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School Provision

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidelines are in place to assist local education authorities plan future schools provision to take account of housing targets. [189540]

Mr. Miliband: It is the responsibility of each local education authority to plan school provision in its area taking account of changes in local population. The Department does not issue specific guidance on planning school provision to meet increases in housing, but does provide other guidance on the statutory processes for making changes to local school organisation and separate guidance on capital.

Proposals to provide new primary schools, or enlarge any existing schools, to meet population growth, must be subject to local consultation before being published. The final decision on the proposals will generally be taken by the local School Organisation Committee or, if they cannot agree unanimously, an independent adjudicator. Where an LEA proposes to establish a new secondary school they must publish details of the need for the school, inviting other promoters to submit proposals, and the Secretary of State will decide which of the proposals submitted should be approved.

The Department provides capital support for local authorities and schools to invest in school infrastructure, including for the provision of new pupil places. The Department allocates much of its capital resources to local authorities and schools by needs-related formulae, as they can best decide how to target their highest priority needs, in accordance with their asset management planning processes. Local authorities can also negotiate contributions from developers for new school provision, under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as substituted by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991). The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides guidance to local authorities about such agreements in its Circular 1/97.

Special Educational Needs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding has been made available to schools in Buckinghamshire from the special educational needs standard fund in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05. [189844]

Mr. Miliband: Buckinghamshire local education authority was allocated £638,603 in 2002–03, and £640,468 in 2003–04, through the Standards Fund for Special Educational Needs. This included Government grant of 50 per cent. and local authority contribution of 50 per cent. From 2004–05, the special educational needs grant was merged into a single School Development Grant. The grant was allocated to schools for use for any purpose to promote school improvement, including special educational needs. Buckinghamshire's allocation for School Development grant of £5.9 million included £666,087 notionally for special educational needs. The amount of grant allocated to Buckinghamshire's schools will depend on local decisions. In 2002–03 and 2003–04, local education authorities were permitted to use half of their special educational needs allocation for central provision. In 2004–05, authorities were allowed to retain the same
 
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cash amount from the School Development Grant as they had retained from the special educational needs grant in 2003–04.

Student Finances

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of students who received (a) maximum student loans and (b) student grants from the Government were from families where the parents are divorced in the last year for which figures are available. [190084]

Dr. Howells: Data relating to the marital status of students' parents are not currently available centrally.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount raised by higher education institutions from fees paid by part-time students in the last year for which figures are available. [190085]

Dr. Howells: The available information is taken from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Finance Record. In 2002/03, English HE institutions raised £385.6 million income from HE fees paid by part time UK and EU domiciled students. Of this, £181.7 million of income came from undergraduate fees and £203.9 million came from postgraduate fees. Figures for part time overseas domiciled students are not indicated separately.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount contributed to further education colleges by fee-paying students in the last year for which figures are available. [190086]

Dr. Howells: Information from the Learning and Skills Council, for the latest year available 2002–03 shows that tuition fee income collected by further education institutions from council funded adult students, their employers or other sources, was £155 million.

Surplus Places

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether permission for local authorities to amend their formulae for distributing funds to schools will depend on the progress they are able to make in reducing surplus places following the abolition of the surplus places rules. [189750]

Mr. Miliband: Local education authorities do not need permission to amend their formulae for distributing funds to schools. They are required to consult their schools and schools forum over any amendments they propose to make to the funding formula prior to the financial year in which such changes are introduced.

LEAs are responsible for planning school places in their area and have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient places and that high quality education is provided in a cost effective way. We expect LEAs to take parental preferences into account in the planning.
 
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Teacher Substitution

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching posts were (a) vacant and (b) filled by supply, temporary and agency teachers in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in the Buckinghamshire local education authority in January (A) 2002, (B) 2003 and (C) 2004. [189849]

Mr. Miliband: The table gives the total number of full-time vacancies and occasional teachers in service in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in Buckinghamshire local education authority in January 2002, 2003 and 2004.

	2002	2003	2004
Nursery and primary schools
Vacancies	16	5	2
Occasional teachers	50	30	30
Secondary schools
Vacancies	32	34	28
Occasional teachers	50	50	60

Source:
Form 618g survey.

Vacancies include all advertised posts of at least one term's duration excluding those covered by a teacher with a contract of a term of more.

Teachers in occasional service are all those in supply service or with a contract of less than one month, including those employed through an agency, who were employed for the whole of the survey date.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the security situation in Herat in Afghanistan following the recent violence directed towards UN buildings and staff. [189887]

Mr. Rammell: President Karzai removed Ismail Khan as Governor of Herat on 11 September. Ismail Khan was offered a ministerial post with the Afghan transitional administration in Kabul but has declined it, and currently remains in Herat as a private citizen. The announcement of his removal was followed by some local unrest in Herat, during which seven people reportedly died. UN buildings were targeted and some UN and NGO staff withdrew temporarily from the city. They have since returned. The new Governor has taken office, the Afghan National Army and police force are keeping order, and there have been no reports of further serious violent incidents.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with warlords in Afghanistan to establish their views on holding elections in Afghanistan. [190247]

Mr. Rammell: Arrangements for elections in Afghanistan have been agreed by the Afghan Transitional Administration in consultation with the UN. We are not aware of any consultations being held directly with warlords on this issue.
 
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Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the intention is that the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan will take place in all parts of the country; and if he will make a statement. [190248]

Mr. Rammell: The Afghan Government's expressed intention is to hold nationwide parliamentary elections in spring 2005. No further details have yet been announced.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate has been made of the number of warlords who control areas of Afghanistan; what discussions are taking place with these people; and if he will make a statement. [190249]

Mr. Rammell: Afghanistan is governed by the Afghan Transitional Administration. President Karzai has acted on a number of occasions to remove regional governors who were ineffective or who were not loyal to central Government. Regional military commanders or warlords are involved in the UN-led process to demobilise and disarm militias. Latest UN figures show that this largely consensual process has succeeded in disarming more than 20,000 militia personnel (which is around a third of the total) and removing around 60 per cent. of heavy weapons from militia control. Kabul was declared free of heavy weapons on 1 September.

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