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Learning and Skills Council

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with the Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council about its support for (a) The Prince's Trust and (b) the Connexions programmes; and if he will make a statement. [194669]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The Secretary of State has had no discussions, but is aware that the Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council (LSC) indirectly supports the Prince's Trust, which delivers Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes. E2E is an important part of the work to re-engage young people in learning.

Gloucestershire LSC works in partnership with the Connexions Service to ensure that quality advice and guidance is available to enable young people to benefit from appropriate learning opportunities.

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the funding he is providing to the Learning and Skills Council in this financial year. [194670]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The budget allocated to the Learning and Skills Council for the 2004–05 financial year was set out in the Grant Letter to the LSC on 4 December 2003. The budget figure in the letter is £8,674 million. This amount represents a record level of investment in the learning and skills sector.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will reply to the question
 
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tabled by the hon. Member for Hertsmere on 18 October 2004, ref 192930, on benchmarks for university admissions. [196502]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: A reply was issued to the hon. Member on 3 November 2004, Official Report, columns 290–91W.

Post-16 Education

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding streams are available to support students in post-16 non-university based education. [194804]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government are committed to encouraging more students to continue in education and training, and to raise attainment levels. Young People from lower income households who are aged 16 at the start of the 2004/05 academic year can apply to receive the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). We are phasing in the scheme nationally from September 2004 to successive 16 year old year groups. By 2006 all young people aged 16 to 19 who meet the eligibility requirements will be able to receive EMA.

Learner Support Funds (LSFs) are available for students aged 16 and over to help with costs associated with further education, including books and equipment, transport, childcare support funds and residential bursaries. LSF continues to be an effective safety net for disadvantaged students from lower income households wishing to remain in education.

Young people in unwaged work-based learning, including Entry to Employment, are entitled to at least £40 a week Minimum Training Allowance paid by the learning provider through the LSC, local LSCs can increase this allowance to meet local needs and can also provide discretionary funding to help with transport, equipment or similar costs. The intention is that from 2006 this arrangement will be replaced by the extension of EMA principles to this group of young people.

Announced as part of the Government's Skills Strategy, the new Adult Learning Grant offers an allowance of up to £30 per week to adults on lower incomes studying full-time for a first full level 2 qualification (equivalent to 5 GCSEs or a National Vocational Qualification at level 2) and young adults (aged 19+) on lower incomes studying full-time for a first full level 3 qualification (equivalent to two A levels or a National Vocational Qualification at level 3).

Career Development Loans, which are operated by the Department and three high street banks, are designed to help individuals pay for vocational education and training. Loans of between £300 and £8,000 are available to pay for all course-related costs on courses for up to two years. The loan can also cover living expenses if the course is full time. The Department pays the interest on the loan while the student is training and repayment starts only after the course has been completed.

Press Officers

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many press officers are employed in his Department; and how many were employed in each year since 1996–97. [195362]

 
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Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The information requested is set out in the following table.

	Number of press officers
1996/97	19
1997/98	20.5
1998/99	29.5
1999/00	28
2000/01	28
2001/02	28
2002/03	23.4
2003/04	18.5
2004/05	17

Schools (Bury)

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants were employed in schools in Bury in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [195405]

Mr. Miliband: The following table gives the number of teaching assistants employed in maintained schools in Bury of January in each year. The latest information available is for 2004.

	Number
1995	210
1996	250
1997	270
1998	260
1999	280
2000	330
2001	360
2002	460
2003	480
2004	540

Source:
Annual School Census

The information requested from 1997 has also been published in table 20 of the Statistical First Release 34/2004 on 23 September 2004. The SFR can be accessed from the following URL:

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000493/index.shtml

Sex Education

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was granted by each local education authority in the Greater London area to be spent on sex education in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003–04. [196035]

Mr. Miliband: Information about individual local education authority expenditure on sex education is not collected by the Department.

Educating young people about sexual health and safer sex are key elements of the Government's sexual health strategy. The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy has a multi-faceted approach, which includes helping young people resist pressure to have early sex, improving sex and relationship education and access to effective contraception and sexual health services. All maintained secondary schools have a statutory requirement to teach sex and relationship education.
 
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DEFENCE

Electoral Registration

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are registered as service voters on the armed forces personnel registration scheme; and how many were registered in 2000. [195222]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The Representation of the People Act 2000 gave Service personnel the option of either registering to vote at their private or other qualifying address, or to register by means of a Service declaration. Both are administered by local authority Electoral Registration Officers and the Services no longer maintain an Armed Forces Register of Electors. The number choosing to register by means of the Service declaration is not held by the Ministry of Defence.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the armed forces personnel registration scheme moved to annual re-registration in 2000; and what assessment was made of the implications of the change for the number of servicemen registered to vote. [195223]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The move to annual re-registration brought the arrangements for armed forces personnel in line with those for other voters. The change was considered likely to encourage Service personnel to use their vote, and to register with the local authority Electoral Registration Officer for their up-to-date address.

Missile Defence

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written statement of 12 October 2004, Official Report, columns 9–10WS, on missile defence, when negotiations on the ballistic missile defence agreement began; and when agreement on the final text was reached. [195410]

Mr. Hoon: Negotiations for a new agreement to replace the 1985 Strategic Defence Initiative Memorandum of Understanding began in early 2003. A "Framework" Agreement, setting out general principles for co-operation on missile defence, was signed on 12 June 2003. Negotiations were conducted in parallel on two Annexes to this Agreement dealing with the upgrade of the Early Warning Radar at RAF Fylingdales, and with co-operation in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation of ballistic missile defence capabilities and systems. These were signed on 18 December 2003 and 12 October 2004 respectively.

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