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British Exhibition Contractors Association

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the requirement for exhibition contractors to be registered with the Construction Industry Training Board was last reviewed; and if he will make a statement. [187471]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have made it clear that I am prepared to review the position of exhibition contractors if the sector requests it. Advice has been given to the British Exhibition Contractors Association on the process but so far no formal request has been received.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussion he and his officials have held with the British Exhibition Contractors Association on the requirements by their members to be registered with the Construction Industry Training Board; and if he will make a statement. [187472]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Neither I nor my officials have had any recent discussion with the British Exhibition Contractors Association (BECA) on this issue. In March 2003 officials received an e-mail from the BECA advising of its intention to seek the removal of exhibition contracting from the scope of the Construction Industry Training Board. In response, officials outlined the process and the kind of information that would need to be provided to enable me to make a decision. We have heard nothing further from the association but my officials would be very happy to meet them if that would be helpful.

Cam Hopton School

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the application by Cam Hopton School, in Stroud, for a boiler repair; and for what reason it is being asked to make a contribution. [191748]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 15 October 2004]: Cam Hopton, a Voluntary Aided school, applied to the Department to proceed with a boiler replacement project. The work was approved at a cost of £35,853, with the school using some of its Devolved Formula
 
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Capital grant. Although the replacement of items such as boilers was previously the responsibility of the local education authority, the package of reforms introduced in April 2002 to the capital funding of Voluntary Aided schools transferred this responsibility to the governing bodies of those schools.

These changes were introduced with the widespread support of the Voluntary Aided sector, and approved by Parliament through this Department's first Regulatory Reform Order. To ensure that the changes were cost neutral overall, the statutory contribution, which is required by the governing bodies of Voluntary Aided schools towards the cost of any capital work, was reduced from 15 per cent. to 10 per cent.

Class Sizes

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the average class size was in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004 for (i) primary, (ii) secondary and (iii) specialist schools, broken down by constituency. [187402]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Carlisle were taught in classes of more than 30 on the latest date for which figures are available. [191354]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 15 October 2004]: The data requested is shown in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽³⁹⁾: number of pupils in classes of 31 or more pupils taught by one teacher⁽⁴⁰⁾:January 2004—Carlisle parliamentary constituency

		Number of pupils in classes of 31 or more
	Total pupils in all classes	Number of pupils	Percentage of pupils pupils(41)
Maintained primary	5,980	490	8.3
Maintained secondary	5,640	900	16.0

⁽³⁹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁴⁰⁾ Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
⁽⁴¹⁾ Percentage of pupils in those classes expressed as a percentage of pupils in all classes taught by one teacher.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average (a) primary school and (b) secondary school class size in Castle Point was in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) 2003–04. [190977]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽⁴²⁾: average size of classes taught by one teacher⁽⁴³⁾—Position as at January each year—Castle Point parliamentary constituency⁽⁴⁴⁾

	1997	2004
Primary
Number of pupils	7,340	7,160
Number of classes	260	260
Average class size	27.8	27.4
Secondary
Number of pupils	5,820	6,440
Number of classes	250	280
Average class size	23.6	23.2

⁽⁴²⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁴³⁾ Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
⁽⁴⁴⁾ Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.


 
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Catering Facilities (Schools)

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in England have catering facilities run by private companies. [187295]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: This Department does not collect this information.

Class Sizes (Coventry, South)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in Coventry, South for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools was in each year since 1997. [187298]

Mr. Miliband: The requested information is given in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽⁴⁵⁾: Average size of classes taught by one teacher⁽⁴⁶⁾—Position in January each year: 1997 to 2004 (provisional)

	Coventry, South parliamentary constituency
	Primary			Secondary
	Number of pupils	Number of classes	Average class size	Number of pupils	Number of classes	Average class size
1997	8,220	300	27.4	5,590	250	22.5
1998	8,120	300	27.4	5,800	270	21.9
1999	8,110	310	26.5	6,050	270	22.2
2000	8,050	300	26.5	6,220	290	21.6
2001	7,860	310	25.6	6,460	280	22.8
2002	7,740	310	24.7	6,700	310	21.9
2003	7,300	290	25.0	6,820	310	22.1
2004(47)	7,210	290	25.3	6,830	320	21.1

⁽⁴⁵⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁴⁶⁾ Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
⁽⁴⁷⁾ Provisional
Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census.

Construction Industry Training Board

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the cost of the Construction Industry Training Board Levy was to (a) exhibition constructing companies and (b) subcontracting companies in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [187468]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The 2002 levy assessments—payable in 2003—amounted to £50,384 in total. The assessments were based on based on employers' 2001–02 PAYE payments of just under £3 million and payments for sub-contracted labour amounting to just under £600,000. However a significant proportion of these assessments were estimated as the board has not received levy returns from the employers in question. A large number of the assessments are also currently unpaid and the value of paid assessments to date is £23,555.

The value of grants, training allowances and college fees paid to those companies in 2003 was £13,541.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, in what year the order establishing the Construction Industry Training Board Levy was amended to include activities in connection with the erection and dismantling of exhibition stands. [187469]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The erection and dismantling of exhibition stands has been included in the definition of the construction industry as set out in the Construction Industry Training Board's governing legislation since the board was established in 1964. The relevant statutory instrument at the time was The Industrial Training (Construction Board) Order 1964 No. 1079.

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