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15 Jun 2004 : Column 919W—continued

Examination Boards

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Romford of 4 May 2004, Official Report, column 1424W, on examination boards, how the £100 million will be allocated over the next two years in order to ensure the modernisation and safe delivery of the examination system. [177887]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 14 June 2004]: The money has been allocated to the examinations modernisation programme as follows:
£ million

	2004–05	2005–06
Increasing examiner fees and improving marking quality	24	24
Securing improved and consolidated physical logistics	7	6
Reducing the administrative burden on exams offices	5	6
Improving exams office procedures and equipment	10	7
Improving use of technology in exams administration	8	3

Examination Entries

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent by schools on examination entries in each year since 1997. [177884]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 14 June 2004]: In 2002–03, maintained primary, secondary and special schools in England spent £155 million on examination fees. This covers the costs of test and examination entry fees and any accreditation costs related to pupils, and includes GCSEs, A/AS levels and GNVQs.

It was only in 2002–03 that the Department began collecting information in sufficient detail to answer this question. Therefore, no comparable data is available for previous years.

Further Education (Staff)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by further education colleges in each year since 1995. [177260]

Alan Johnson: The information requested is routinely published by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in Staff Statistics. These volumes can be downloaded from the LSC website:

http://www.lsc.gov.uk/National/Partners/Data/Statistics/StaffStatistics/StaffStatistics.htm.

A paper copy of the most recent edition of "Staff Statistics" will be placed in the Library.

Learning and Skills Council (Merseyside)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills why the Learning and Skills Council on Merseyside has not informed the further education colleges of their 2004–05 budget. [177264]

 
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Alan Johnson: The Learning and Skills Council has delayed confirming the allocation of budgets to further education colleges for the academic year starting in August 2004 while it concludes an assessment of its budget commitments in the financial year 2004–05. I expect that the LSC will shortly be in a position to conclude its allocation process.

Learning and Skills Development Agency

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will list the work carried out by the Learning and Skills Development Agency on behalf of the (a) Learning and Skills Council and (b) Government; [177684]

(2) if he will make a statement on the budget of the Learning and Skills Development Agency. [177683]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Development Agency. Chris Hughes, the Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Gentleman with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Office for Fair Access

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the planned (a) full-time equivalent headcount and (b) funding allocations for the Office for Fair Access are in each of the first three years of its existence. [178205]

Alan Johnson: As we set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment which we republished on 1 April 2004, we estimate the cost of the Office for Fair Access will average around £500,000 per year, which includes staffing needs. The Office has not yet been established and it is not possible at this stage to provide a full-time equivalent headcount.

Overseas Universities (UK)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many overseas universities accredited outside the UK were operating in the UK in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [178147]

Alan Johnson: These figures are not kept centrally. Overseas universities accredited outside the UK are free to offer their own awards in the UK provided that they make it clear that in doing so they are not offering qualifications from a UK institution and that accreditation is from overseas. Overseas universities wishing to operate campuses in the UK must apply to the Privy Council Office for permission to use university title for that operation in the UK.

Performance Tables

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total cost was of producing and publishing the most recent (a) primary school performance tables of achievements in Key Stage 2 tests, (b) secondary school performance tables of
 
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achievements in Key Stage 3 tests, (c) secondary school performance tables of achievements in GCSE examinations and vocational qualifications, (d) school and college performance tables of achievements in A/AS examinations and vocational qualifications, (e) pilot tables testing the calculation and presentation of a Key Stage 2-GCSE/GNVQ value added measure and (f) pilot tables testing the reporting of achievements in all approved qualifications at age 16 years. [177885]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 14 June 2004]: The costs of producing and publishing the most recent (2003) school and college performance tables were as follows:

	£ million
(a) Primary school performance tables of achievements in Key Stage 2 tests	0.47
(b) Secondary school performance tables of achievements in Key Stage 3 tests 1/2
(c) Secondary school performance tables of achievements in GCSE examinations and vocational qualifications	1.66
(d) School and college performance tables of achievements in A/AS examinations and vocational qualifications1/2
(e) Pilot tables testing the calculation and presentation of a Key Stage 2-GCSE/GNVQ value added measure	0.10
(f) Pilot tables testing the reporting of achievements in all approved qualifications at age 16	0.11

Notes:
1. The figures shown above are programme costs and do not include departmental staff costs.
2. The costs for QCA's data collection are not included in the figures shown above.
3. The secondary school performance tables of achievements in Key Stage 3 tests, the secondary school performance tables of achievements in GCSE examinations and vocational qualifications and the school and college performance tables of achievements in A/AS examinations and vocational qualifications are managed as one exercise so there are no separate costings.

Post-16 Education

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase the staying on rate of children over the age of 16 years. [177871]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are tackling the causes of low participation at post-16 through our 14–19 strategy by providing a more flexible, coherent and better quality 14–19 curriculum; quality advice and guidance; and additional financial support.

This includes: offering greater flexibility at Key Stage 4 and more vocational subjects at GCSE; introducing an entitlement to an apprenticeship place for all 16 to 17 year olds with five GCSEs at grades A-G, including Maths and English, from September 2004; and providing impartial advice and guidance to 13 to 19 years olds through our national Connexions Service. We have also introduced Education Maintenance Allowances across the country from September 2004, after extensive piloting which showed a strong impact on participation rates, increased participation among the eligible group of 5.9 percentage points.

The Working Group on 14–19 Reform, led by Mike Tomlinson, is seeking to tackle low post-16
 
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participation and achievement. In their interim report, published in February, they propose a diploma framework consisting of high-quality programmes and progression opportunities so that young people are motivated to continue learning. The final report is expected in the autumn.

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