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Education Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will extend the education maintenance allowance to all full-time 16 to 19-year-old students regardless of family income. [184035]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We have no plans to do so. We are targeting EMA on young people who most need help to overcome financial barriers. Paying EMA to all young people in further education would increase the costs of the scheme by more than £220 million every year from when the scheme is fully rolled out.

Education Statements

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much Gloucestershire county council has spent on statementing children in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what the figures are for other shire counties; and if he will make a statement. [168062]

 
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Mr. Miliband [holding answer 23 April 2004]: The Department began collecting this information only in the 2004–05 financial year. The budget data for this year is being validated currently. I will write again to the hon. Member once this data is available.

Education Statistics (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent on supply teachers by (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in each London borough in each year since 1997; and what the average figures for a local education authority in England were in each year. [172803]

Mr. Miliband: The information is available for the 2002–03 financial year only and is contained within the following table:
Expenditure on supply teachers in primary and secondary schools in London LEAs in 2002–03 £000

	Amount spent on supply teachers
	Primary	Secondary
Barking/Dagenham	4,125	2,304
Barnet	2,868	2,445
Bexley	3,481	2,985
Brent	3,016	2,101
Bromley	2,816	1,363
Camden	1,839	1,474
Croydon	3,561	2,305
Ealing	3,281	2,292
Enfield	3,890	3,255
Greenwich	4,040	2,645
Hackney	4,941	1,961
Hammersmith and Fulham	1,680	1,172
Haringey	3,341	2,155
Harrow	2,967	1,579
Havering	2,592	2,413
Hillingdon	2,834	2,783
Hounslow	3,586	2,621
Islington	3,841	2,157
Kensington and Chelsea	1,287	881
Kingston	1,143	724
Lambeth	3,671	2,046
Lewisham	3,198	1,976
Merton	2,486	1,193
Newham	8,518	4,614
Redbridge	2,364	1,680
Richmond	1,147	1,463
Southwark	5,358	1,983
Sutton	1,982	1,101
Tower hamlets	7,267	2,823
Waltham Forest	4,143	2,508
Wandsworth	2,335	1,051
Westminster	2,176	2,353
England average (mean)	3,172	2,110

Notes:
Consistent Financial Reporting 2002–03, calculated by summing the fields E02 (supply teaching staff employed directly by the school), E10 (Supply teacher insurance) and E26 (Agency supply teaching staff) minus I10 (Receipts from supply teacher insurance claims).

Entrepreneurship Training

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what efforts his Department is making to enhance entrepreneurship skills training in UK schools. [183310]

 
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Mr. Charles Clarke: 171 Enterprise Pathfinder projects were approved to start during 2003–04, embracing nearly 500 secondary schools. A further 87 Pathfinders have just been approved, such that a total of over 700 secondary schools will be involved from this September. The new Enterprise Adviser service is working alongside head teachers in almost 1,000 schools in the most disadvantaged areas. All of this effort is leading to the production of national guidance to show schools the most effective ways of teaching enterprise. From September 2005 new funding of £60 million per annum will support a new focus on enterprise education in secondary schools. In particular the new resources will allow for an Enterprise Education entitlement to provide all Key Stage 4 pupils with the equivalent of five days' enterprise activity, which develops enterprise capability—innovation, creativity, risk-management and risk-taking, and financial and business understanding.

Exam Pass Marks

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes there have been to pass marks in (a) GCSEs and (b) A levels since 1997. [183341]

Mr. Miliband: Responsibility for the marking and grading of examinations in England lies with the three Unitary Awarding Bodies. The awarding bodies are regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and are accountable to the QCA for their performance which includes fulfilling the obligations placed on them by a Code of Practice. The code requires awarding bodies to follow common mechanisms for marking and awarding grades. Ken Boston, the Chief Executive of QCA will write to the hon. Member providing details of the mechanisms for marking and awarding grades since 1997 and a copy of the letter and the Code of Practice will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

FE Colleges

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students were offered places in further education colleges for 2003–04; how many students took up places at further education colleges in 2003–04; and how many students dropped out of further education colleges during the academic year 2003–04. [183642]

Alan Johnson: Information on the number of people offered places by further education colleges is not held centrally. The numbers of learners on Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funded Further Education (FE) provision are shown in the statistical first release (SFR) series, "Further Education and Work Based Learning for Young People—Learner Numbers in England", published in the LSC website: http://www.lsc.gov.uk/National/Documents/SubjectListing/SectorData/ StatisticalFirstReleases/default.htm.

As the academic year has not yet ended, learner numbers for the whole of 2003/04 are not available. However, at 1 November 2003, 2.15 million learners were enrolled on LSC funded FE provision (Source: ILR/SFR03). The corresponding figure for November
 
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2002 was 2.18 million and for 2002/03 as a whole there was a total of 3.91 million learners enrolled on LSC funded FE (Source: ILR/SFR02).

Learner outcomes data (success, retention and achievement rates) in LSC funded FE are published in the LSC SFR series "Further Education and Work Based Learning for Young People—Learner Outcomes in England", also available on the LSC website. Retention data for 2003/04 are not yet available. However, in 2002/03, the overall retention rate in LSC funded FE was 83 per cent. (Source: ILR/SFR04).

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether all further education colleges in the Devon and Cornwall Learning Skills Council region have received their funding allocation for 2004–05; and how many of these allocations were received (a) before and (b) after 31 May. [183750]

Alan Johnson: The Department allocates funds for education and training in the post-16 learning and skills sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The timing of funding allocations to colleges is an operational matter and is the responsibility of the LSC. Mark Haysom, the LSC's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether all people in the Devon and Cornwall Learning Skills Council region who wish to study for a basic skills qualification in a further education college in academic year 2004–05 are guaranteed a place; and if he will make a statement. [183760]

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.

HEIF2

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is for the HEIF2; and what the criteria will be for applying for funding. [183646]

Alan Johnson: HEIF is a jointly funded programme by OST and DfES. The total budget for HEIF2 is £187 million for years 2004–05 and 2005–06. The DfES share is £56 million.

All higher education institutions funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England were eligible to apply for funding to support activities which will increase their capability to respond to the needs of business (including companies of all sizes and sectors, and other bodies in the wider community), where this will lead to identifiable economic benefits. The detailed application process for HEIF2 is contained in the guidance document published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
 
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