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16 Nov 2004 : Column 1299W—continued
Pupil Referral Units
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of excluded children, broken down by key stage, have (a) received education in pupil referral units and (b) had one-to-one home tuition in each of the last five years. [196995]
Mr. Stephen Twigg:
Information on the provision made for permanently excluded pupils was first collected in March 2001 via the Education of Permanently Excluded Pupils (EPEP) Survey. There were two further updates in September 2001 and March 2002 before the survey was discontinued. However, figures from the most recent collection of this survey were incomplete and not sufficiently robust to provide a breakdown of the type of educational provision received by excluded pupils. The available information is given in the table.
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(18) Based on replies from 144 out of 150 LEAs.
(19) Based on replies from 146 out of 150 LEAs.
Source:
EPEP survey
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In 1999 the Government gained a commitment from LEAs to provide a full-time education for all permanently excluded pupils by September 2002. Findings from the EPEP survey indicated that on 30 September 2002, 143 LEAs were offering full-time education to pupils permanently excluded from school, and seven LEAs were not. Since this survey, better systems have been put in place to track pupils. Currently two LEAs are not providing full-time education for all their pupils. The Department continues to work through the Children's Services Improvement Advisers to support LEAs to sustain this commitment and provide high quality, full-time educational provision for all permanently excluded pupils.
School Meals
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children of (a) primary and (b) secondary school age were eating hot school meals in the latest period for which figures are available. [197931]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills does not collect this information.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has issued to schools to encourage (a) healthier option school meals and (b) healthier packed lunches to be brought into schools. [197932]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: We introduced regulations setting minimum nutritional standards for school lunches on 1 April 2001. They allow children to choose healthy and enjoyable school meals. We also produced guidance entitled "Healthy School Lunches" for school caterers on implementing these standards. The guidance can be viewed on the website: www.dfes.gov.uk/schoollunches.
We are taking forward a number of projects following the recent publication of the findings of the Department for Education and Skills and Food Standards Agency (FSA) evaluation of secondary school meals and to help achieve the objectives outlined within the Healthy Living Blueprint which was launched on 6 September 2004. These projects aim to improve school food and reinforce healthy eating messages taught in the classroom. The Blueprint and supporting website can be viewed at: www.teachernet.gov.uk/healthyliving.
This Department, together with the Department of Health (DoH), is jointly funding a Food in Schools (FiS) programme. The DoH strand comprises eight pilot projects one of which addresses healthier packed
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lunches. Good practice identified through FiS will help schools promote a clear and consistent message about diet and nutrition.
The FSA in September 2003 provided suggestions on healthy packed lunches. This can be viewed on their website: www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2003/sep/lunchbox.
Special Advisers
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unpaid special advisers the Department has; what their names are; and which Government (a) bodies, (b) committees and (c) strategy groups each unpaid adviser (i) belongs to, (ii) advises and (iii) works alongside. [194054]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office on 28 October 2004, Official Report, column 1380W. Hannah Pawlby has replaced Lisa Tremble.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Advantage West Midlands
Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which projects and investments undertaken by Advantage West Midlands, including sale and leaseback, involving property and land (a) have incurred losses and (b) are projected to incur losses; and what the extent of those losses is. [198304]
Jacqui Smith: In 2003–04 Advantage West Midlands (AWM) had in excess of 50 active projects where it held an investment or interest in land and property to assemble sites, overcome market failure and bring sites back into productive use, which the private sector would otherwise neglect. As a result of these projects, AWM incurred £16.2 million of revaluation losses and £12.9 million of revaluation profits; though, since AWM was able to account for this on a portfolio basis, this produced an audited net property loss of £3.3 million. AWM is not able to provide a breakdown of losses on individual projects, as this information is commercially sensitive.
AWM values its property portfolio on an annual basis and is currently undertaking this exercise. Until this task is completed, AWM is unable to project potential revaluation losses for the current year. However, taking into account the fact that AWM now has to account for losses on an individual basis, rather than on portfolio basis, AWM has made a provision of £10 million to cover any valuation losses when they arise.
Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) target time is and (b) average time actually achieved in 2003–04 was for Advantage West Midlands approving new projects (i) in general, (ii) as regional cluster projects, (iii) as regeneration zone projects, (iv) as technology corridor projects and (v) as single regeneration budget projects. [198309]
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Jacqui Smith: Advantage West Midlands (AWM) has a general target of 30 working days for decisions on new, fully completed, applications; this target includes Regional Cluster projects, Regeneration Zone projects, High-Technology Corridor projects, legacy SRB projects and Selective Finance for Investment (SFI) projects. Any time taken for the applicant to provide missing or supplementary information will be added to the target time.
Land and property applications are technically more complex and demanding, require more detailed scrutiny and development, and are therefore excluded from these time scales. However in such instances the AWM works closely with the applicant to overcome any issues that may arise and cause delay to the application.
AWM is not able to give a breakdown of the average time actually achieved by type of project. However, AWM has surveyed a number of projects received in 2003–04 and has identified that this process has on average taken a period of 10 weeks, though this time includes all types of projects and also includes time taken to seek additional information from applicants.
Business Angels
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many business angel deals have been concluded through the National Business Angel Network in each year since 1998; and what the total value of the deals was. [195169]
Nigel Griffiths: The National Business Angels Network was established to act as a national conduit through which any company seeking investment could be put in touch with investors. Each business angels network was responsible for progressing any potential deals.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to promote the business angel concept. [195170]
Nigel Griffiths: We are supporting the National Business Angels Network in its objectives of promoting the concept of business angels and, working through local businesses angels networks, improving the operation of the business angels market. We also operate the Enterprise Investment Scheme to provide tax incentives to encourage business angel investment.
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