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3 Mar 2005 : Column 1354W—continued

Targets

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the public service agreement target of 90 per cent. of young people by age 22 to have participated in a full-time programme fitting them for entry into higher education or skilled employment by 2010 will be met. [219252]

Dr. Howells: This target has been replaced by the new 2008 public service agreement target on level 2 and level 3 attainment. In the Department's 2004 autumn performance report we announced that we would no longer be reporting on the 2010 target in the context of a more streamlined and outcome-based package of spending review 2004 targets and supporting performance indicators.

In addition to the level 2 at 19 public service agreement target, we will continue to track improved outcomes for young people through the participation rates of 16 and 17-year-olds in further education and training and the number of young people attaining a level 3 by age 19 and completing an apprenticeship.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of whether the public service agreement target to increase participation in higher education towards 50 per cent. of those aged 18 to 30 years by 2010 will be met. [219254]

 
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Dr. Howells: Demand projections based on anticipated improvements in attainment suggest that demand for HE will continue to grow and that progress towards 50 per cent. can be maintained between now and 2010.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the public service agreement target to make significant progress year on year towards fair access into higher education was met in 2004. [219255]

Dr. Howells: The Higher Education Statistics Agency publishes a set of performance indicators for UK universities and higher education colleges. The latest data relates to entrants to higher education in the academic year 2002/03. These show that:

The percentage of young entrants to full-time first degree courses from state schools in England has risen as follows:

	Percentage
1999	84.1
2000	85.0
2001	85.2
2002	86.4

The percentage of young entrants to full-time first degree courses from low participation neighbourhoods in England has risen as follows:

	Percentage
1999	11.7
2000	11.8
2001	12.4
2002	12.5

A full copy of the performance indicators can be found at www.hesa.ac.uk/pi/default.htm.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the estimated cost to public funds is of achieving the Public Service Agreement target to make significant progress towards fair access into higher education. [219257]

Dr. Howells: No estimate has been made of the cost to the public funds of achieving the Public Service Agreement target to make significant progress year on year towards fair access into higher education.

The then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke, made a statement to the House of Commons on 16 September 2004 about how expenditure announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his budget statement would be used to support the reforms set out in the Department's Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners.

Concerning higher education, he explained that Government expenditure will increase by about £2billion between 2004–05 and 2007–08, taking total investment to almost £9.5 billion.

This means there will be average increases of over 6 per cent. in real terms over the next three years. These increases will cover the sector's financial needs in the short term.
 
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Teachers (Allegations)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the results of the consultation into proposals for dealing with allegations against teachers and other staff will be published. [218863]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: My officials have received 160 responses to the consultation and aim to publish a summary of those on my Department's website in early April.

HEALTH

A and E

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health(1) how many people attended an accident and emergency department in England in each quarter since March 2000; [215134]

(2) what the average percentage of patients seen in under four hours from arrival at an accident and emergency department to admission, transfer or discharge has been in each quarter since March 2000. [215136]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Data on the number of attendances and the percentage of patients seen in four hours or less in accident and emergency departments are available on the Department's website at www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospital activity/index.htm.

Data for each quarter from 2001–02 for A&E attendances and for each quarter from quarter 2, 2002–03 for patients seen in less than four hours are available in the Library. Prior to this, information was published annually in Outpatient and Ward Attenders, England", copies of which are also available in the Library.

Ambulance Response Times

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average response time for ambulances attending 999 calls was in (a) Hartlepool and (b) England in each year since 1997. [218510]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not collected centrally in the format requested. Data on response times for North East Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust and for all ambulance services in England are shown in the table. The Welsh Assembly should be contacted for information on the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Data are only available from the date trusts introduced call prioritisation. North East Ambulance Service introduced call prioritisation in 1999–2000. All ambulance services in England had introduced call prioritisation by 2001–02.

Further information can be found in the statistical bulletin, Ambulance services, England: 2003–04". A copy is available in the Library and on the Department's website at www.publications.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0411.htm.
 
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	North East	England
Percentage of category A calls responded within eight minutes
1997–98	n/a	n/a
1998–99	n/a	n/a
1999–2000	50.1	n/a
2000–01	50.8	n/a
2001–02	72.3	70.8
2002–03	76.6	74.6
2003–04	75.6	75.7
Percentage of category A calls responded within 14–19 minutes
1997–98	n/a	n/a
1998–99	n/a	n/a
1999–2000	96.1	n/a
2000–01	93.9	n/a
2001–02	98.0	94.1
2002–03	99.1	94.6
2003–04	98.9	93.9
Percentage of category B/C calls responded within 14–19 minutes
1997–98	n/a	n/a
1998–99	n/a	n/a
1999–2000	93.0	n/a
2000–01	90.3	n/a
2001–02	94.7	90.2
2002–03	96.0	89.6
2003–04	95.1	87.5
Percentage of urgent journeys with arrival time not more than 15 minutes late
1997–98	91.5	88.0
1998–99	85.4	84.0
1999–2000	80.1	80.5
2000–01	77.6	78.8
2001–02	85.0	78.5
2002–03	83.7	78.0
2003–04	85.4	78.1

n/a=Not available

Assertive Outreach Teams

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) crisis resolution teams, (b) assertive outreach teams and (c) early intervention teams he has established since 1999. [216154]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There were estimated to be 243 crisis resolution, 278 assertive outreach and 81 early intervention teams established in England as at 31 December 2004. These figures are based on local delivery plan returns (LDPRs). These LDPR figures are the most timely data available, but are best viewed as approximate rather than definitive. Final data will become available via the 31 March update to the Durham mapping of adult mental health services.

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