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30 Nov 2005 : Column 542W—continued
Extended Schools Programme
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what estimate she has made of the number of schools in (a) West Yorkshire, (b) Wakefield district and (c) Normanton constituency that will be delivering extended services in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008; and to how many children and parents such provision will be available; [32437]
(2) how much has been allocated to (a) the local authority and (b) local schools in Wakefield to develop and roll out the extended schools programme in (i) 2005–06, (ii) 2006–07, (iii) 2007–08 and (iv) 2008–09 financial years. [32438]
Beverley Hughes:
This Government want all schools to provide access to a core offer of extended services by 2010, with half of all primary and a third of all secondary schools doing so by 2008. We want to see at least 2,500 schools providing access to the core offer by September 2006. The core offer, which should be available to all parents and pupils of the school, comprises: high quality child care; a varied menu of study support activities; parenting support programmes; swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialised support services; and wider community access. It will be for individual local authorities, in discussion with all schools in their area, to take a strategic approach to developing access to the core offer through schools. This will include determining how many primary and secondary schools develop access to the core offer in each year. On 29 September 2005 my Department published its report on the baseline survey of extended services in schools which it commissioned earlier in the year. The survey showed that nationally the
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vast majority of schools were providing access to some form of extended activity. The survey did not provide figures at local authority level.
On 13 June 2005 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced funding of £790 million over 2005–08 to support the development of extended schools. £110 million of this was allocated in 2005–06 and Wakefield received £815,005. Of the £680 million to be allocated across 2006–08, £250 million will go direct to schools through the School Standards Grant and the formula for calculating each school's allocation for 2006–07 will be announced in the near future. The remaining £430 million will be distributed to local authorities through the Standards Fund and the General Sure Start Grant. Of this Wakefield will receive £1,203,051 in 2006–07 and £1,453,835 in 2007–08. Funding will be released to schools in accordance with each local authority's extended schools strategy. My Department wrote to each local authority on 13 June 2005 detailing what their extended schools allocation, excluding the School Standards Grant, will be over the period 2005–08.
Funding for extended schools beyond 2007–08 is subject to the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007 when the Department will be reviewing all its programme budgets.
Information Sharing Protocols
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 31 October 2005, Official Report, column 821W, on information sharing protocols, which local authorities were 'a bit behind' in (a) March 2004 and (b) July 2004. [30681]
Beverley Hughes: The Green Paper 'Every Child Matters', published in September 2003, required local authorities to meet nine minimum requirements in relation to information sharing. These included putting in place information sharing protocols, covering health, education and social care, and to have them in development with other agencies providing services to children and young people, by March 2004. All 150 top-tier local authorities were provided with funding in the financial year 2003–04 to meet these requirements.
Independent research carried out by Royal Holloway, University of London reported that 43 authorities were 'a bit behind' in March 2004. Royal Holloway did a further check in July 2004 which indicated only 10 local authorities were still in this category. The authorities are as listed in A and B respectively.
A more recent assessment of local authorities' progress carried out by our Regional Change Advisers in October 2005 indicates that a further four of these 10 authorities—Lambeth, North East Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Sandwell—have put information sharing protocols in place. Regional Change Advisers will continue to work with the remaining authorities to help them develop effective information sharing arrangements.
Requirement—have protocols for information sharing in place, covering health, education and social care; and in development for other agencies providing services to children and young people.
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A: Local authorities reported as 'a bit behind' in March 2004
B: Local authorities reported as 'a bit behind' in July 2004
Marshall Aid/Scholarships
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the criteria are for a scholarship under the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953; and if she will make a statement. [29844]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
The criteria for awarding Marshall scholarships, as laid down in the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act 1953, are that recipients must be:
...citizens of the United States of America, who are graduates of recognised institutions of higher learning in the United States of America..."
There are no references to selection in the Act of 1959, but the current administrative regulations do establish further criteria, a copy of them will be placed in the Library of the House.
Post-16 Education
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much (a) capital and (b) revenue spending has been allocated for the education of 16 to 19-year-olds in (i) school sixth forms, (ii) sixth form colleges and (iii) further education colleges in Warrington in each year since 1997. [26584]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 9 November 2005]: As the allocation of funding in local areas relates to the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) operational responsibilities. The LSC's chief executive Mark Haysom has written to my hon. Friend with the information requested for sixth form colleges, further education colleges and the revenue information for schools sixth forms since 2002–03. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library. However, we are not able to provide details of capital spend for schools sixth forms as capital allocations for investment in schools have not separately identified funding for sixth form provision. Decisions on priorities for capital investment in schools have been taken locally in accordance with local asset management plans. The new 16–19 Joint Capital Fund will combine schools and post-16 budgets bringing greater coherence to investment decisions on projects requiring investment in new post-16 education and training provision.
