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14 Jun 2005 : Column 350W—continued
Venture Capital Sector
Mr. Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he is taking to promote the venture capital sector in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [3192]
John Healey:
The UK's private equity and venture capital industry is the largest in Europe, and the second largest in the world after the United States. The Government have delivered macro-economic stability that allows investors in venture capital to invest with confidence, and a low-tax environment, including an effective Capital Gains Tax rate of 10 per cent. on business assets held for at least two years, which allows them to keep more of the reward from successful investments.
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The Government also make a number of direct interventions in the venture capital markets to support finance-raising by small companies affected by the equity gap, including Regional Venture Capital Funds and Venture Capital Trusts and the Enterprise Investment Scheme. A new model of support, Enterprise Capital Funds, will soon be launched by the Small Business Service, which will partner public and private money to invest in small businesses seeking venture capital.
Young People (Yorkshire)
David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many young people in the East Riding of Yorkshire were not working, studying or in training in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [3583]
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John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. David Davis, dated 14 June 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about young people in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I am replying in his absence. (3583).
The numbers of people aged 16 to 24 not in employment, or in full-time education or government training, resident in the East Riding of Yorkshire for the 12 months ending February 2003 and 2004 are estimated at 4,000 and 3,000 respectively.
These estimates are based on annual local area Labour Force Survey data which, as with any statistical sample survey, is subject to sampling variability.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
ADHD
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the new behaviour task force will take in dealing with pupils suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [4652]
Jacqui Smith: The Leadership Group on Behaviour and Discipline has been asked to advise on how effective school discipline reaches the classroom, how to improve parental responsibility for behaviour and deliver a culture of respect in all schools. It will be for the Group to decide how far issues relating specifically to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder relate to that overall remit.
Adult Education Budget/Funding
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget allocation for adult education was in each year between 1997 and 2004. [3056]
Bill Rammell: The Department allocates funds for education and training in the post-16 learning and skills sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC was established in 2001 bringing the planning and funding of post-16 education together under one body. In 2001–02 the Learning and Skills Council spent £2,236 million on adult programmes including FE, Work Based Learning, Adult and Community Learning and other programmes. This increased to £2,427 million in 2002–03 and to £2,866 million in 2003–04. These figures are available in the LSC's published accounts. Figures for adult education for the period 1997–01 are not comparable as the budget was split between a range of different organisations. The Departmental Annual Report sets out total expenditure on Further Education, Adult Training and Skills and Lifelong Learning for this period.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will safeguard central funding for adult education for 2005 to 2009. [4211]
Bill Rammell: The Department allocates funds for education and training in the post-16 learning and skills sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). In the Department's Grant Letter of 15 November 2004, the LSC was allocated £6.7 billion in 2005–06, £6.8 billion in 2006–07 and £7.1 billion in 2007–08 for learning participation, which includes funding for adult education. For the year 2008–09, allocations will be determined by the Spending Review 2006 outcome.
The Government are committed to safeguarding the availability of a wide range of learning for personal and community development (previously termed adult and community learning). The DfES and the LSC will agree each year an overall indicative budget based on the broad proportion of LSC funds currently spent on this type of learning.
Adult Illiteracy/Innumeracy
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the level of adult (a) illiteracy and (b) innumeracy in England was in each year between 1994 and 2004. [3054]
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Phil Hope: The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) does not collect annual data on levels of adult literacy and numeracy. However, to inform our planning and delivery in this key policy area, in October 2003 the Department published the Skills for Live Survey: A national needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills" (DfES, October 2003).
The survey assessed the literacy, numeracy and ICT skills of around 8,000 adults aged 16 and above in England. The findings are shown in the following tables. The assessment levels correspond to the new literacy and numeracy core curriculum and National Standards: Level 1 is broadly equivalent to a lower grade GCSE (grade D-G) and Level 2 to a higher grade GCSE (A*-C). Overall around 16 per cent. of adults had literacy skills below Level 1 and 47 per cent. had numeracy skills below this level.
Source:
Census 01
Skills for Life Survey, 2003
Source:
Census 01
Skills for Life Survey, 2003
A copy of the survey report is in the House of Commons Library and on the DfES website: www.dfes.gov.uk
Afro-Caribbean Pupils
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps the Government have taken to improve the performance of Afro-Caribbean boys at schools; [3901]
(2) what assessment she has made of the performance of Afro-Caribbean boys against the national average performance for each age group. [3902]
Jacqui Smith: This Government are fully committed to improving the performance of African-Caribbean boys in our schools and narrowing achievement gaps for all underachieving minority ethnic pupils.
Following the Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils consultation, the Government announced a national strategy in
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November 2003. The strategy aims to: focus mainstream school improvement programmes and targeted activity on identifying and addressing underachievement; increasing accountability, including through the publication of achievement data; and supporting the school workforce to be able to meet the needs of minority ethnic pupils more effectively.
The strategy included a pilot national project focused on raising the achievement of African-Caribbean young people, and boys in particular. This project was developed following detailed assessment of performance data for African-Caribbean pupils. The experience of delivering this project is currently informing the roll out of a national programme to support black pupils in all our schools across both primary and secondary education.
More widely my officials routinely use data, including ethnicity data, to support the development of policy and initiatives. In order to ensure that parents and other interested parties are kept informed of our progress in narrowing achievement gaps, my Department publishes the ethnicity performance data on an annual basis. The latest data is available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000564/index.shtmln and analysis of the 2003 data at
http://dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000448/NPD _sfr_text_Finished3.pdf
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