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Teacher Training

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students are in teacher training colleges in (a) Southend, (b) Essex, (c) outer London, (d) inner London and (e) England; and what the figures were for each of the last five years for which figures are available. [10582]

Jacqui Smith: Qualified teacher status (QTS) is usually obtained by successfully completing an undergraduate course of initial teacher training or by completing a course leading to the postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). Both types of courses are run by higher education institutions. In 1993 a new system of school centred ITT (SCITT) was launched. This is mainly postgraduate training that is designed and delivered by a group of schools.

The numbers of students undertaking initial teacher training in higher education institutions are given in the following table:
Table 1: Number of students in higher education institutions undertaking initial teacher training

Region	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05
Southend	—	—	—	—	—
Essex	417	425	460	459	426
Outer London	2,962	2,971	3,202	3,629	3,836
Inner London	2,435	2,489	2,307	2,405	2,464
England	45,499	46,188	48,674	50,299	50,600

The number of students undertaking initial teacher training in SCITTs are given in the following table:
Table 2: Number of students in SCITTs undertaking initial teacher training

Region	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05
Southend	24	23	27	29	29
Essex	96	100	102	147	159
Outer London	62	74	67	64	41
Inner London	90	110	131	111	109
England	1,099	1,213	1,451	1,578	1,763

This data is taken from the TTA Trainee Numbers Census 2000–04 and does not include employment based routes into teaching.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what legal action has been taken against the liquidators of training and enterprise councils by her Department; and what assessment she has made of the impact on the former TECs pension funds of legal action. [9329]

Phil Hope: My Department has not had recourse to take any legal action against the liquidators of TECs, although we did appoint an administrative receiver in four instances to ensure the best interests of TEC pensioners were adhered to and to help safeguard public funds.
 
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No assessment has therefore been made of the impact on former TECs' pension funds of legal action.

Tuition Fees

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State forEducation and Skills how much has been raised from student tuition fees in each year since their introduction. [9987]

Bill Rammell: Students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families are expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition only if they can afford to do so.

The amount of private contribution to tuition fees bystudents from England, Wales, and the European Union from 1999/2000 to 2004/05 is given in the table. This does not include Government expenditure on the fee remission grant.
Private contributions to tuition fees for students domiciled in England, Wales, or the European Union for academic years 1999/2000⁽¹⁰⁷⁾ to 2004/05

Academic year	£ million
1999/2000	199.2
2000/01	309.2
2001/02	373.3
2002/03	403.1
2003/04	420.1
2004/05(108)	435.8

⁽¹⁰⁷⁾Tuition fees were introduced in academic year 1998/99, however as that year was treated as a transitional year, data are not available on the same basis as subsequent years.
⁽¹⁰⁸⁾Provisional (as at 31 March 2005)
Source:
Student Loans Company

Data do not include expenditure for those students who decide not to apply for any support with their fees and instead make the full payment direct to the institution.
 
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UK Skills Base

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made on the link between the UK skills base and productivity growth and if she will make a statement. [11098]

Phil Hope: The quantity and quality of skilled labour available in an economy is an important determinant of economic performance and productivity growth. Research has shown that, in terms of GDP per hour, 12 per cent. of the productivity gap with France and one-fifth of the productivity gap with Germany is due to the UK's relative skills level.

In addition to skills investment, innovation, enterprise and competition are all key drivers of productivity growth. These drivers are complementary and interdependent.

More evidence on the links between skills and productivity can be found at http://www.hm-treasury. gov.uk/documents/enterprise_and_productivitv/ent_ index.cfm

UK-Israel Joint Programmes

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the joint academic and research programmes involving the UK and Israel which have received UK Government funding since 2000. [9834]

Bill Rammell: DfES funding for university teaching and research in England is in the form of a block grant, and universities have flexibility to allocate it as they wish between Departments and programmes. We do not monitor which programmes receive funding. The research councils are the other major Government funders of academic research: they do not have any formal co-funding programmes with Israeli funding agencies, but have awarded some funding for projects, including funding to enable collaborations between UK and Israeli researchers.

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