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School Choice

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the national cohort of students were admitted to their first choice secondary school in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by local education authority. [174864]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is not collected centrally.

School Meals (Stroud)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children received free school meals in the constituency of Stroud in each year since 1997 for which figures are available. [174835]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Tables giving requested free school meals information for all parliamentary constituencies have been placed in the House of Commons Library. Further details on the 2004 provisional figures on free school meals by local education authority can be found on http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000457/index. shtml.

Schools (Capital Investment)

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2004, Official Report, column 710W, on schools (capital investment), whether all wave one plans will need to include provision for a city academy prior to approval by the Department. [175234]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 24 May 2004]: Academies—and new or reformed schools including academy features—should form a key part of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) plans, whether the replacement or improvement of failing or weaker schools, or the creation of new schools. The Government expect local projects to provide a proper evaluation of academy options; such reform is critical to demonstrate the expected impact on educational standards of large-scale capital investment. We also encourage local education authorities to engage directly with potential academy sponsors as part of the BSF preparation and evaluation.
 
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Schools (Computers)

Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been spent on computers for schools in Blackpool North and Fleetwood in each of the last seven years. [176202]

Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department does not collect information on school spend on computers at constituency level. However, Blackpool North and Fleetwood is in Blackpool LEA and in the last seven years schools in Blackpool have benefited from the following funding through the Standards Fund grant for ICT (including match funding from the LEA):

	Allocation to Blackpool LEA (£)
1998–99	233,891
1999–2000	376,443
2000–01	471,538
2001–02	531,056
2002–03	750,176
2003–04	774,460
2004–05	1,021,894

Special Educational Needs

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2004, Official Report, column 712W, on special educational needs, what steps he is taking to ensure that teachers who qualified more than five years ago have appropriate training to identify and to respond to the special needs of children in school settings. [174880]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 21 May 2004]: All teachers, irrespective of when they qualified, are expected to identify their developmental needs through performance management arrangements, and to address identified needs, including improving their teaching skills in the area of special educational needs, by undertaking appropriate professional development.

SEN training needs can be identified by using the 'National SEN Specialist Standards' published by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) in December 1999, which covers the key outcomes, the professional knowledge and understanding, and skills and attributes required, and the key areas of their role and responsibilities. The TTA have also produced a related CD-ROM, 'Identifying your Training Needs for Teaching Pupils with SEN', released in February 2002.

All schools receive a School Development Grant which they are able to use to support improvements in any aspect of teaching and learning. Local authorities may retain a proportion of this grant, under certain conditions, to provide specific training and development for SEN.

How far a school provides for pupils with SEN will be assessed as part of the usual school inspection arrangements made by the Office for Standards in Education.

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his policy on the inclusion of pupils with special needs in mainstream schools. [175997]

 
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are firmly committed to the principle of inclusion and an increasing proportion of children with special educational needs attend mainstream schools. Special schools will continue to have an important role in meeting need both in their own right and in partnership with local mainstream schools.

Work Permits

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) representations he has received and (b) discussions he has had with representatives from the governments of (i) India, (ii) Jamaica, (iii) China, (iv) Russia, (v) South Africa and (vi) Zimbabwe about the issuing of work permits to workers from those countries to work in the UK education sector; and if he will make a statement. [175718]

Mr. Miliband: I have neither received any representations from, nor had any discussions with, these Governments in connection with work permits.

HEALTH

Care Homes

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 13 May 2004, Official Report, columns 576–77W, on care homes, how many care homes were closed in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04, due to an anonymous complaint; and if he will make a statement. [175174]

Dr. Ladyman: I understand from the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) that the information requested is not collected in the form requested. Care homes may close for a number of reasons, including as a result of enforcement action by CSCI or by the provider voluntarily deregistering the service. Complaints may only be one of a number of circumstances which lead to a home closing. It would not therefore be possible or accurate to ascribe reasons for home closure directly to complaints.

Drug Labelling

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made since the Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin report of 2001 to ensure that all new drugs are labelled with a black triangle warning. [174476]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The black triangle scheme is intended to facilitate the intensive monitoring of new medicines for which there is relatively limited safety data available. A black triangle symbol is used in the product information to identify the medicines for which the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) request health professionals to report all suspected adverse reactions rather than serious reactions alone. This is a voluntary scheme and, while
 
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use of the symbol is not a legal requirement, it is expected that marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) will use the black triangle symbol where requested to do so by the MHRA.

Following the publication of a survey in Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin in 2001 entitled, "Failings in treatment advice, SPCs and black triangles", the MHRA formally reviewed the use of the black triangle symbol on product information. Companies were requested to submit summaries of product characteristics (SPCs) and promotional material for their products under intensive monitoring and it was subsequently found that approximately 9 per cent. did not display the symbol on their material. Importantly, the review found that all black triangle products had the symbol routinely displayed in the British National Formulary (BNF) and the monthly index of medical specialities (MIMS). These publications are widely used by health professionals when prescribing medicines. This was due to active liaison between the MHRA and MIMS and the BNF. During the review, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry was also contacted and undertook to inform new companies of the scheme.

As a routine measure, the advertising unit at the MHRA reviews advertisements for new products in a selection of key published journals, and the assessment includes checking to see if the black triangle symbol is displayed. In accordance with published criteria, the unit may also ask a company to submit all promotional material to the MHRA for pre-vetting. Any omission of the black triangle symbol is brought to the immediate attention of the company, who would be asked to re-submit an amended advertisement. In general, companies are found to comply with the scheme for incorporating the black triangle symbol on their promotional material.

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