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27 Oct 2005 : Column 481W—continued
Pupil Referral Units
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role pupil referral units play in supporting children in education. [21081]
Jacqui Smith:
Local authorities use pupil referral units (PRUs) as part of a spectrum of provision to meet the educational needs of pupils in their area who, for
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reasons of illness, exclusion or otherwise, are unable to attend mainstream schools.
The main role of PRUs is to ensure that pupils continue to receive an education while not attending mainstream or special schools. PRUs offer their pupils additional support and motivation in order to prepare them for reintegration to mainstream schooling. However, pupils will only be readmitted into
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mainstream settings when they are ready to benefit from it without disrupting the learning of other pupils. Pupils who need to remain in PRUs for longer periods are offered an education which is appropriate to their age, ability, aptitude and to any specific needs they may have.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Departmental Finance
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what core elements make up the £6,459,000 spent by his Department on planning. [20748]
Yvette Cooper: In 2004–05 the administration expenditure of the planning directorate within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was £6,827,726. The core elements were the staff and non-pay running costs of delivering:
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Fire Control Centres
David Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what he estimates the total cost will be of establishing the nine regional fire control centres. [22244]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) on the 14 October 2005, Official Report, columns 609–10W.
David Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total annual running costs were of emergency fire control rooms in each of the last five years. [22245]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Fire and Rescue Authorities do not keep separate figures for their total spending on control centres: the CIPFA statistics cover control room staffing costs only. Therefore the FiReControl project had to commission detailed work on current and forecast costs as a basis for the FiReControl Business Case in 2004. The current version of the business case includes an average forecast cost of £75.6 million per annum as total cost of providing control services from 2004–05 to 2006–07, at 2004 prices.
David Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the initial estimates were of the cost of establishing the nine regional fire control centres. [22246]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Initial estimates of the cost of establishing nine regional control centres were provided in the Strategic Outline Business Case, which was based on the report by Mott MacDonald 'The Future of Fire and Rescue Service Control Rooms in England and Wales: Update 2003'. Mott MacDonald calculated that over a 10 year period, at 2004 prices, the regional control option would deliver a total net saving of £155 million. It estimated project costs at £100 million, comprising project management costs, technology costs, accommodation costs and redundancy. The Outline Business Case (available on www.firecontrol.odpm.gov.uk) was based on more detailed work and different assumptions, so the costs shown in that cannot be directly compared with the Mott MacDonald costs.
Key Worker Living Initiative
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homes have been built in (a) each borough in Hampshire, (b) Southampton and (c) Portsmouth under the Key Worker Living Initiative; and how many of these are occupied. [12754]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is as follows:
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Of the 310 units completed so far in Hampshire, 48 are occupied with a further 44 reserved or in the process of being bought/let. Of the 218 units not yet taken, 142 were completed since July, including 32 units in Portsmouth and 55 units in Southampton.
All Key Worker Living units in Hampshire have now been given an expanded eligibility criteria in response to local market conditions.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate the Government have made of the average proportion of local government expenditure that is financed from council tax in (a) local authorities in England, (b) district councils, (c) unitary councils, (d) London boroughs, (e) Metropolitan authorities and (f) county councils. [19916]
Mr. Woolas: The average percentage of Revenue Expenditure 1 that is financed from council tax for 2005–06 is tabled.
1 Revenue Expenditure comprises expenditure financed from formula grants, specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance, council taxes and the use of reserves.
| Percentage | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | England | 25.4 |
| (b) | Shire district councils | 42.9 |
| (c) | Unitary councils | 24.7 |
| (d) | London boroughs (including City) | 21.4 |
| (e) | Metropolitan borough councils | 20.6 |
| (f) | County councils | 30.8 |
Source:
RA returns to ODPM
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate the Government have made of the average gearing ratio in (a) local authorities in England, (b) district councils, (c) unitary councils, (d) London boroughs, (e) Metropolitan authorities and (f) county councils. [19914]
Mr. Woolas: The gearing ratio is a measure of the impact that increasing budgets has on council taxes. Listed in the following table are average gearing ratios derived from data on RA returns supplied to Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for 2005–06. The ratios have been calculated as revenue expenditure divided by the council tax requirement for the relevant authorities:
| Average gearing ratios | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | England | 3.9 |
| (b) | Shire district councils | 2.3 |
| (c) | Unitary councils | 4.0 |
| (d) | London boroughs | 4.7 |
| (e) | Metropolitan district councils | 4.9 |
| (f) | County councils | 3.2 |
Pathfinder Renewal Project
Jim Cousins:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the electoral wards in Newcastle and Gateshead where the demolition programme funded by the
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Newcastle-Gateshead Pathfinder in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 are to take place, broken down by number in each ward. [21773]
Yvette Cooper: Demolitions funded by the Newcastle Gateshead housing market renewal pathfinder have taken place in the following wards:
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