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Food Safety

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what training in food safety for carers of babies and pre-school children has been made available since the death of Thomas Egan to ensure that they are equipped to protect those at risk from severe food allergy. [158819]

Margaret Hodge: The national standards for under eights day care and childminding indicate that registered childcare providers should request information from parents about food allergies the child may have, and take heed of such information when providing children with food and drink. The standards also require that there is at least one member of staff with a current first aid certificate on the premises or on outings at any one time, and that the first aid qualification includes training in first aid for infants and young children. First aid

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training has to be consistent with any guidance issued by the Secretary of State to local authorities, who are responsible for making training available to settings. Guidance was sent to all local authorities in January 2004 and this includes the requirement that training should cover the treatment of children suffering from allergic reactions.

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many food technologists are undergoing training at places of further and higher education. [144821]

Alan Johnson: In 2001/02, 2,356 students were studying Food Science as their primary subject within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and 158,074 were studying food science related subjects within Further Education Institutions (FEIs).

Grammar Schools

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills under what circumstances a local education authority may close a grammar school under section 29 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 without (a) the consent of the governors and (b) a ballot of parents. [159791]

Mr. Miliband: Section 29 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 provides for a local education authority to propose the closure of any category of maintained school including a grammar school. The authority must first consult interested parties, including parents and governors. If, after considering the responses to consultation, they decide to proceed they must publish the proposals in the local newspaper, at the entrance to the school and in a local public place. Anyone may then submit comments or objections to the proposals. Where objections are submitted, the final decision on the closure will be taken by the local School Organisation Committee (SOC), or an independent

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schools adjudicator if the SOC cannot reach a unanimous decision. Both the SOC and schools adjudicator must consider a range of factors in reaching a decision, including the views of interested parties.

There is no requirement for a ballot of parents or the consent of the governors before proposals are published to close a grammar school. Ballots provide for the removal of selective admission arrangements, if enough parents vote in favour, from a school that is remaining open.

Higher Education

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the proportion was of families with an income under (a) £15,970 and (b) £33,500 with students going to higher education, broken down by local education authority, in the last academic year for which figures are available. [153132]

Alan Johnson: Data on the distribution of family incomes are not available at a Local Education Authority level.

The income levels £15,970 and £33,500—referred to in the paper: Moving towards a single combined grant for higher education—are estimates for 2006–07.

The figure of £15,970 is an estimate of the income threshold below which students will receive the full combined grant of £2,700 and above which the grant starts to be tapered away. Since the combined grant will be new in 2006–07, and its threshold is lower than that for the existing tuition fee relief scheme, there are no out-turn data for past years. However, it is estimated that around 30 per cent. of students will get the full grant. The figure of £33,500 is the estimated income level at which—in 2006–07—the combined grant will end and the means-tested element of the maintenance loan will begin to be tapered away. It is estimated that 50–55 per cent. of students will fall below this threshold and hence will receive some combined grant.

In 2001–02, 59 per cent. of students had a family income which resulted in them receiving part or full contribution to their fees i.e. an income below the threshold of £29,785 for dependent students and £25,440 for independent students. This is the latest year for which data are available.

Although the Department does not collect data on family income below various thresholds by LEA, we are aware that there are other organisations that do prepare figures of this nature. In particular, I understand that the House of Commons Library has access to some figures on family income by Parliamentary constituency, which hon. Members may be interested in. In addition, the Office of National Statistics has recently published some data on their website (www.statistics.gov.uk/neighbourhood) showing mean income at ward level, which hon. Members may also be interested in.

The distribution of all students entering full-time undergraduate courses by local authority, is shown in the table, copies of which have been place in the House Libraries.

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Homeless Young People

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether parents can be required to make a contribution to the care costs of a child under the age of 18 years, where they refuse to provide a home for that child. [155982]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 23 February 2004]: Part III of Schedule 2 of the Children Act 1989 provides powers for local authorities to recover contributions towards the maintenance of children looked after by them if they consider it reasonable to do so.

The persons liable to contribute are, where the child is under sixteen, each of his parents and, where he has reached the age of sixteen, the child himself.

Internet Safety Teaching

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to include internet safety teaching in the National Curriculum. [158996]

Mr. Miliband: Internet safety underpins the use of ICT to support the creative delivery of the National Curriculum and the teaching and learning of ICT core skills.

Within the ICT curriculum and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) there is sufficient flexibility to include teaching about internet safety to pupils of all ages and for discussion about potential dangers when using the World Wide Web. Teachers are able to reinforce safe practice in any class where pupils are using the internet.

The Department's Superhighway Safety guidance and website includes advice on all aspects of internet safety including key areas such as e-mails for students, filtering systems, school websites and chat rooms. Schools are advised to have an acceptable-use policy signed by students and their parents, guardians or carers, detailing the ways the internet can or cannot be used. School plans detail how they will implement internet safety measures such as filtering, monitoring and providing protected environments.

The Internet Proficiency Certificate for primary pupils is a specific way of developing safe and discriminatory behaviours on the internet. We also provide GridClub as a safe environment for 7 to 11-year-olds to learn online in safety. The Parents Online website helps parents to help their children use the internet effectively and safely.

Litter and Waste Disposal Education

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school pupils are taught the importance of a responsible approach to the disposal of litter and waste. [159727]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Citizenship curriculum includes teaching pupils about issues that impact on the society and the environment. Pupils learn about what improves and harms their local environment and about the importance of disposing of waste and litter responsibly. Citizenship education encourages pupils to play a helpful part in the life of their schools,

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neighbourhoods, communities and the wider world. Such lessons may contribute to pupils understanding the consequences of dropping litter. An example can be found in the QCA Scheme of Work for Key Stage 3 which has a unit called 'Developing your schools grounds' in which pupils take responsibility for planning, devising and implementing ways of improving their school grounds.

Looked-After Children

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many looked-after children have had special educational needs statements in England in each year since 1994. [158066]

Margaret Hodge: Statistics on looked-after children with statements of special education needs have been collected only since 1999–2000. The following table has been compiled from the statistical bulletin "Outcome Indicators for Looked After Children" and refers to children who have been looked after for at least one year at the year ending 30 September.

Year	Number of looked-after children (LAC)	Number of LAC of school age	Number of LAC of school age with statements of SEN	Percentage(27)
2000	42,200	33,100	8,600	26.0
2001	43,400	33,800	8,900	26.5
2002	44,100	34,500	9,200	26.8

⁽²⁷⁾ Rounded.

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