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Education Funding (Manchester)

Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding was spent per pupil in Manchester, Withington in each of the last seven years. [197877]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is submitted to the Department according to local education authority areas, rather than districts within an LEA. The figures provided are for Manchester LEA and are shown in the following table:
Combined LEA and school based expenditure1,2 per pupil 3 (1996–97 to 2002–03)4,5

	Combined LEA and school based expenditure per pupil in Manchester LEA (£)
1996–97	2,850
1997–98	2,810
1998–99	3,020
1999–2000	3,090
2000–01	3,360
2001–02	3,840
2002–03	3,820

Notes:
1. The combined LEA and school based expenditure includes all expenditure on the education of children in LEA maintained establishments and pupils educated by the LEA other than in maintained establishments. This includes both school based expenditure and all elements of central LEA expenditure except youth and community and capital expenditure from revenue (CERA).
2. 1999–2000 saw a change in data source when the data collection moved from the RO1 form collected by the ODPM to the Section 52 form from the DfES. 2002–03 saw a further break in the time series following the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) and the associated restructuring of the outturn tables. The change in sources is shown by the dotted line. In 2002–03 the combined LEA and school based expenditure is calculated by Section 52 Outturn Table A line 51 net current expenditure (NCE) plus line 60 NCE (with adjustments to income to take account of School Standards Grant and Standards Fund scored here) plus lines 61 to 74 NCE. For 2001–02 and earlier years the expenditure is calculated as line 27 NCE after recharges for columns (b) to (f) and (h) plus line 15 from the remaining continuing education columns (g, i and j). This is taken from Section 52 Outturn Table 3 for 1999–2000 to 2001–02 and from the RO1 form previously.
3. Pupil figures include all pre-primary pupils, including those under 5s funded by the LEA and being educated in private settings, pupils educated in maintained mainstream schools and other LEA maintained pupils. The pupil data for pupils attending maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools are taken from the DfES Annual Schools Census. Private voluntary and independent (PVI) under 5 pupil numbers are taken from the Early Years census but are only included for 1999–2000 onwards. Other LEA maintained pupils are also included in the pupil count and this includes all pupils attending schools not maintained by the Authority for whom the Authority is paying full tuition fees, or educated otherwise than in schools and pupil referral units under arrangements made by the Authority drawn from the Form 8b submitted to the DfES. Also included as other LEA maintained pupils are all pupils attending pupil referral units who are not registered at a maintained mainstream school drawn from the DfES Annual Schools Census. All pupil numbers are adjusted to be on a financial year basis.
4. Spending in 1997–98 reflects the transfer of moneys from local government to central government for the nursery vouchers scheme. These were returned to local government from 1998–99. The 1999–2000 figures reflect the return of GM schools to local authority maintenance.
5. In 2002–03 the combined LEA and school based unit cost for England showed a cash terms increase of 5 per cent. compared with a 10 per cent. increase in 2001–02. This is in part due to known misreporting of funding by some LEAs which had the estimated effect of reducing the 2002–03 England unit cost by around 50 per pupil (in cash terms). Manchester was one of the LEAs who had suspected funding in their income column and consequently it is likely that the true figure for 2002–03 will be higher than the £3,820 quoted here.
6. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
7. Data are a reported in cash terms as submitted by the LEA on their section 52 statement.




 
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Schools (Hendon)

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Hendon (a) had outside toilets, (b) did not have computer suites and (c) did not have interactive whiteboards (i) at 1 May 1997 and (ii) at the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [197597]

Mr. Miliband: The only available information relates to interactive whiteboards and is shown in the table.
Percentage of schools with electronic interactive whiteboards in England—Position at 31 March each year

	2002	2003	(39)2004
Maintained primary schools	28	48	63
Maintained secondary schools	65	82	92
Maintained special schools	35	53	71

⁽³⁹⁾ Provisional.
Source:
ICT in Schools Survey

The increased numbers of schools with interactive whiteboards demonstrate the priority that schools are giving to this technology, which research shows can improve the pace of lessons and increase pupil motivation.

The latest information on information and communications technology in schools was published in Statistical First Release 27/2004 "Survey of Information
 
17 Nov 2004 : Column 1537W
 
and Communications Technology in Schools 2004", which is available on the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.

My Department does not keep records of the numbers of outside toilets in schools. However, the Department ran a capital programme bidding round under New Deal for Schools to remove outdoor toilets and improve energy management over two years, 1998–99 and 1999–2000, at a cost of about £70 million. The programme replaced a large proportion of the outside toilets in England. It is our understanding that the majority of outside toilets in English schools were replaced by indoor provision as a result of this bidding round.

DEFENCE

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what condolences he has offered to the surviving family members of Iraqi civilians killed as a result of military action taken by British forces in Iraq since 19 March 2003; what estimate has been made of the number of orphans created by civilian adults killed by British forces in Iraq; and what economic assistance has been offered by the United Kingdom to Iraqi families who have suffered the (a) loss of their main income earner and (b) long-term disablement of the main income earner as a result of United Kingdom military action in Iraq. [197617]

Mr. Hoon: There are no reliable or comprehensive figures for civilian fatalities. United Kingdom forces report all confirmed fatalities of which they are aware arising from incidents in which they are involved. During military engagements in Iraq however, civilian casualties are often taken away before British forces can determine numbers or identities.

Iraqi civilians alleging negligence against the Ministry of Defence may submit a compensation claim to the Department's Area Claims Officer based at Basra. When such claims are submitted, they are considered on the basis of whether or not the Ministry of Defence has a legal liability to pay compensation. Where there is a legal liability to pay compensation, we do so. Any amount payable is determined case by case, taking into account the specific circumstances of the injured party.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 10 November 2004, Official Report, column 716W, on Iraq, what criteria were used to determine which of the 3,000 pages of supporting documents were of potential weapons of mass destruction significance. [199036]

Mr. Hoon: A team of translators and a team of weapons of mass destruction experts worked alongside each other full-time to translate the Iraqi Declaration. Each page was reviewed by a translator and a WMD expert working together. Any page containing words or phrases that might have had relevance to WMD programmes was translated for comprehensive analysis.
 
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Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate his Department has made of the number of civilian casualties in Iraq since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. [195954]

Mr. Rammell: I have been asked to reply.

There are no figures for Iraqi civilian casualties that are wholly reliable and cover the whole period since military action began. The Iraqi Ministry of Health has been collating figures from hospital admissions since April 2004, which show that just under 4,000 civilians have been killed in the last six months. We regard this figure as the most reliable available.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures are in place to monitor civilian casualties in Iraq. [195986]

Mr. Rammell: I have been asked to reply.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health began collating figures from hospital admissions in April 2004. These figures show that just under 4,000 civilians have been killed in the last six months.

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the armed forces first sought authority from the Defence Crisis Management Organisation to initiate mobilisation measures for deployment to Iraq; [198427]

(2) when the armed forces first sought authority to initiate training for reservists for deployment to Iraq. [198428]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 16 November 2004]: Authority to mobilise reserves and commence preparatory training for deployment to Iraq was formally sought on 2 January and granted by Ministers on 7 January 2003 once it became appropriate to do so in order to further military preparations.

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