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28 Oct 2004 : Column 1362W—continued

Consultants

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many consultancy firms or companies have been retained by the Department since June 2001; what the projects are for which each has been retained; and what the total is of the fees paid or incurred in each case. [193417]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: This information could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Fostering

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Department is taking to encourage more people into fostering. [193767]

Margaret Hodge: The Choice Protects grant, which provides funding of £113 million over three years, has a specific emphasis on improving fostering services. £1.5 million of the funding available through the grant in the current financial year is being used to develop a number of suggestions from the Green Paper, "Every Child Matters", to improve the status support and training for foster carers. These include the development of a national award, a national advice line and measures to improve the support given to foster carers who are subject to allegations.

In February this year we produced a Fostering Publicity Pack designed to help local authorities to run targeted local campaigns to recruit new foster carers for looked after children. We have also awarded a three-year grant of £180,000 to the Fostering Network to support Foster Care Fortnight, which has a particular focus on recruitment.

School Transport

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost (a) in total and (b) per child of school transport on the Isle of Wight was in each of the last five years; and what the figures are for other authorities in the Audit Commission's relevant family of local education authorities. [192724]

Mr. Stephen Twigg [holding answer 19 October 2004]: The total cost of home to school transport in the Isle of Wight and other local education authorities (LEAs) in the Audit Commission's relevant family of LEAs for
 
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each of the last five years is shown in the following tables. Data on the number of pupils using home to school transport are not collected, so it is not possible to
 
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provide a per child cost for the last five years. However, a joint DfES/Confed survey collected these data for 2002/03 and is also included in the tables.
Cost of home to school transport 1,2 since 1998–99. As reported by LEAs. As at 19 October 2004

		1998–99			1999–2000
		Home to school/college transport(12)			Home to school/college transport(12)
LEA number	LEA name	Gross	Income	Net	Gross	Income	Net
921	Isle of Wight	1,378,000	65,000	1,313,000	1,433,686	86,416	1,347,270
813	North Lincolnshire	1,650,000	61,000	1,589,000	2,925,093	52,110	2,872,983
816	York	1,362,000	0	1,362,000	1,449,078	15,986	1,433,092
880	Torbay	1,146,000	39,000	1,107,000	1,209,956	28,957	1,180,999
841	Darlington	1,010,000	0	1,010,000	1,031,291	575	1,030,716
381	Calderdale	1,356,000	0	1,356,000	1,574,547	0	1,574,547
887	Medway	3,013,000	0	3,013,000	3,035,200	0	3,035,200
893	Shropshire	5,056,000	0	5,056,000	5,469,215	97,243	5,371,972
884	Herefordshire	3,181,000	87,000	3,094,000	3,989,270	86,541	3,902,729
877	Warrington	2,069,000	4,000	2,065,000	2,258,508	0	2,258,508
811	East Riding of Yorkshire	5,172,000	0	5,172,000	5,397,287	0	5,397,287

		2000–01			2001–02
		Home to school/college			Home to school/college
LEA number	LEA name	Gross	Income	Net	Gross	Income	Net
921	Isle of Wight	1,598,868	77,373	1,521,495	1,624,172	75,376	1,548,796
813	North Lincolnshire	2,400,819	54,992	2,345,827	2,124,881	0	2,124,881
816	York	1,572,375	0	1,572,375	1,746,245	0	1,746,245
880	Torbay	1,379,735	50,077	1,329,658	1,465,045	14,800	1,450,245
841	Darlington	1,000,623	1,526	999,097	1,020,137	405	1,019,732
381	Calderdale	1,862,563	0	1,862,563	1,898,695	0	1,898,695
887	Medway	3,007,800	159,200	2,848,600	3,054,500	92,700	2,961,800
893	Shropshire	5,689,211	0	5,689,211	5,979,817	0	5,979,817
884	Herefordshire	4,795,665	0	4,795,665	4,579,671	124,378	4,455,293
877	Warrington	2,229,500	0	2,229,500	2,375,358	0	2,375,358
811	East Riding of Yorkshire	5,818,687	23,186	5,795,501	6,032,387	37,931	5,994,456

	2002–03					2002–03
LEA	LEA name	Home to school/college GrossIncomeNet			Pupils(13)	Net cost per pupil	Home to school transport GrossIncomeNet
921	Isle of Wight	1,936,681	71,926	1,864,755	3,271	570	1,480,344	28,982	1,451,362
813	North Lincolnshire	3,425,537	555,224	2,870,313	5,055	568	3,149,218	526,041	2,623,177
816	York	2,081,595	19,960	2,061,635	2,111	977	2,032,158	19,960	2,012,198
880	Torbay	1,904,087	92,625	1,811,462	—	—	1,672,604	52,815	1,619,789
841	Darlington	1,210,908	6,809	1,204,099	1,954	616	1,140,560	5,777	1,134,783
381	Calderdale	1,411,841	2,218	1,409,623	2,149	656	1,411,841	2,218	1,409,623
887	Medway	3,430,655	168,100	3,262,555	3,860	845	3,204,104	103,900	3,100,204
893	Shropshire	7,125,733	0	7,125,733	8,475	841	6,842,843	0	6,842,843
884	Herefordshire	5,518,285	152,143	5,366,142	5,961	900	5,000,591	47,157	4,953,434
877	Warrington	2,604,368	0	2,604,368	3,295	790	1,999,939	0	1,999,939
811	East Riding of Yorkshire	7,894,709	97,708	7,797,001	8,065	967	7,630,381	97,708	7,532,673

'—' Not available
⁽¹¹⁾ The gross expenditure and income figures for 1998–99 to 2001–02 are taken from the home to school/college transport and the transport related parental contribution lines of the section 52 Outturn Statement Table 3 (1998–99 figures are from the corresponding lines of the R01 form submitted to the ODPM) respectively. In 2002–03 home to school transport was recorded separately from home to college transport for the first time and consequently both home to school transport and the combined home to school/college transport figures are provided. 2002–03 figures are taken from the respective gross, income and net columns of the section 52 Outturn Statement Table A.
⁽¹²⁾ Total transport income and expenditure includes that incurred in relation to pre-primary, primary, secondary and special school education as well as in education out of school, continuing education and the management and support elements.
⁽¹³⁾ The DfES do not collect data on the number of pupils using home to school transport and as such we are unable to calculate the cost of home to school transport per child . However in 2002–03 the Department conducted a survey with Confed which provided a snapshot of the number of pupils using home to school transport (including sixth form) and these have been used to provide a unit cost for 2002–03.


 
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Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the impact on schools in the Vale of York of his proposed changes to school transport. [193876]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The School Transport Bill will allow up to 20 local education authorities in England to trial new arrangements for school transport. Trial areas cannot be selected until the Bill becomes law, so at this point it is not possible to assess the impact on schools in the Vale of York.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the running costs of Ministers' private offices in his Department have been in each year since 1997. [191390]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is in the following table. This information includes the total running cost for the Department of Education and Skills and its predecessor, the Department of Education and Employment.

Financial year	Running cost (£ million)
2003–04	2.3
2002–03	2.2
2001–02	2.1
2000–01	2.3
1999–2000	2.0
1998–99	1.9
1997–98	(14)—

⁽¹⁴⁾ Information not held in format requested

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