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School Sports

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the effects on schools of changes since 1997 in the level of investment in school sports in Crosby. [160566]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Government is investing more than £1 billion in England to transform physical education (PE), school sport and club links. The funding will help deliver an ambitious Public Service Agreement target, shared with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to increase the percentage of five to 16 year olds who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent. by 2006.

Spearheading delivery are School Sport Partnerships, which provide for groups of schools to work together to increase sports opportunities for all young people. Latest research, published by the Departments on 4 March shows that 68 per cent. of pupils in schools that have been in a Partnership for three years, are taking up the two hour entitlement, rising to 90 per cent. at Key Stage 3, Data is currently being collected from remaining Partnerships and will be published in April. Disaggregated results will be available at that time.

Significant funding is also being provided to specifically enhance PE and school sport facilities, with £3,331,000 being allocated from the New Opportunities Fund to schools in the Sefton LEA area.

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Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action his Department is taking to ensure that extended use of sports facilities in schools built with private finance is affordable for all sections of the community. [160934]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Schools PFI contracts are usually between a local authority and a private sector contractor. It is therefore for the authority to ensure that the extended use of sports facilities in schools is affordable for all sections of the community. The DfES does not have a direct role in these negotiations although it does issue standard contract guidance, which includes, among other things, provisions for safeguarding existing community use at current prices.

When a local authority puts forward a bid to the DfES for a schools PFI project, we expect to see that the project supports the provision of dual use facilities that can be offered to the wider community. In almost all cases this will include sports facility provision, which is of course a significant asset to the local community.

School Uniform Grants

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local authorities in England which provide school uniform grants; and what the average grant was in each authority in the last year for which figures are available. [162577]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is not collected by the Department for Education and Skills.

Science Teaching (Chorley)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money has been spent on science in schools in Chorley in each year since 1997. [162146]

Alan Johnson: We do not hold information on what has been spent on science in individual schools. However, we are investing heavily in science teaching and learning in schools. We are working in partnership with the Wellcome Trust to create a national network of science learning centres to deliver continuing professional development to science technicians and science teachers. We have introduced the science strand of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy to improve standards of teaching and learning for all 11 to 14-year-olds and promote engaging and challenging science lessons. QCA have reviewed the Programme of Study for Key Stage 4 to ensure that it provides a core of content that is suitable to all learners, making sure that all young people have an understanding of the importance of science and technology to the world around them and that those who continue to study science post-16 have sufficient knowledge and skills.

Special Educational Needs

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals panel have reviewed a decision under part (a) C and (b) D of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal (Amendment) Regulations 2002. [162114]

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Margaret Hodge [holding answer 17 March 2004]: Under regulation 37 of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal regulations 2001 parties may ask SENDIST to review a decision on the grounds that:

(a) its decision was wrongly made as a result of an error on the part of the tribunal staff;

(b) a party, who was entitled to be heard at the hearing but failed to appear or to be represented, had good and sufficient reason for failing to appear;

(c) there was an obvious error in the decision; or

(d) the interests of justice require.

The Tribunal does not hold comprehensive statistics on the grounds for review hearings. However, it has identified four cases since September 2002 in which panels have reviewed decisions because they might have included obvious errors. Over the same period panels have reviewed five decisions because the interests of justice appeared to require it.

Special School Teachers

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of the reasons for the change in teacher numbers in special schools between 2001 and 2002. [162680]

Mr. Miliband: Between January 2001 and January 2002 the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers employed in maintained special schools in England fell from 14,330 to 14,320. This reflected a fall in full-time equivalent pupil numbers from 89,780 to 88,740 over the same period.

Teachers/Teaching Assistants (Staffordshire)

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers there were in (a) Staffordshire and (b) the Burton constituency in each of the last seven years. [161844]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the full time equivalent number of regular teachers in service in the maintained sector in (a) the former Staffordshire local education authority area and (b) Burton constituency in each year between 1997 and 2003, the latest year for which information available.

	Staffordshire	Burton Constituency
1997	1,260	120
1998	1,420	135
1999	1,510	157
2000	1,650	180
2001	1,900	204
2002	1,780	221
2003	2,380	301

Source:

Form 618g survey of teacher numbers and vacancies for local education authority data and Annual Schools' Census for constituency data.

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants there were in (a) Staffordshire and (b) the Burton constituency in each of the last seven years. [161843]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the full time equivalent number of teaching assistants in service in maintained schools in (a) the former Staffordshire local

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education authority area and (b) Burton constituency in each year between 1997 and 2003, the latest year for which information is available.

	Staffordshire	Burton constituency
1997	8,510	894
1998	8,410	902
1999	8,590	920
2000	8,650	928
2001	8,720	936
2002	8,870	962
2003	9,140	968

Source:

Annual Schools Census.

UKeU

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on UKeU; and what discussions took place between UKeU and the Open University before it was launched. [162513]

Alan Johnson: The Government have provided £62 million to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for the eUniversities project. I understand HEFCE has provided £32.6 million to date to the eLearning Holding Company for investment in UKeU. A further £7 million has been used for the set up of the project and various public good programmes for the support of e-learning in higher education institutions.

The eUniversities project was overseen from its outset by the HEFCE working in partnership with other funding bodies and the UK higher education sector. It was steered by a group with a wide representation from the HE sector, and the then Vice-Chancellor of the Open University was a special adviser to that group. The Open University, working with Cambridge University, was also one of UKeU's first pilot providers and is engaged in the eChina programme managed by UKeU.

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students have enrolled in UKeU since it was launched; and what the average cost has been of educating each student. [162514]

Alan Johnson: Students are enrolled in programmes provided by UK higher education institutions through UKeU. As at November 2003, I understand that 900 students were enrolled.

The £32 million invested to date through the Holding Company in UKeU has mainly supported the creation of an infrastructure to underpin e-learning in UK higher education institutions, rather than individual courses, whose costs per student vary according to their subject and content.

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will merge UKeU with the Open University. [162515]

Alan Johnson: The future business direction and structure of UKeU is a matter for its board, taking into account the views of its major shareholder (the Holding Company—representing the views of the UK higher education sector) and its major funder, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE is currently holding restructuring discussions

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with the boards of UKeU and the eLearning Holding Company, to identify the best way forward to secure value from the venture for the higher education sector.

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