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19 Apr 2004 : Column 41W—continued
Headquarters Staff
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made in reducing the number of headquarters staff since the Budget. [165022]
Alan Johnson: The reduction in the number of head office posts is due to take place over the next four years to 2008. The Department is currently planning how to take the reductions forward as part of its aim to transform the way it does its business. By the end of this April it will provide staff with more detail about these plans and the HR policies it will be putting in place to support the transition.
Healthy Eating
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department spent to promote healthy eating among children aged under 16 years in each of the last five years. [165024]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: We have allocated over £5 million a year to local education authorities to promote healthy schools including healthy eating and they are free to supplement these allocations from other budgets supported by revenue support grant.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of links between a healthy diet and (a) educational attainment and (b) behaviour in schools. [165028]
Mr. Stephen Twigg:
The Department for Education and Skills has made no assessment of the links between a healthy diet, and education attainment and behaviour, in schools. This Department works closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), who provide information to the public and Government on food safety, nutrition and diet. We have a formal agreement with FSA that requires them to inform us, without delay, of any information on food safety, nutrition and diet that requires us to take action.
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Higher Education
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the financial impact of the proposed higher education reforms on graduates of medical courses from different socio-economic backgrounds. [165426]
Alan Johnson: During the first four years of their courses medical students have the same student support as any other eligible higher education students; and pay the same contributions to fees. The Government have made a number of proposals to safeguard access to higher education for those from low income families. Around three in ten students will receive means tested maintenance grants of £2,700, and over half will be eligible for full or partial grants, as well as bursaries and other support from universities under arrangements agreed by the Office of Fair Access.
Fees for English domiciled medical students in years 5 and 6 are currently paid by the Department of Health. These students also qualify for means tested NHS bursaries in their fifth and subsequent years of study. Department of Health Ministers have indicated that they will, if necessary, take measures to ensure that any increase in the level of tuition fees will not have an adverse impact on the supply, retention, diversity or quality of students on health professional courses, including medicine.
Under our proposals, arrangements for repayment of non means tested fee loans will, for all graduates, be heavily subsidised: graduates will repay their loans at zero real rate of interest and only when their income exceeds £15,000 per year. Repayments will then be made at a rate of 9 per cent. of income above £15,000. According to Graduate Prospects, GPs can expect to earn in excess of £46,000 a year at the start of their careers. This compares very favourably with the salaries of other newly qualified graduates.
The Gateways to the Professions Review under Sir Alan Langlands will look at how the public sector and the professions, including medicine, can sustain and improve recruitment opportunities for graduates, especially those who do not qualify for the full £3,000 grant and bursary support. It will report by mid-2005.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of school leavers in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough went on to higher education in each year since 1997. [162334]
Alan Johnson: The available information is taken from the Universities and college Admissions service (UCAS) and covers 18 year old applicants accepted through UCAS to full time first degree and HND courses. Figures are given in the table.
(34) The effect of year on year fluctuations on a small population mean this method of calculating participation rates is unreliable for the City of London.
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Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he has undertaken a gender impact assessment of the latest pay proposals for higher education staff. [164768]
Alan Johnson: As independent and autonomous bodies, higher education institutions are responsible for their own academic and administrative affairs, including pay for their staff. Institutions must decide for themselves the level of evaluation they wish to undertake on the impact of the new pay proposals.
Learning Disabled Children
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of learning disabled children aged (a) between five and 10 years, (b) between 11 and 15 years and (c) between 16 and 20 years also have a physical disability. [165539]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not available centrally.
Information on special educational needs by type of special educational need was collected for the first time in January 2004 and provisional data will be available at the end of April.
Literacy Strategy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role phonics play in the Literacy Strategy at Key Stages (a) 1 and (b) 2. [165291]
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Mr. Stephen Twigg: The National Literacy Strategy puts phonics—both analytic and synthetic—at the heart of literacy teaching in Key Stages 1 and 2. It advocates a strong emphasis on word level work (particularly phonics) and guided reading in the early years, with a gradual shift to place more emphasis on sentence level work (particularly composition in writing) in Key Stage 2.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of phonics in the teaching of reading; and what guidance he has issued concerning its use in primary schools. [165322]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: From a position where many schools were teaching very little phonics, the National Literacy Strategy has transformed literacy teaching in primary schools. Its approach is soundly based on international research and best practice. The teaching of phonics has contributed to primary schools' achievement in maintaining world class standards, with tens of thousands more seven and 11-year-olds now achieving the expected level in reading for their age.
Guidance to teachers on the use of phonics is included in the strategy's framework for teaching and a supplement to the "Progression in Phonics" training material will be available for schools in the summer term.
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