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16 Mar 2004 : Column 223W—continued
EDUCATION
Free School Meals
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make families whose income is below the £13,230 threshold and who receive working tax credit eligible for free school meals for their children. [160787]
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Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills has no plans to extend the eligibility criteria for free school meals.
Alcohol Education
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that children are given information in school on the risks of alcohol. [161655]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: There is a statutory requirement for drug education, including alcohol education in the National Curriculum Science Order. This represents the statutory minimum. In addition, schools are expected to use the non-statutory frameworks for Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship at key stages 1 and 2, PSHE at key stages 3 and 4 and the Citizenship programme of study at key stages 3 and 4 as the context for developing drug and alcohol education. We believe drug education in schools has an essential role to play in enabling pupils to develop their knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding about drugs.
Since 1997, we have made over £70 million available to local education authorities to support drug alcohol and tobacco education and prevention in schools. For the last three years, we have supported the development of training packages to support professionals deliver effective drug and alcohol education. From April, we will be supporting up to 3,000 teachers in the PSHE certificate which sets standards in the teaching of drug and alcohol education.
Together with the Home Office and Department of Health, we are supporting a national five-year research programme called "Blueprint" to test the effectiveness of drug education initiatives in schools. It will make a significant contribution to developing a UK evidence base for drug, alcohol and tobacco education.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on programmes explaining the dangers of alcohol misuse in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each year since 1997. [161068]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The funding that the Department has allocated to local education authorities to support drug education and prevention in all schools in England since 1997 is provided in the following table. This would include education about the effects of alcohol; a statutory requirement at key stages 1–4. We have not directed the proportion of this funding that should be spent on alcohol education or on schools in different sectors.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 5.8 |
| 1998–99 | 6.9 |
| 1999–2000 | 7.4 |
| 2000–01 | (5)7.4 |
| 2001–02 | 13.1 |
| 2002–03 | 15.2 |
| 2003–04 | 14.3 |
| Total | 70.1 |
(5) Allocated as part of Social Inclusion Grant.
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Capital Modernisation Fund
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was allocated to Buckingham from the Capital Modernisation Fund. [161567]
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was allocated to Crosby from the Capital Modernisation Fund. [160448]
Mr. Miliband: The Department for Education and Skills does not hold this information centrally. Capital Modernisation Fund is allocated by projects and not by area.
Class Sizes
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools was in each year since 1997. [160476]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The data requested are shown in the table.
| Primary | Secondary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 27.5 | 21.7 |
| 1998 | 27.7 | 21.7 |
| 1999 | 27.5 | 21.9 |
| 2000 | 27.1 | 22.0 |
| 2001 | 26.7 | 22.0 |
| 2002 | 26.3 | 21.9 |
| 2003 | 26.3 | 21.9 |
(6) Classes taught by one teacher
Source:
Annual Schools' Census
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Crosby were taught in classes of more than 30 on the latest date for which figures are available. [160404]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The data requested are shown in the table.
(7) One teacher classes.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census.
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Computers
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent on computers for schools in Chorley in each of the past seven years. [161558]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department does not collect information on school spend on computers. However funding for information and communications technologies (ICT) in schools is allocated to local education authorities through the Standards Fund and began in 1998–99.
Since 1998–99 schools in Lancashire have benefited from the following funding through the Standards Fund grant for ICT (including match funding from the LEA):
| Allocation to Lancashire LEA | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 2,500,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,627,867 |
| 2000–01 | 5,576,036 |
| 2001–02 | 6,483,142 |
| 2002–03 | 8,983,493 |
| 2003–04 | 9,169,124 |
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils per computer there are in schools in Chorley. [161559]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is not available centrally.
Figures for England, which were derived from a sample of schools, are shown in the table.
| Number of pupils | |
|---|---|
| Maintained primary schools | 7.9 |
| Maintained secondary schools | 5.4 |
| Maintained special schools | 3.0 |
(8) Full-time equivalent numbers of pupils.
The latest information on ICT in schools was published in Statistical Bulletin "Survey of Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2003", which is available on the Department's website www. dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.
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Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) teachers and (b) families in Buckingham have benefited from the Computers Within Reach programme. [161569]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Computers within Reach (CWR) scheme closed on 31 October 2001 having delivered over 24,000 recycled computers to people in 22 pilot areas, at a cost of £7.1 million over two years. Those eligible were in receipt of certain working age benefits or a state pension with minimum income guarantee.
At the same time as funding was made available for the Computers within Reach scheme, funding was also provided for the Computers for Teachers programme. For teachers who met certain criteria, this programme subsidised the cost of a computer. It was subsequently replaced by the current Laptops for Teachers scheme which dispensed with subsidies, and through which sufficient funding will be provided to enable two thirds of teachers to receive a laptop by March 2006.
Buckingham was not one of the pilot areas for the CWR scheme.
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent on computers for schools in the Burton constituency for each of the last seven years. [161846]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department does not collect information on school spend on computers at constituency level. However Burton is in Staffordshire LEA and since 1998–99 schools in Staffordshire have benefited from the following funding through the Standards Fund grant for ICT (including match funding from the LEA):
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 2,500,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 3,000,000 |
| 2000–01 | 3,000,000 |
| 2001–02 | 4,383,181 |
| 2002–03 | 6,303,997 |
| 2003–04 | 6,257,291 |
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