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9 Jun 2004 : Column 461W—continued

Bureaucracy

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action has been taken in response to each recommendation in the report "Trust in the Future"—Bureaucracy Busting Task Force Report published in November 2002. [177374]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The implementation of the recommendations in this report is a matter for the LSC. Mark Haysom, the council's chief executive, will write to the hon. Gentleman on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

Following the publication last month of their final report, "Extending Trust" the Bureaucracy Task Force has wound up. Last year we established a formal gatekeeper group for the learning and skills sector, the Bureaucracy Review Group, chaired by Sir Andrew Foster and this group is taking work to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy forward. The group is reviewing the key drivers in the learning and skills sector delivery systems and considering all new and changing initiatives before they impact on providers so it can assess their likely impact and seek changes that will remove existing unnecessary burdens and ensure new ones are not created.

Centres of Vocational Excellence

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total expenditure on Centres of Vocational Excellence has been in each year since 1997. [176218]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Learning and Skills Council has made excellent progress in establishing a network of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). We aim to have a network of 400 CoVEs by March 2006. To date 262 centres have been established, which provide high quality training in a wide range of vocational specialisms to help meet employers' skills needs.

The programme started in April 2001. Expenditure in each year is:
£ million

Financial year	Total expenditure
2001–02	1.8
2002–03	40
2003–04	78
Total	119.8

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what cross-departmental
 
9 Jun 2004 : Column 462W
 
coordination there has been between the Learning Skills Council and the regional development agencies in the creation and administration of the centres of vocational excellence. [176902]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The LSC has actively sought to engage Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in CoVE development at both strategic and operational levels.

The RDAs contribute to future development of CoVEs through membership of the LSC's national CoVE Technical Steering Group, and all have been involved in planning and implementation of the programme at a regional level through their representation on regional CoVE advisory groups. RDAs are key to ensuring that CoVEs focus on meeting regional skills priorities and that regional CoVE development is coherent with regional economic strategies.

Computer File Formats

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's policy is in respect of the computer file formats used for the (a) distribution and (b) archiving of publicly available documents. [173355]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Department for Education and Skills adhere to the current Government guidelines for publishing documents on www.dfes.gov.uk and other departmental websites. Where possible, documents are provided in as many formats as possible to allow different users and systems access to the information.

Documents are available in the following formats:

Most commonly

HTML (web pages)

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

Microsoft Word (.doc)

Rich Text Format (.rtf).

Also used where appropriate

Microsoft Excel (.xls)

Comma Separated Variables (.csv)

Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)

Plain Text (.txt).

Out-of-date documents and pages on the DfES website are archived so they can be retrieved if needed. Publications that have been superseded by other information are noted as such.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many incidents of pupils being caught with (a) drugs and (b) alcohol on school premises were recorded in each year since 1997. [176622]

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

Education Funding (Brighton and Hove)

Mr. Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the funding per pupil was in the Brighton and Hove Local Education Authority in each year since 1997–98. [176575]

 
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Mr. Miliband: The tables as follows show total funding per pupil in Brighton and Hove since 1997–98.
Funding per pupil aged 3–19Real terms at 2002–03 pricesBrighton and Hove £

	Grants(31)	EFS/SSA(32)	Total funding
1997–98	120	2,860	2,980
1998–99	70	2,950	3,020
1999–00	160	2,980	3,140
2000–01	350	3,030	3,390
2001–02	440	3,100	3,530
2002–03	580	3,030	3,610
2003–04	530	3,140	3,670
2004–05	(31)—	3,250	(31)—

⁽³¹⁾ Not available

There have been changes to the structure of Education Formula Spending (EPS) and Standard Spending Assessments (SSA) which make them incomparable over time—for example several large transfers from SSA/EFS to grant funding. Only total funding per pupil (including SSA/EFS and grants) is comparable between years. The pensions transfers to EFS and LSC in 2003–04 and 2004–05 are excluded from EFS and total funding figures to enable comparison between years.

Language Training

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that non-English speaking spouses of UK citizens are given access to language training; and if he will make a statement. [176279]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision is a key part of Skills for Life: the Government's national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy. This provision is free to eligible learners and is widely available through further education colleges. A spouse of a UK citizen is eligible for Learning and Skills Council further education funding if they have been both married and resident in the UK for one year. These arrangements only apply to spouses from outside the European Union.

Learning and Skills Council

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has received in each of the last three years on Merseyside; how much funding the LSC will receive in the next three years; and if he will express the figures in (i) whole numbers and (ii) the percentage annual increase or decrease in funding over those periods. [177262]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. I have therefore asked Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, to write to the hon. Lady with the information requested and to place a copy of his reply in the Library.

Non-vocational Adult Learning Courses (Funding)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding was made available
 
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to support non-vocational adult learning courses (a) in this financial year and (b) in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement. [177569]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have set out separately in the following tables the figures for expenditure and numbers of learners in (i) adult and community learning and adult education courses run through local education authorities; (ii) learndirect; and (iii) Skills for Life. Together these equate most closely to non-vocational adult learning courses.

In the Skills Strategy White Paper, "21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential", Government reiterated and strengthened their commitment to adult and community learning. We will help adults improve their basic skills in literacy, language and numeracy. We are also committed to safeguarding a varied range of learning opportunities for personal fulfilment, community development and active citizenship.
Adult education classes

Financial year	Funding (£ million)(32)
2000–01	145
2001–02	153
2002–03	183
2003–04	206
2004–05	207.4

⁽³²⁾ Annual expenditure, by financial year, on adult and community learning run through local education authorities. The figures for 2002–03 and 2003–04 include the budgets for Neighbourhood Learning and family learning, starting from a nil base in 2001–02.



learndirect

Academic year	Funding (£ million)
2000/01	49
2001/02	134
2002/03	171
2003/04	164
2004/05	164

Skills for Life

Academic year	Funding (£ million)(33)
2000/01	165
2001/02	306
2002/03	409
2003/04	419
2004/05	430

⁽³³⁾ Annual expenditure by academic year, on adult basic skills. The figures for 2003/04 and 2004/05 are estimated figures rolled forward for inflation.

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