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National Children's Bureau

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding her Department provided to the National Children's Bureau in 2004–05. [221222]

Margaret Hodge: The Department has allocated a total of £978,000 in funding to the National Children's Bureau in 2004–05.

Section 52 Budget Statements

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the expenditure from section 52 budget statements of each local education authority in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) total education revenue expenditure, (b) total schools budget and (c) individual schools budget; and what percentage of the expenditure under section 52 budget statements this represented in each case. [221220]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is contained within a table which has been placed in the Library.

Special Educational Needs

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how funding of special educational needs provision is made available through the Learning and Skills Council. [221214]

Margaret Hodge: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) allocates funds to local education authorities (LEAs) in England to help support them meet their duty to arrange suitable provision for young people aged 16–19 with statements of special educational needs (SEN). The LSC notify LEAs of their post-16 SEN allocations in December for the following financial year.

Vetting

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the countries referred to in her Department's recent letter (reference 881/6026)
 
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to schools where (a) it is not possible to carry out a meaningful Criminal Records Bureau check on foreign nationals and (b) a certificate of good conduct may be obtained for applicants applying for posts working with children. [221442]

Margaret Hodge: My Department's letter of 9 February 2005 advised independent schools of the need to carry out checks on foreign nationals in line with the guidance given in DfES publication 0278/2002.

This guidance about pre-appointment checks on teachers and other workers in schools was issued to all employers in the education service in May 2002 and advises that, if a person who they intend to appoint to work in a school has never lived in the UK, no purpose will be served by asking them to apply for a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure when they come to this country.

The Bureau's Overseas Information Service provides advice to employers on the availability of criminal record information from overseas. The service currently covers 16 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Italy (excluding Vatican City) and Finland). The CRB is in discussions with the 10 accession countries to the European Union and aims to provide information through the Overseas Information Service about the criminal record information available from these countries within the near future.

Where criminal record information is not available, we recommend that employers take extra care in taking up references and carrying out other checks on a person's background.

Youth Green Paper

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects the Green Paper on Young People to be published; whether there are issues which are expected to cause further delays in publication; and if she will make a statement on the reasons for the delays that have occurred so far. [220869]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 8 March 2005]: The Youth Green Paper will set out a comprehensive offer for young people covering three main areas: things to do and places to go; targeted support for young people at risk; and universal information and support for young people and their parents. It will be published shortly.

DEFENCE

Clothing Contracts

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2005, Official Report, columns 598–99W, on clothing contracts, what the terms of the contract are which prevent him from specifically commenting on sub-contractor details. [221024]

Mr. Ingram: It is assumed my hon. Friend refers specifically to the cut and sew contract awarded by the Ministry of Defence.
 
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Defence Contract Condition (DefCon) 531, which is applied to the cut and sew contract, states that information cannot be disclosed without the consent of the Prime Contractor. There is also a Condition, regarding publicity, which allows for external communication by mutual consent only. These Conditions complement and are based upon the Code of Practice agreed between MOD and its suppliers.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will reply to the letter of 29 November 2004 from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford, ref 05963/2004. [219565]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 3 March 2005]: I replied to the hon. Member on 10 March 2005.

Dean May

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what disciplinary measures were taken against Staff Sergeant Dean May following his conviction for manslaughter at Winchester Crown court in July 2002; and what his rank was before discharge from the Army. [220495]

Mr. Caplin: Staff Sergeant May was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence at Winchester Crown court and was fined £1,500. No further action was taken against him in relation to this case. A Serviceman is not liable to be tried by court-martial or by his commanding officer for the same, or substantially the same, offence for which he has been tried in a competent civil court. Staff Sergeant May continues to serve in the Army.

Harrier Aircraft

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of current work on the Harrier GR7 to GR9 conversion and majors is being undertaken at (a) RAF Cottesmore and (b) BAE Warton; and at what cost. [220841]

Mr. Ingram: 16 Harrier GR7 aircraft are currently undergoing joint upgrade and maintenance at RAF Cottesmore at a cost of £20.7 million.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 February 2005, Official Report, column 802W.

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of work on the Harrier GR7 to GR9 conversion and majors was previously scheduled to be undertaken by the Defence Aviation Repair Agency. [220844]

Mr. Ingram: No scheduling was planned before the decision to roll-forward the Harrier air depth maintenance support to RAF Cottesmore was made in March 2004.

Jaguar Aircraft

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to extend the in-service life of the Jaguar. [220840]

 
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Mr. Ingram: None. As announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on the 21 July 2004, Official Report, columns 343 to 366 the final Jaguar squadron will be disbanded in 2007.

Mark 8 Mod 1 Gun

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the cost was of retrofitting the Mark 8 Mod 1 gun to HMS Gloucester; and when he expects the vessel to be decommissioned; [218447]

(2) which (a) Batch 3 Type-42 and (b) Batch 2 Type-42 destroyers are to be retrofitted with the Mark 8 Mod 1 gun; and what the timetable is for the fitting. [218448]

Mr. Ingram: HMS Gloucester is fitted with the 4.5 Mark 8 Mod 0 gun and there are no plans to retrofit her with the updated Mark 8 Mod 1 gun. On current plans she will be decommissioned in 2010.

Two Batch 3 Type 42 destroyers, HMS York and HMS Edinburgh were recently fitted with the Mark 8 Mod 1 gun as part of their scheduled upkeep work. There are no plans to retrofit the gun to any other Batch 2 or Batch 3 Type 42s.

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