Before the LSC took on the responsibility, in 2002–03, of funding for sixth-formers in schools, local authorities were provided with allocations for these pupils through the post 16" and Other" sub-blocks of the Education Standard Spending Assessment. Further funding for schools with sixth forms has been provided to authorities through grants such as the School Standards Grant and the Standards Fund. However, it is not possible to determine how much of the funding through formula or grants has been directed towards sixth forms since it is for the authority to decide how much funding an individual school receives, and a school to direct appropriate resources towards its sixth form. Any apportionment is likely to be inaccurate.
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Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 30 November 2005:
I write following your Parliamentary Question about capital and revenue funding for 16–19 year olds in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and further education colleges in Warrington since 1997. I thought it might also be helpful to pick up a couple of related points following the evidence that Chris Banks and I gave to the recent Education and Skills Select Committee on 7 November.
I should begin by explaining that there are a number of limitations on the information that the Learning and Skills Council can provide in response to your question on funding. Firstly, as the LSC was established in April 2001 I cannot provide information prior to April 2001. Those allocations (including for the 2001–02 academic year) were made by one of the LSC's predecessor agencies, the former Further Education Funding Council (FEFC).
Secondly, school sixth forms did not come under the LSC's remit until the 2002–03 academic year; until that time revenue funding was allocated by Warrington's local education authority. Similarly, capital funding for school sixth forms is not currently within the LSC's remit and so we cannot provide those figures.
Finally, in relation to capital expenditure, the elements of capital spending in colleges that relate specifically to 16–19 year olds are difficult to apportion, as most further education college facilities are used by adult learners as well as 16–19 year olds. The same is true of sixth form college facilities, although to a lesser extent.
revenue funding for 16–19 year olds in the town's further education college (Warrington Collegiate) and sixth form college (Priestley College) from 2002–03 to 2005–06
(33) Allocations made by LEA
(34) Allocations made by FEFC
Note:
The amount actually paid each year might vary from the allocation by around 2–3 per cent. depending on how far learner numbers differ from the projections on which allocations were based.
Capital projects in sixth form colleges and further education colleges are funded on the same basis. Until 2003 there was an assumption that the LSC would provide approximately 35% of the costs of a project, with the exception of works needed to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) which receive a higher level of funding (up to 75%). The balance would be from a variety of sources that might include colleges' cash reserves, the proceeds from the sale of surplus land, private finance or buildings borrowing.
However, since 2003 LSC capital project funding has been based on affordability; if colleges can use their own cash reserves and borrow to a reasonable level they are now expected to do so before the LSC will agree the level of grant it will pay.
(35) Information not available as capital funding for sixth forms is not within the LSC remit
I should like to follow up some of the related questions put to Chris Banks and me by your colleagues on the Select Committee last week.
We discussed the findings of the Learning and Skills Development Agency's research into the funding gap for full-time 16–18 year old learners in schools and colleges. The report found that had FE colleges been funded on the same basis as school sixth forms, they would have received an additional 13%.
However, it did not suggest that simply uplifting college funding rates is the way to level the playing field, as the gap in the actual funding rate is only just over 2%. A large part of the difference is caused by technical issues such as special pensions arrangements for teachers in schools, differences in the way that data (particularly learner number information) is collected and used, and the impact of the Government's 'real terms guarantee' which stated that no school that maintained its student numbers would receive less funding in real terms under the LSC funding formula than under the previous LEA arrangements.
Today around one in seven schools still benefits from this guarantee by receiving more than they would under the LSC formula.
As Chris and I said last week, the funding inequity is one of the issues that the LSC's agenda for change" programme aims to address. When Sir David Normington and I gave evidence to the Committee of Public Accounts in October, Sir David reiterated the Government's commitment to narrowing the gap, but he noted that any changes must be carefully planned and rolled out so as not to destabilise the school system by simply taking money away from them to give to the colleges. By its very nature this process cannot be a quick one, but with our new funding arrangements we will make progress.
Finally, I should like to touch briefly on your concerns about funding for adult learning. I know that Liz Davis has written to you to explain the funding issues and I understand that Warrington Collegiate has historically taken a very inclusive approach to fee setting in order to ensure that those who are most in need of learning continue to be able to access it. Colleagues at the local LSC, together with the two colleges and Warrington Borough Council's community services department, met recently to discuss the best way to manage the impact of future changes and developments in adult learning in Warrington.
Although this group's discussions are at an early stage I have asked Liz to ensure that you are kept informed of progress over the coming weeks.
If you would like to discuss this or any of the matters in this letter in more detail I know that Liz would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience. Liz can be contacted on 01606 320022.
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