	540	560	640
313	Hounslow	280	280	290	330	380	400	400
314	Kingston upon Thames	130	130	150	170	220	220	250
315	Merton	190	200	220	240	290	250	300
317	Redbridge	200	230	270	370	450	580	620
318	Richmond upon Thames	100	110	110	130	160	210	220
319	Sutton	160	170	210	230	260	340	330
320	Waltham Forest	380	400	410	470	490	610	640

Source:

Annual Schools' Census

Connexions

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance his Department has issued to Connexions area partnerships concerning their running costs for 2004–05. [157479]

Margaret Hodge: No specific guidance has been issued to Connexions Partnerships in relation to their running costs for 2004–05.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total budget is for the Connexions service for (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [157509]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 1 March 2004]: The total Connexions service budget for 2003–04 and 2004–05 is:

£

Budget	2003–04	2004–05
Field (grant to Connexions' Partnerships)	437.5	446.3m
Central Programmes (including PA training, evaluation, Connexions Direct)	18.6m	14.6m
VAT	Not applicable	11.8m

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the benefits to young people of the Connexions card scheme. [159495]

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Margaret Hodge: The Connexions card offers a range of benefits to young people who are in post-16 learning. The website www.connexionscard.com offers a range of rewards and information including:

Products and services, chances to try new experiences and "money can't buy" opportunities. Currently there are some 140 possibilities on offer, including study guides and free entry to leisure facilities.

Reduced cost of learning materials and public transport.

Information on courses and career opportunities including a CV builder.

The card also provides young people with an accredited proof of age card.

Contact and Residence Disputes

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what research his decision that it is in the best interests of children to be brought up by both parents was based. [152999]

Margaret Hodge: There is a considerable amount of research over a number of years from the UK and overseas that indicates that contact with both parents is in the best interests of the child. This finding has been

8 Mar 2004 : Column 1349W

endorsed by a number of leading family court judgments. Studies have also indicated that it is the quality of the contact the child maintains with both parents rather than merely its quantity that has the most beneficial effect.

A thorough literature review of research available in this area can be found in the publication 'Researching Contact' by Joan Hunt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Oxford University. This work, by a well-known academic in the field of child and family law, provides a comprehensive summary of the research evidence that supports the view that contact with both parents is in the best interests of the child.

Early Years Education

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the change in the number of private day nurseries in the nursery education grant scheme as a result of the removal of the ring-fencing of the grants to local authorities. [155827]

Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the form requested. Day care figures for 2001 and earlier years for England and Government Office regions were published in DfES Statistical Bulletin 08/01 "Children's Day Care facilities at 31 March 2001", which is available in the Library and on the DfES website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics. Latest childcare statistics were published in a report by OfSTED 'Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 19 December 2003', which is available on the OfSTED web-site, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications. The numbers of providers and places recorded by OfSTED are not directly comparable with the previous data made available by the DfES because they were collected differently.

The percentage of three and four year olds benefiting from free part-time early education in the private and voluntary sector has increased from 23 per cent. in January 2002 to 32 per cent. in January 2003. Growth in the full day care sector has been particularly strong over 2003–04. In March 387,000 places were available in the sector. By the end of December this had increased by 13 per cent. to 436,000.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has conducted into the funding of private providers for the nursery education grant scheme for three and four year olds following removal of the ring-fencing of funds for local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [155830]

Margaret Hodge: There has been no specific research of private providers following the consolidation of resources in the under-fives sub-block of their Education Formula Spending Share (EFSS)—the main source of funding for education.

The percentage of three and four year olds benefiting from free part-time early education in the private and voluntary sector in January 2003 was 32 per cent., up from 23 per cent. in January 2002.

8 Mar 2004 : Column 1350W

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received from the National Day Nurseries Association on the financial viability of the operation by private providers of the nursery education grant scheme for three and four-year-olds; and if he will make a statement. [R] [155831]

Margaret Hodge: While we have not had a direct representation by the NDNA we do have dialogue with the NDNA and other national organisations, through the Large Providers Forum and the Voluntary Sector Forum, on a whole range of issues surrounding early education, including viability.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment he has made of the financial viability of the Government's nursery education grant scheme for three and four-year-olds; [R] [155832]

(2) what representations he has received from Essex county council regarding the payment per term passed on by them to private sector providers under the nursery education grant scheme; and if he will take powers to force county council's to pass on to private providers the grant level made available by the Government; [R] [155824]

(3) if the nursery education grant scheme payment per term will be index-linked to inflation; [R] [155825]

(4) if he will make it his policy to reinstate ring-fencing of nursery education grants funds for local authorities. [R] [155829]

Margaret Hodge: From April 2003, we have increased local flexibility and autonomy, in line with the Government's principles of reducing ring-fenced funding by consolidating the resources in the under-fives sub-block of Education Formula Spending Share (EFSS)—the main source of funding for education. We have not received representations from Essex regarding funding to private providers. As funding in EFSS is unhypothecated it is the responsibility of the local authority to set funding at a suitable level to reflect local circumstances and in order to meet their statutory obligations. In the financial year 2004–05, overall funding in the under fives sub-block is worth £2.66 billion; overall education funding having increased by 5.5 per cent.

Levels of funding increase every year, taking account of inflation and other pressures. All decisions on future funding will be considered as part of this year's Spending Review.

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