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School Standards

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools were classified as failing in each year since 1996–97 in (i) Greater London and (ii) each London borough. [177041]

Mr. Miliband: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, David Bell, will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of his letter in the Library.
 
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Secondary Schools

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many secondary schools are located in the 2000 most deprived local authority wards; and how many of these have specialist school status. [176897]

Mr. Miliband: There are 974 maintained secondary schools (excluding special schools and middle-deemed secondary schools) in the 2000 most deprived local authority wards, based on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation released in 2000. Of these, 384 are operational as specialist schools.

Sector Skills Councils

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) set up and (b) estimated running costs in the first year of operation are of each sector skills council. [177379]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are private sector organisations. With one exception they are companies limited by guarantee. Their structures and costs are determined by the specific sectors they serve and vary significantly.

We do not have detailed information about individual SSC costs. The Government, through the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), will provides up to £400,000 towards the start up of each SSC and once licensed £4,000,000 towards their running costs for the first three years. These funds are not intended to cover all the costs of an SSC and each is expected to generate significant additional funding from their sector and elsewhere.

Teachers' TV

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether further education lecturers will be included in Teachers' TV at its launch; and if he will make a statement. [177004]

Mr. Miliband: The Department has undertaken a feasibility study and pilot for Teachers' TV and will make a decision on a channel launch shortly. As part of this work, we have looked at how the channel could support the needs of people in both Early Years and the Further Education sector, as well as people who work in schools. If the channel proceeds it will have some programmes aimed at meeting the needs of FE lecturers.

Truancy (Penalty Notices)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times head teachers and education welfare officers have enforced their right to
 
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issue on-the-spot fines to parents of pupils who truant; and what the total revenue gained from payment of such fines is. [176799]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: This initiative commenced on 27 February 2004 and information about the number of penalty notices issued for truancy or the revenue gained from payment of such fines is not collected centrally.

Veterinary Nursing Training (Funding)

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) for what reasons some learning and skills councils decline to fund veterinary nursing NVQ training; [177211]

(2) which local learning and skills councils fund veterinary nurse training through work-based learning funding; [177212]

(3) what the policy of the Learning and Skills Councils is on the funding of Veterinary Nursing NVQ training levels 2 and 3; [177399]

(4) how further education training courses for veterinary nursing are funded in England. [177447]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is responsible for the planning and funding of further education and work-based learning for young people in England and decides whether it will fund individual qualifications through its national funding methodology. As the information requested relates to the LSC's operational responsibilities, the LSC's Chief Executive, Mark Haysom, will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

TRANSPORT

A1

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the traffic volumes at (a) the A1 Tyne crossing Newcastle, (b) the West Road A1 Interchange, (c) the Stainfordham Road A1 Interchange, (d) the Ponteland Road A1 Interchange, (e) the North Gosforth A1 Interchange and (f) the A1/A19 Interchange north of Newcastle have been in each year since 1997. [176225]

Mr. Jamieson: Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) volumes at those locations nearest to (a) the Al Tyne Crossing Newcastle, (b) the West Road Al Interchange, (c) the Stamfordham Road Al Interchange, (d) the Ponteland Road Al Interchange, (e) the North Gosforth Al Interchange, and (f) the A1/A19 Interchange north of Newcastle in each year since 1997, where figures are available, are given in the table. Figures for 2003 have not yet been published.

Location	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
(a) Al Tyne Crossing, Newcastle	81,700	83,000	86,100	83,200	81,900	89,000
(b) North East of West Road A1 Interchange	79,200	81,000	84,400	77,500	86,400	87,400
(c) and (d) North East of Stamfordham Road Al Interchange	73,400	76,000	78,000	78,000	70,300	—
(e) South West of North Gosforth A1 Interchange	57,000	59,100	61,000	59,900	62,500	64,900
(f) South of A1/A19 Interchange North of Newcastle	46,600	47,700	48,300	48,300	49,400	49,400

 
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A595

Dr. Jack Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made in the preparation and design of the Lillyhall to Parton improvement on the A595 in West Cumbria; when comments on the draft orders will be considered; whether the scheme can be amended as a result; and if he will make a statement. [177100]

Dr. Howells: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer of 12 January 2004, Official Report, column 545W. Since then, work has concentrated on preparing the draft orders under the Highways Act, and the accompanying Environmental Statement. This work is largely complete and these documents will be published later this year. This will mark the beginning of statutory procedures, during which time the public and those directly affected will have the opportunity to make representations to the Secretaries of State on the proposals. If necessary, a public inquiry will be held before an independent inspector to hear representations. Following the public inquiry, the inspector can recommend to the Secretaries of State that the draft orders be amended in the light of the public inquiry findings. On-going scheme progress would depend on the extent and scale of any such amendments and could require the re-publication of draft orders and another public inquiry.

Bus/Cycle Lanes (Bury, North)

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the total number of (a) bus lanes and (b) cycle lanes designated on roads in Bury, North constituency in each of the last 10 years. [176700]

Mr. McNulty: The number of bus lanes and cycle lanes designated on roads in Bury, North constituency in each of the last 10 years are tabled as follows:

	Number of cycle lanes	Number of bus lanes
1995	0	0
1996	2	1
1997	2	0
1998	1	0
1999	2	0
2000	0	0
2001	1	0
2002	3	0
2003	0	0
2004	1	0
Cumulative total	12	1

Freshford Station

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what meetings (a) he and (b) his ministerial colleagues and officials (i) have held and (ii) plan to hold with representatives of (A) Network Rail, (B) the Health and Safety Executive and (C) other interested parties, with regard to Freshford station near Bath; and if he will make a statement; [177497]

(2) what assessment he has made of (a) the safety and accessibility of the station platform at Freshford station, Bath, (b) progress with the proposed changes to the platform and (c) the likely completion date of the changes; and if he will make a statement. [177498]

 
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Mr. McNulty: Ministers and officials have had no meetings with interested parties regarding Freshford station. However, the Government's independent health and safety rail regulator, the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) HM Railway Inspectorate (HMRI), has had a continued dialogue with Network Rail about their plans to raise a section of the platform at Freshford station near Bath. I understand that Network Rail will shortly provide further information to HMRI on plans to manage the risks from the operation of this scheme. This information will include how train operators plan to align train doors with the raised section of the platform. Once this information is received, HMRI anticipates being able to make a decision on Network Rail's proposal within a matter of days.

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