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BACS

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress his Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164316]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills recognise that we must upgrade to BACSTEL-IP well before the December 2005 deadline. We are in the process of upgrading our central finance system, with an expected "go live" date of 5 July 2004. The BACSTEL-IP upgrade was excluded from the scope of that project as we did not want to introduce unnecessary additional risk. It will, however, be taken forward with Barron McCann (our current BACS software provider) as a priority upgrade towards the end of this calendar year.

Education Building Development Conference

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will place in the Library the presentation made by Mr. Robert Osborne at the Conference for the Education Building Development Officer Group in 2003. [173137]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 13 May 2004]: Copies of the presentation made by Mr. Robert Osborne at the Conference for the Education Building Development Officer Group in 2003 have been placed in the House Libraries.

Further Education

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time places there were for 16 to 19-year-olds in London further education colleges in each of the past five years. [175208]

Alan Johnson: Information on the number of available places in Greater London further education colleges is not held centrally. Information on learners is held centrally however, though only for 16 and 17-year-olds.

The numbers of 16 and 17-year-old learners in further education colleges, living in London, from end 1997 to end 2001 (the latest available year) are given in Table 1. The numbers shown in the table are snapshot information as at the end of the calendar years.
 
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Table 1

Greater London	End 1997	End 1998	End 1999	End 2000	End 2001
Full-time education
Sixth form colleges	12,400	12,500	13,200	13,300	13,600
Other further education colleges(7)	41,200	40,600	40,100	40,700	41,800
Part-time education
Sixth form colleges	200	200	200	200	300
Other further education colleges	8,000	7,600	7,900	7,800	7,500

⁽⁷⁾   These figures include those participating in government supported work-based learning (WBL).

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people in (a) Taunton and (b) Somerset he expects to stay on in education as a result of the introduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance. [175621]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We estimate there will be about 2,800 extra 16-year-olds in the South West Region in further education this September who would not be participating without EMA. We are unable to provide forecasts of the number of EMA students down to constituency level.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of people in Ryedale that he expects to remain in full-time education as a result of the introduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance. [175817]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We estimate there will be about 2,800 extra 16-year-olds in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region in further education this September who would not be participating without EMA. We are unable to provide forecasts of the number of EMA students down to constituency level.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will bring levels of funding for 16 to 19-year-old students at further education colleges in North Yorkshire up to the level of funding for such students at schools in the county. [175815]

Alan Johnson: The Government have set out their investment plans for 2003–04 to 2005–06 to support their Success for All strategy to reform further education and training. These plans enable the Learning and Skills Council to increase funding for further education significantly. For the academic year 2003/04, core funding rates per qualification increased by 3 per cent. for school sixth forms and 4.5 per cent. for further education colleges (setting aside the impact on rates of changes to targeted funds for pay and staff training and teachers' pension funding). Our expenditure plans to 2005–06 should see that trend continue.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will provide extra funding to further education colleges in North Yorkshire to support increases in student numbers resulting from the    introduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance. [175816]

Alan Johnson: The Department allocates funds for education and training in the post-16 learning and skills sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC decides on allocations at individual college and regional level. Information about these allocations is not collected by the Department. This is a matter for the
 
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LSC. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Gentleman with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to provide funding to further education colleges in North Yorkshire to help them to refurbish and rebuild college buildings. [175818]

Alan Johnson: All of the Department's post-16 learning and skills sector capital investment is allocated to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The Department does not provide a specific budget to the LSC for rebuilding and refurbishing property in further education colleges at either the local or regional levels. It is for the LSC to determine for itself the right level of capital investment in further education colleges. Mr. Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

School Access Fund

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much of the School Access Fund was spent on improving (a) physical access to school buildings and (b) access to the curriculum in the most recent year for which figures are available. [175237]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 24 May 2004]: This information is not collected centrally. It is for local education authorities to decide which of the capital projects proposed by their schools should be supported in the light of local needs and circumstances detailed in their Accessibility Strategy.

Local authorities' accessibility strategies and schools plans should cover all three strands of the planning duties they have under part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995: to improve the physical environment of the school; increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum and improve the delivery of information to disabled pupils. Local authorities have a duty to make their strategies available for inspection to interested parties at reasonable times and maintained schools also have a duty to publish their accessibility plans in their governor's report to parents.

When Ofsted inspects schools, they report on how well they include all pupils within the school and how well they carry out their statutory duties, including accessibility planning under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance has been issued to (a) local education authorities and (b) schools on the use of the School Access Fund. [175238]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 24 May 2004]: Guidance has been issued to local education authorities to indicate the scope of the capital projects they should support to improve the accessibility of the mainstream schools for disabled pupils. Information on the Schools Access Initiative, including the guidance, is also available on our website www.teachetnet.gov.uk/accessibleschools.
 
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It is for local education authorities to determine how they will allocate the funding made available to them in the light of local needs and circumstances detailed in their Accessibility Strategy and make that information available to the schools they are responsible for.

As part of the implementation of the SEN Strategy: Removing Barriers to Achievement, the Department is developing a self-review and development tool to help local authorities review their accessibility strategies in partnership with pupils, parents and schools and identify ways of further improving the quality of their planning and significantly increasing access to education for disabled pupils.

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