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10 Mar 2004 : Column 1517W—continued
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Gray: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer from the Paymaster General of 27 February 2004, Official Report, column 579W, on the Valuation Office Agency; whether the vacancy for a non-executive director of the Valuation Office Agency was advertised on the Public Appointments Unit website; when the names of the four candidates who were short-listed by the Valuation Office Agency for the position first entered the Cabinet Office's Public Appointments list; and whether they were self nominations. [159991]
Mr. Alexander: The vacancy for a non-executive director of the Valuation Office Agency was not advertised on the Public Appointments Vacancies website. The appointment was made in April 2002 prior to the development of the website which was launched on 27 March 2003. Since the website enables the open advertising of public appointments opportunities, it has replaced the use of a central list. In accordance with the Data Protection Act, the Department was not able to retain personal information about individuals who were on the list.
Women (Consultation)
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the women's organisations which have been consulted by his Department on proposed legislation during this Session; and whether their responses have been published. [160003]
Mr. Alexander: The Government are committed to ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are identified and involved in consultations on proposed legislation.
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A 12-week public consultation on the draft Civil Contingencies Bill took place between 19 June and 11 September 2003. Views were sought from a wide range of organisations with an interest in civil protection activity, including the Women's Royal Voluntary Service.
The Government's response to the public consultation was published on 7 January and is available in the Libraries of the House.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Enterprise Advisers
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 17 December 2003, Official Report, column 954W, on enterprise advisers, when the chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council will supply the information required. [157482]
Mr. Miliband: The LSC's chief executive has today written to the hon. Member about the start of the new Enterprise Advisor Service.
Ministerial Speeches
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many speeches he made between 9 June 2003 and 1 February 2004; and where a copy of each speech can be obtained. [156154]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: My right hon. Friend has spoken at a number of events during this period, some transcripts of which can be found on the departmental website www.dfes.gov.uk. Details relating to a specific speaking event can be obtained by emailing the Department's Speeches Team through the link provided on this website.
School Governors
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how his Department has improved the way in which it assists school governors in (a) making decisions and (b) assessing budgets. [160069]
Mr. Miliband: My Department has given school governing bodies greater freedom to take decisions through removing unnecessary restrictions on delegation under new arrangements deregulating governing body procedures introduced last September. The new arrangements allow governing bodies to decide for themselves whether the majority of decisions need to be taken by the whole governing body, a committee with delegated powers, or an individual governor or the head teacher. This will enable governing bodies to operate more flexibly, make better use of available expertise and speed up decision making.
Alongside this, we have improved information and communication arrangements so that governors have greater access to the information they need to take well informed decisions. Governors have access to up to date information across the full range of their responsibilities through GovernorNet, our governors' portal; the Governors' Guide to the Law, which we can now keep up to date on GovernorNet; GovernorLine, an
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independent advice line backed up by a legal advice service which all governors can access free of charge seven days a week; and our termly Newsletter for School Governors which is available in hard copy for all governors. The Newsletter is used to raise governor awareness of current issues, which should improve governing body decision making. In addition, our National Training Programmes for New Governors and Governing Body Clerks should improve the ability of new governors to contribute at an earlier stage as well as governing body decisions to be better documented. A new programme for anyone chairing governing body meetings or committees "Taking the Chair" and a joint programme for head teachers, governing body chairs and other school leaders "Leading Together" will both be available in the autumn.
The Department has commissioned the National College for School Leadership and KPMG to design, develop and deliver a varied menu of support and guidance to help schools' budget management. This includes a dedicated website and helpdesk, which is available to all school governing bodies. There are also workshops for schools in those LEAs eligible for targeted transitional support, in the period January to March 2004. A team of two from each school can attend the workshop, which could include the chair of governors or the chair of the finance committee.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school governor places in England are vacant; and what percentage this represents of capacity. [160078]
Mr. Miliband: There are approximately 350,000 school governor places at maintained schools in England. At any one time, across the country, around 12 per cent. of these places are vacant.
Schools (Capital Spending)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on schools capital spending programmes in each year since 1979 in (a) England and Wales and (b) Staffordshire. [160059]
Mr. Miliband: The following table shows capital allocations to local education authorities and schools in England and Staffordshire, from 1996–97 to 2003–04. Reliable figures are not available prior to this period. Allocations for Wales are a matter for the Welsh Office.
| England | Of which: Staffordshire | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 700 | 3.7 |
| 1997–98 | 800 | 7.4 |
| 1998–99 | 1,100 | (7)25.9 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,400 | 15.5 |
| 2000–01 | 2,100 | 31.1 |
| 2001–02 | 2,200 | 23.0 |
| 2002–03 | 3,000 | 26.6 |
| 2003–04 | 3,800 | 35.5 |
(7) Includes £13.7 million of PFI credits.
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Students (Dependent Children)
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if the Higher Education Funding Council for England will collect and publish statistics for the number of students with dependent children attending higher educational institutions, broken down by (a) institution and (b) region; [159858]
- (2) whether the Higher Education Funding Council for England collects statistics for the number of students with dependent children attending higher education institutions; and whether such statistics are publicly available. [159881]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 9 March 2004]: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Data on the number of students with dependent children are not currently collected by HESA and there are no plans for their future collection or publication.
Westminster Hall
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make it his policy to have senior Ministers reply to debates in Westminster Hall. [159611]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House on 8 March 2004, Official Report, column. 1234W.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Bed and Breakfast Accommodation
9. Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Government expect to meet their target that there should be no families in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks in London boroughs; and what steps he will take to sustain this policy. [159910]
Yvette Cooper: Official figures show that the number of families in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks halved between September 2002 and September 2003. Monitoring by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister shows considerable progress has been made since then. From April local authorities will have a statutory obligation not to house families in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks.
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