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Trust Schools

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in what way the financial arrangements for a trust school will differ from those in place for foundation schools. [38062]


 
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Jacqui Smith: Trust schools will be funded on exactly the same basis as other maintained schools, including foundation schools. They will receive multi-year revenue budgets from their local authority under the new school funding arrangements we are introducing from April 2006. They will receive direct capital funding on the national formula and have access to the substantial funding allocated to their authority and through the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Trust schools will also be subject to the same financial controls, including audit arrangements, as apply currently to maintained schools, through each local authority's statutory Scheme for Financing Schools.

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the legal duties and responsibilities of governors of trust schools will be under the proposals in the Schools White Paper. [37662]

Jacqui Smith: Under the proposals contained in the Higher Standards, Better Schools For All" White Paper, the duties and responsibilities of governing bodies of trust schools will be the same as those of the governing bodies of foundation schools.

The governing body of trust schools will, as do all governing bodies of maintained schools, have a legal duty to conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement. Their responsibilities include setting the strategic direction, objectives, targets and policies for the school, approving the school budget and reviewing progress against the budget, plans and targets, acting as a critical friend to the head teacher by providing support and challenge and appointing the head teacher. Governing bodies in trust schools will also employ their staff and be their own admissions authority, this is the same as in voluntary aided and foundation schools.

University Entrants

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils from (a) the Forest of Dean constituency and (b) Gloucestershire went on to university in each of the last five years. [36246]

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures on participation by constituency and region were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in January in Young Participation in England", which is available from their website at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/. This shows participation rates for constituencies and region for the years 1997 to 2000, and these are shown in the table.
Young participation rate (YPR(A))
Percentage

Year cohort aged 18 in:Forest of DeanGloucestershire
19973336
19983234
19992833
20003335




Source:
Higher Education Funding Council for England.




 
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The Department uses the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18–30 in higher education towards 50 per cent.: the latest provisional figure for 2003/04 is 43 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at constituency level.

Volunteering

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to promote the involvement of young people in volunteering. [38144]

Maria Eagle: The Youth Green Paper Youth Matters" sets out a number of broad areas of activity designed to encourage young people to volunteer and contribute to their community. It aims to test out more varied approaches to volunteering, in line with the Russell Commission's recommendations.

This includes, for example, expanding peer mentoring. The Chancellor has recently announced in his pre-Budget report a new investment aimed at introducing and evaluating more structured and formalised approaches to peer mentoring in schools. We will also be promoting more active citizenship approaches in schools, further and higher education and more volunteering in public services. We are building on the experience of Millennium Volunteers and the Young Volunteer Challenge to develop more flexible approaches to volunteering and to expand longer term volunteering opportunities.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Weir: To ask the Leader of the House how much was spent on external consultants and advisers by his Office in each year since May 1997. [39098]

Mr. Hoon: The information is as follows:

Consultants:

The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons employed one consultant on IT issues during August 2005 at a cost of £3,760.

Advisers:

The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons has not employed any external advisers since May 1997.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Leader of the House how much was spent on advertising by his Office in each year since May 1997. [39100]

Mr. Hoon: None. The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons does not spend any money on advertising.

PR Companies

Mr. Weir: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list the public relations companies that have had contracts with his Office since May 1997. [39099]

Mr. Hoon: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons has not had any contracts with public relations companies.
 
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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Barristers

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Solicitor-General if he will list the 10 barristers instructed to advise and represent in court his and other Departments through the Department who received the highest sums in the last financial year; how much each received in each case; and if he will make a statement. [23497]

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General is responsible for appointment and operation of the civil panel of Junior Counsel and First Treasury Junior Counsel. Government Departments instruct barristers on the Panel Departments may instruct Panel Counsel to provide advice outside the sphere of litigation. There is no central record of this and disproportionate cost would be incurred in collating this information from all Departments.

The 10 barristers instructed by the Inland Revenue, the then HMC&E DEFRA, DWP/DH and Treasury Solicitor who were paid the highest sums in the financial year ending 31 March 2005 to conduct civil litigation on behalf of the Crown and the amounts paid are:

Counsel
Amount paid in last financial year including VAT (£)
Philip Sales619,633.76
David Ewart347,578.46
Jonathan Crow287,883.78
Julie Anderson242,518.46
Nicholas Moss226,758.28
Jennifer Richards199,459.75
Leigh-Ann Mulcahy185,270.28
Lisa Giovannetti184,739.87
David Barr182,048.38
Robin Tam163,819.71

A number of qualifications need to be added to these figures:

The Crown, under the Panel Counsel system, has access to some of the very best advocates, who are appointed on merit following fair and open competition and represent excellent value for money.
 
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