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21 Nov 2005 : Column 1624W—continued
Nutritional Standards
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations her Department has received regarding extending the introduction of minimum nutritional standards in schools to children's homes and other accommodation for looked-after children; and what representations her Department has made to the Commission for Social Care Inspection in relation to nutritional standards regarding the planned review of national minimum standards for children's services. [29538]
Maria Eagle: My Department has received no representations regarding extending the introduction of minimum nutritional standards in schools to children's homes and other placement settings for looked after children, nor has it made any representations about nutritional standards to the Commission for Social Inspection (CSCI).
The review of all national minimum standards for children's social services is being taken forward as a joint project involving the Department for Education Skills, Department of Health and CSCI. The review will consider what changes are needed to ensure that children's social services are regulated and inspected in line with the Government's 10 principles for inspection. Nutrition for looked after children who are living in regulated settings, including children's homes, will be considered as a part the review. A full public consultation will be held on all key proposals.
Offender Learning
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the re-apportionment of funds as laid out in Priorities for Success" will affect offender learning. [28572]
Phil Hope:
The Learning and Skills Council's document Priorities for Success" and the Secretary of State's grant letter to the LSC for 2006–07 both stress the importance of learning and skills for offenders as the LSC moves to take full responsibility for planning and funding this group of learners from 31 July 2006. The resources transferring from the Department to the LSC to fund these new responsibilities will be ring-fenced for offender learning.
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Engagement of offender learning with mainstream provision is a key benefit of the LSC taking up its new responsibilities. Priorities for Success" will mean mainstream providers are encouraged to focus on the needs of offender learners, especially those who continue courses of study that were started while in custody, with a consequent focusing of the public funds already in the system onto this priority group.
Offender Learning Schemes
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2005, Official Report, columns 124–25W, on offender learning schemes, whether she expects the proposals to be published before Christmas. [28942]
Phil Hope: Yes, it is our intention to publish the proposals prior to Christmas.
Post-16 Funding
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Worcester of 27 October 2005, Official Report, column 478W, on post-16 funding, when she expects to make an announcement on the action she plans to take. [30717]
Bill Rammell: The Secretary of State announced on 16 November 2005 our plans for narrowing the funding gap between school sixth forms and Further Education (FE) colleges for like-for-like 16–19 provision. We recognise that the funding gap will not be easy to close but we have taken some important steps in the funding package we announced on 21 October 2005. We have confirmed that for young people in FE in 2006/07 we will match the Schools' Minimum Funding Guarantee, which will be announced later this year. We estimate that this, together with other measures to correct technical anomalies, will reduce the gap from 13 per cent. to 8 per cent. by 2006/07. From 2008 we will look to bring consistency to the treatment of student retention and achievement across school sixth forms and colleges which we expect to narrow the gap by a further 3 per cent.. Beyond that we will work to establish a common funding approach across the two sectors as part of the Learning and Skills Council's Agenda for Change.
Private Sector Training Expenditure
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much (a) manufacturing, (b) construction, (c) food and drink and (d) financial services industries have spent on education and training in each of the last five years. [24996]
Phil Hope: Analysis of the National Employers Skills Survey (2004) indicates that the estimated annual employer expenditure on training by sector was as follows: Manufacturing—£440 million; Construction—£240 million; Food and Drink—£80 million; and Financial services—£280 million.
This is the expenditure that employers reported as their (out of pocket)" expenses only, and does not take into account internal training costs nor the cost of employees being away from their workplaces. The National Employers Skills Survey (2005) will address
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these issues and provide a more accurate reflection of the actual employer expenditure on Education and Training.
Comparable data for previous years is not available.
Protection of Children
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) referrals, (b) Provisional Listings and (c) Confirmed Listings have been made to the Protection of Children Act List since it was established; and if she will make a statement. [29349]
Maria Eagle: Since the establishment of the Protection of Children Act List in October 2000 there have been:
Additionally there have been 791 Provisional Listings and 81 Confirmed Listings as a result of cross referral from the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Scheme.
There are currently 1,276 people on the Protection of Children Act List. This is made up from the figures above and individuals whose names were transferred from the Consultancy Service Index, which was maintained by the Department of Health prior to the introduction of the Protection of Children Act.
Pupil Statistics
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged between five and 11 years are in full-time state education; and what estimate she has made of the figure for 2010. [27769]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is shown in the table.
(31) Includes solely and dually registered pupils.
(32) Age as at 31 August 2004.
(33) Source: Annual Schools' Census.
(34) Age as at 31 August 2009.
(35) Source: DfES.
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Schools
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what capital funding her Department (a) provides and (b) facilitates for rural schools for premises expansion. [29593]
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Jacqui Smith: The Department provides capital investment that can be used for premises expansion, including at rural schools, through the following programmes. We cannot break this down for just rural schools.
Note:
(36) Includes £1.2/£1.25/£1.3 billion of PFI credits
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Westmorland and Lonsdale are expected to have a budget deficit in the 2005–06 financial year. [30462]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not yet available. The Department is due to collect the section 52 outturn data relating to the 2005–06 financial year from October 2006.
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