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Prisoner Education

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent by prisons in England and Wales on providing (a) basic skills entry level tuition, (b) basic skills level 1 tuition, (c) basic skills level 2 tuition and (d) key work skills tuition in 2002–03. [161720]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The total spend in 2002–03 on contracted education hours was £52,305,802. We estimate that 37 per cent. of this was spent on the delivery of literacy, numeracy and English as a Second Language (ESOL) in 2002/03, against all other education.

This spend cannot be split into separate basic skills levels because contracted education hours are not disaggregated by the level of basic skills delivered. We fund prisons to give them flexibility to respond to the range of learning needs in their population.

In 2002–03 the funding for vocational training was the responsibility of the Prison Service. However, in April 2003, £12 million per annum was transferred from the Prison Service to DfES for vocational training.

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Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many prisoners (a) commenced and (b) successfully completed basic skills training in 2002–03; and how many (i) entry level awards, (ii) level 1 awards, (iii) level 2 awards and (iv) key work skills awards there were. [161721]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We currently collect overall information on participation and achievement at establishment level. We want to put in place an individual level database which will provide us with this sort of information in the future, not just on prisoners but also on offenders under supervision in the community. This will be increasingly important as we implement the National Offender Management Service and move towards greater use of intermittent custody.

In 2002–03 prisoners achieved: (i) 9,120 basic skills awards at entry level, (ii) 17208 at level 1, and (iii) 15,190 at level 2. They also achieved (iv) 89,092 awards in work skills.

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Project Funding

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many (a) solely state-financed and (b) public-private partnership and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible have been launched in each region in each of the last 10 years; [160945]

(2) how much was spent by (a) the Government on solely state-financed projects and (b) the (i) Government and (ii) private sector on public-private and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible, in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [160946]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows capital support (excluding the Private Finance Initiative) for investment in school buildings for which data are readily available.

£ million

	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
East Midlands	28.3	34.7	57.7	74.3	145.7	130.9	160.8	188.0
East of England	44.1	48.2	68.4	82.9	193.3	152.4	204.7	281.8
London	80.8	95.8	123.7	142.0	232.6	221.6	310.3	407.5
North East	28.4	34.9	47.6	74.3	111.4	108.2	110.9	168.0
North West and West Merseyside	81.4	94.0	126.9	148.3	270.1	239.4	304.0	368.3
South East	110.2	115.6	133.1	139.6	272.7	226.6	335.9	466.3
South West	59.3	65.6	83.3	97.5	174.9	155.7	226.6	287.2
West Midlands	65.4	50.2	79.5	89.7	191.4	150.7	214.3	272.0
Yorkshire and the Humber	57.5	52.1	79.6	141.4	224.4	200.4	238.7	248.7
Total	555.4	591.0	799.7	989.9	1816.5	1585.7	2106.2	2687.7

For information on PFI projects I would refer you to the Signed Projects List, which can be found on the Treasury website: http://www.hm- treasury.gov.uk/documents/public private partnerships/ppp pfi stats.cfm. This list, which can be searched by department and region, includes all PFI deals signed over the last 10 years. It contains information on the capital value of each project signed. The list is compiled from departmental returns to the Treasury and was last updated in July 2003.

Pupil/Teacher Contact

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the guidance he gives on the physical contact appropriate between teachers and primary school children. [162130]

Margaret Hodge: My Department does not give guidance specifically about physical contact between teachers and primary school children. However, my Department's Circular 10/98: "Section 550A of the Education Act 1996: The Use of Force to Control or Restrain Pupils", which gives guidance about the right of teacher's to use reasonable force to control or restrain pupils in certain circumstances, also includes advice about physical contact with pupils in other circumstances. The Circular points out that there is a variety of circumstances in which physical contact with a pupil may be appropriate or necessary: that teachers need to exercise their professional judgment about this, and that they should avoid touching pupils in ways that might cause distress or raise concerns. Similar advice is available on the internet in the child protection area of my Department's Teachernet website.

Railways

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role his Department plays in warning children of the dangers of playing on or near railways. [161387]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Education about safety is included in the curriculum through the framework of Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE). In PSHE lessons pupils are taught about rules for, and ways of, keeping safe, to recognise the risks that apply in different situations and then to decide how to behave responsibly. They should be taught to recognise and manage risk, to be aware when pressure from others threatens their personal safety and to develop assertiveness techniques when dealing with unhelpful pressure.

Although there is no specific requirement on schools to warn pupils about the dangers of playing on or near railways, teachers may well use such situations to illustrate risk more broadly.

Return-to-work Training

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many women in Buckingham

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have visited an information and communications technology training centre in order to learn skills to return to work. [161319]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: In the period October 2003—December 2003 ¹ , 1,213 people visited a UK Online centre in Buckingham. 680 (56 per cent.) of these people were women.

Since learndirect was launched in 1999, 498 people from Buckingham have enrolled on a learndirect course. 257 (52 per cent.) of these people were women. Of the total number of women who enrolled on a course 25 per cent. did so in order to learn skills to return to work.

¹ There are no statistics available for UK online prior to September 2003 as the DfES did not collect this data on a centre by centre basis.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) men and (b) women in Chorley have visited an information and communications technology centre to learn skills to return to work. [161449]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: In the period October 2003—December 2003 ¹ , 1,111 people visited a UK Online centre in Chorley. The split between men and women was 489 (44 per cent.) men and 622 (56 per cent.) women.

Since learndirect was launched in 1999, 973 people from Chorley have enrolled on a learndirect course. The split between men and women was 575 (59 per cent.) women and 398 (41 per cent.) men.

¹ There are no statistics available for UK online prior to September 2003 as the DfES did not collect this data on a centre by centre basis.

School Exclusions

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 9 March 2004, Official Report, column 1381W, on school exclusions (cannabis), when the first term's data, on the reasons for exclusions from schools, will be available. [161793]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We plan to publish information from the first term's data on exclusions alongside the Statistical First Release on Permanent Exclusions from Schools and Exclusion Appeals in England 2002/03 (provisional), in May 2004.

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School Field Trips

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what safety advice is given to schools in relation to field trips; and if he will make a statement; [157786]

(2) how many serious accidents have been reported to the Health and Safety Executive over the last five years which have taken place on (a) school trips and (b) school premises; [157787]

(3) what impact he anticipates that the guidance relating to school field trips recently issued by the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers in relation to the participation of teachers in school field trips will have upon participation by teachers in those elements of the 14 to 19 curriculum which are required to be supported by fieldwork; and if he will make a statement. [157973]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department has issued Health and Safety guidance to LEAs and schools about the whole range of educational visits including field studies. My Department supports all visits that have clear educational objectives and are carefully risk assessed and managed. Guidelines recently re-issued by NASUWT advise members to consider whether to take part in visits, and advise those who do to heed guidance from their employer and from my Department. A few teachers have been subject to legal action but I am pleased that most teachers continue to take pupils on visits. I expect field visits and other outdoor activities to thrive as teachers become more competent in supervision following visits coordinator training pump-primed by my Department in 2003. The Health and Safety Executive in 2001–02 received reports of 6,363 accidents affecting employees and others in primary and secondary education (including one fatality) and in 2002–03 5,812 (including three fatalities). Earlier or more detailed figures are not available.

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