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World Education Forum

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps have been taken to meet the UK's obligations arising from the agreement at the World Education Forum in Dakar in April 2000 to achieve primary education for all children by 2015. [170218]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Universal Primary Education by 2015 is the top priority of DFID's education programme and we are working closely with our
 
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international partners to achieve this. DFID is targeting countries with a high proportion of children out-of-school, such as Ethiopia, India and Bangladesh, and regions with a high number of countries with chronic levels of out-of-school children, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Progress has been made in many countries with global enrolment in primary education increasing from 596 million in 1990 to 648 million children in 2000. However, with over 100 million children still not currently enrolled in primary education, much still remains to be done.

In recognition of this, DFID has invested over £820 million in education in developing countries since 1997. DFID is increasing this investment and are planning to spend £1 billion from 2004–2008. In addition, DFID is providing £12 million to the World Bank Fast-Track Initiative Catalytic Fund for education. This will go to help a specific group of developing countries that need a quick injection of money to get their education systems up and running.

DFID is collaborating with a variety of partners to accelerate progress on girls' education, as girls are much more likely to be out-of-school than boys (over 50 per cent). DFID is working with the UN Girls' Education Initiative to ensure stronger collaboration and coordination among donors at the global and the national level. At the country level, DFID continues to prioritise support to those governments that give priority to primary education. For example, we are supporting the Kenyan Government, who have recently abolished school fees at primary level, to provide enough school places to keep up with demand and ensure that quality is sustained.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Academic Fellowship Scheme

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason the new academic fellowship scheme says in section 3.9 of the scheme document that a guarantee of a permanent position is an absolute condition of the award, and also insists in section 3.5 that those who have been promised a permanent position are considered to have achieved the aims of the scheme already and are not eligible. [167130]

Ms Hewitt: The Academic Fellowships are a direct response to the Roberts Review on "The supply of people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills". This report pointed to a lack of a clear career path for researchers and one of the primary aims of the scheme is to provide a transition between postdoctoral positions and academic posts. Government believes that a goal of a permanent academic post is necessary to improve recruitment and retention by providing the individual with a clear career trajectory and allowing for development needs to be addressed.

The statements to which my hon. Friend refers are not intended to be contradictory. The guarantee of a permanent position to be provided at the end of the five-year fellowship award (section 3.9) is a requirement on
 
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the host institution in order to provide a career path for the academic fellow. An award will not be made to an HEI without this guarantee being made.

The statement at section 3.5, however, refers to the eligibility of the individual candidate. We do not believe that it is appropriate that someone with a permanent position, or the promise of one, should undertake a further five years of training towards an academic position. A previous promise by an HEI to provide a permanent position to a researcher shows an existing commitment to the individual and therefore further support through the academic fellowships scheme is unnecessary.

Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what evaluation has been made of the ideal skills mix of the Board of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC); what the selection criteria are for members of the board how and by whom appointments are made; what contribution CCLRC has made to implementation of the recommendations of the North West Science and Daresbury development group; what input CCLRC has made to the North West Science Strategy; and what targets and milestones have been set by CCLRC to progress the strategy. [168584]

Ms Hewitt: A number of evaluations have been made of the template for Council membership in recent years, but, in terms of skills, the basic mix of academic user and industry representation has remained unchanged. Last year the number of members was increased to include a greater number of independent industry or user representatives. We intend to keep the template more generally under review. The Minister for Science makes all appointments to the Council on my behalf in accordance with the requirements of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. This is a competitive process overseen by a panel with independent members who recommend candidates who best fit the advertised role and person specification, drawn up in the light of CCLRC's assessment of its needs for expertise.

The CCLRC and the OST have invested £6 million and £8 million respectively, to progress the Energy Recovery LINAC project, providing the underpinning technology and design for a Fourth Generation Light Source (4GLS). This activity is based mainly at the CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory. CCLRC collaborated closely with the North West universities regarding the recently announced PPARC/CCLRC-supported Cockcroft Institute for Accelerator Science, also to be located at Daresbury. As a result, the CCLRC will co-locate its related accelerator science and technology research activity with the Cockcroft Institute. The results of a CCLRC/North West Development Agency joint-funded analysis of the opportunities for commercial exploitation of Daresbury Laboratory research, and the options for a proposed mixed-economy Daresbury Campus, have now been received. The latter activity will involve the North West Universities and industrial partners with the CCLRC, and the participants are seeking to establish a new "North West Science Partnership" by summer 2004.
 
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Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) has set for the commercial exploitation of intellectual property to stimulate regional growth in the North West; what CCLRC's vision is for collaboration with the North West Science Council; and how the CCLRC intends to work with the North West Regional Development Agency to generate regional economic growth. [168630]

Ms Hewitt: CCLRC seeks actively to develop exploitation routes for its research via its totally owned commercial exploitation company, CLIK, which was established in April 2002. Five new CLIK-generated high technology companies are already in the final stages of formation, three of which are based on research and associated technologies developed at the CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory. The CLIK business plan is based on the formation of three new CCLRC spin-out companies per year for each of the next five years.

CCLRC has interacted closely with the activities of the North West Science Council (NWSC) since its inception. The Director of the Daresbury Laboratory has been a member throughout this period, and he and his staff also maintain close relations with the NWDA. This has led already to the construction of two new NWDA-supported high technology buildings immediately adjacent to the DL site, on land previously owned by CCLRC, in order to provide easily accessible space for new high technology, spin-out companies and associated business support advisers. The CCLRC/NWDA interaction has also already led to the successful implementation of a number of major new joint-funded projects, which are or will be based at the DL/NWDA Campus including SUPERSTEM, the Energy Recovery Linac project and the new Cockcroft Accelerator Science Centre. Opportunities for new nanotechnology/nanoscience activities and also a new Centre for Instrumentation are also currently being explored.

Electricity Generation

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the associated backup costs for wind penetration of (a) 10 per cent., (b) 15 per cent. and (c) 20 per cent.; and what the assumptions are underpinning these estimates. [169778]

Mr. Timms: Estimates of the back-up costs of renewables, including wind power, were made in the report "Quantifying the System Costs of Additional Renewables in 2020" commissioned from consultants ILEX as part of the analysis for the February 2003 Energy White Paper. The report is available on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/developep/080scar   report   v2   0.pdf.

The report considered the additional costs associated with increasing the proportion of renewables generation to 20 per cent. and 30 per cent. by 2020.

Table 12 of the report indicates that the back-up costs of wind power, in terms of generating capacity and system balancing would be of the order of £6 to £7 per
 
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MWh of wind generation. Details of the assumptions used and the analysis applied are contained in the report.

Estimates have not been made for lower penetrations of renewables. However, the report indicates that back-up costs associated with wind are less than £1 per MWh higher in scenarios where renewables reach 30 per cent. of generation, compared with scenarios where renewables reach 20 per cent. of generation.

Under the electricity trading arrangements, generators have strong financial incentives to deliver the power they have contracted to sell to electricity suppliers.

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the backup costs for electricity generated from (a) wind energy and (b) nuclear power. [169779]

Mr. Timms: Estimates of the back-up costs of renewables, including wind power, were made in the report "Quantifying the System Costs of Additional Renewables in 2020" commissioned from consultants ILEX as part of the analysis for the February 2003 Energy White Paper. The report is available on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/developep/080scar   rcport   v2   0.pdf.

Table 12 of the report indicates that the back-up costs of wind power, in terms of generating capacity and system balancing would be of the order of £6 to £7 per MWh of wind generation in 2020. Details of the assumptions used and the analysis applied are contained in the report.

Estimates of the back-up costs of nuclear power have not been made.

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