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State Schools

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many state schools there are; and of them, how many are voluntary-aided schools. [174733]

Mr. Miliband: The data requested are shown in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽²⁰⁾:Number of schools by status January 2004 (provisional v3) England

	Number of schools
	Primary	Secondary
Voluntary aided	3,748	554
Community	11,066	2,217
Voluntary controlled	2,584	124
Foundation	364	513
Total	17,762	3,408

⁽²⁰⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census

Final 2004 figures will be published in September.

Statistics

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 12 May 2004, Official Report, column 428W, on statistics, if he will list the percentage of those aged 16 to 18 years participating in education, training and employment by (a) labour market status and (b) gender for the last five years. [174758]

 
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: Estimates of 16 to 18 year olds participating in education and training by labour market status and by gender are shown in Table 1 and Table 2 for the latest two academic years, end 2001 and end 2002.

The figures in the tables are taken from the Statistical First Release (SFR) publication, SFR 31/2003, entitled 'Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16–18 year olds in England: 2001 and 2002', which was produced using post-Census population estimates. Historic population estimates are not yet available on a comparable basis and therefore participation rates are only available for the last two years and these estimates cannot be compared with those in previous SFRs which used pre-Census population estimates and projections.
Participation in education and training by labour market status and by gender for end 2001 and end 2002 (provisional) Table 1: End 2001    Percentage

Activity	Females	Males	All
In full-time education	59	53	56
In training(21)	17	21	19
In work (excluding those education and training)(22)	15	16	15
ILO Unemployed(23)	4	7	6
Inactive(24)	5	2	4
Total(25)	100	100	100

Table 2: End 2002 (provisional)    Percentage

Activity	Females	Males	All
In full-time education	60	53	57
In training(21)	16	20	18
In work (excluding those education and training)(22)	14	16	15
ILO Unemployed(23)	4	7	6
Inactive(24)	5	3	4
Total(25)	100	100	100

⁽²¹⁾ 'In training' includes those young people in work based learning (WBL), employer funded training (EFT) and other education and training (OET).
⁽²²⁾ Some young people in education and training will also be in employment. However, these numbers have not been included in the 'In work' figures.
⁽²³⁾ MLO unemployed1 covers anyone who is out of work and available to start work in the next two weeks, but has either looked for work in the last four weeks or is waiting to start a job they have already obtained.
⁽²⁴⁾ 'Inactive' includes those neither in employment nor ILO unemployed, that is—not active in the labour market.
⁽²⁵⁾ The totals are calculated from unrounded figures and so may not be the sum of the individual cells.

Student Loan Company

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the operation of computer software at the Student Loan Company; and whether potential applicants have been prevented from applying prior to the deadline due to operational problems. [176114]

Alan Johnson: We have been modernising the arrangements for the delivery of higher education student finance over recent years. Central to this modernisation is the new IT system, implemented by the Student Loans Company, which LEAs are now using to assess and process paper applications. There have been
 
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some teething problems with the system, which you would expect with an IT project of this size and complexity. However, at this stage we have no strong concerns that students who apply on time will not receive payment at the start of term. We are of course monitoring the situation closely.

The intention was that the new IT system would also provide a service for students to make their applications on-line from this April. However, in order to give the national launch of the new IT system in LEAs the best chance of success, we have decided to delay the introduction of this service. This reflects the fact that this year we had always expected the vast majority of students to apply using paper forms. Postponing the launch of the online facility has not prevented in anyway students from making applications for support on-time as paper application forms have been made readily available to them as in previous years. We remain committed to providing an on-line service in line with e-government targets.

Student Loans (Online Applications)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the start-up costs for enabling students to apply for student loans online are; and what the running costs will be in each year up to 2007–08. [176418]

Alan Johnson: The new higher education student finance IT system will not only provide an online application facility for students. The same system is also being used by local education authorities to assess and process paper applications from students and by the customer support office, operated by the Student Loans Company, to answer student queries. It is therefore not possible for us to provide separate figures for the development and running costs of the online facility as these costs are integral to the costs of the system as a whole.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the number of students who will apply for student loans online in each year up to 2007–08. [176419]

Alan Johnson: We are currently developing a strategy for the promotion of this online service in future years and would therefore expect the proportion of students making their applications online to increase over time. We will of course continue to provide a service for students who wish to make their applications using a paper form.

Teachers (Brighton and Hove)

Mr. Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time equivalent teachers were working in schools in Brighton and Hove in each year since 1996–97. [176576]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been published in table A2 of the School Workforce in England volume, 2003 edition. A copy of this has been placed in the House of Commons Library. The volume can also be accessed from the following URL: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/VOL/v000443/index. shtml
 
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Tuition Fees

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many undergraduate students from (a) Taunton constituency and (b) Somerset are attending university; and how many of these undergraduate students pay (i) no tuition fee and (ii) a partial tuition fee. [175622]

Alan Johnson: In England and Wales, students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families are expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition only if they can afford to do so.

For entry in 2002, there were 2,710 applicants domiciled in Somerset LEA who were accepted through UCAS to full-time first degree and HMD courses at UK institutions. Data on the number of students from the constituency of Taunton attending university are not available.

The number and percentages of students in England and Wales in academic year 2002/03 (latest year for which data are available) who have been assessed to make a nil or partial contribution towards the cost of their tuition are shown in the table:
England and Wales: Academic year 2002/03 (provisional)

	Student support scheme student numbers (000)(26)	Student support scheme students (%) 1
Nil contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/ partner(27)	330	43
Partial contribution towards the cost of tuition from student/parents/spouse/ partner	116	15

⁽²⁶⁾ Contributions towards the cost of tuition are assessed by local education authorities in England and Wales for students normally domiciled in their area and studying in the UK.
⁽²⁷⁾ Includes students on courses where the fee support was not subject to income-assessment (e.g. PGCE courses, and some other ITT courses; and designated courses at private institutions).
Note:
National level data are published annually in the Departments Statistical First Releases (SFRs) (SFR 12/2004 for 2002/03).
Data are collected from the local education authorities (LEAs) to produce national estimates and the data collection exercise does not allow for the production of firm figures below this level. Therefore data by Constituency or local education authority are not available.
Source:
F503G survey of local education authorities

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