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9 Jan 2006 : Column 397W—continued

Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood dated 26 October regarding Aston Manor School, Birmingham. [36994]

Jacqui Smith: I responded to this letter on 21 December.

Departmental Estate

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the former (a) buildings and (b) land of (i) her Department and (ii) (A) non-departmental public bodies, (B) agencies and (C) independent statutory bodies for which her Department is responsible which have been sold since 7 May 1997; what the sale price of each (1) was at the time of sale and (2) is at current prices; and whether the money accrued was (x) retained by her Department and (y) claimed by the Treasury. [40146]

Maria Eagle: The information is as follows:
Land and buildings sold by DfES since 7 May 1997

Property	Date of disposal	Disposal value (£)
Swindon Skillcentre	1 August 1997	1,435,850
Letchworth Skillcentre	1 October 1998	1,500,000
East Lane House Runcorn	6 May 2003	1,300,000
Total		4,235,850

All of the receipts were remitted to Treasury as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent on advertising by (a) her Department, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which her Department is responsible and (c) each independent statutory body, organisation and body financially sponsored by her Department in each year since May 1997. [39091]

 
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Maria Eagle: My Department's expenditure on advertising for the last five years is set out as follows:

	Advertising spend (£ million)
1997–98	7.5
1998–99	10.0
1999–2000	11.9
2000–01	23.9
2001–02	16.6
2002–03	11.3
2003–04	16.9
2004–05	11.8
2005–06 (Spend to date)	2.4

All expenditure is exclusive of VAT. It is only possible at disproportionate cost to provide detail of expenditure on advertising for non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies or dependent statutory bodies.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many widescreen televisions have been purchased by her Department for use in London Headquarters in each of the last five years; and what the cost was in each year. [39143]

Maria Eagle: The information could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by her Department on taxi travel in the 2005–06 financial year; and what proportion of such travel was undertaken in each nation and region of the United Kingdom, including London. [37464]

Bill Rammell: There is no central record of taxi usage and an assessment of the staff time and associated costs could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Publications

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the publications from her Department which have been sent to teachers during 2005. [39910]

Jacqui Smith: The Department ceased sending publications automatically to schools in England on a phased basis between April and December 2004. Discussions with Head teachers and detailed research showed that schools wanted to be able to choose the printed publications they needed, when they needed them, and to be able to order multiple copies.

We have given schools this choice by introducing an online ordering system which enables schools to choose whether to download electronic copies or order the paper based publications they need at the right time for them and in the multiples they require. This system is linked directly to the fulfilment service and an existing telephone ordering line. A fortnightly email service to schools informs them of new and important publications.

This has resulted in schools being able to order a wider variety of publications from the Department, putting schools in direct control of what they receive, when they receive it.
 
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Departmental Report

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 940W, on the departmental report, how much funding was received by each of the programmes aggregated under other miscellaneous programmes in table 12.2 of her Department's 2005 departmental report. [38687]

Bill Rammell: The amount of funding allocated in 2005–06 to each programme aggregated under other miscellaneous programmes in table 12.2 of the Department for Education and Skills 2005 departmental report is shown as follows:

	2005–06 plans (£000)
Schools
Physical Education and Sport	105,000
City Technology Colleges	82,600
Targeted Improvement Grant/Excellence in Cities	18,800
School Enterprise Initiative	61,100
Education Action Zones	32,100
Key Stage Central	53,000
Other programmes to Support Secondary Education	14,000
Teaching and Learning/ Gifted and Talented Pupils	18,700
Modern Foreign Languages	36,400
Inclusion Programmes (including Behaviour and Aim Higher)	14,600
Music and Ballet Scheme	18,300
British Education Communications and Technology Agency	12,000
Premature Retirement Compensation for Teachers in Voluntary Colleges	11,500
Innovations Fund	10,000
Teachers Pensions—Contractual Costs	9,100
Licensing for School Activities	8,700
School Performance and Accountability—Assessment team	6,400
Assisted Places Scheme	2,500
Research on School Performance	2,500
Energy Savings Trust and Learning Through Landscapes	500
ICT Development and Evaluation	2,000
Teachers' Medical Fees	1,000
Total	520,800
Higher Education
Student Support Contingency Reserve	132,800
Aim Higher	56,000
Foundation Degree Marketing	18,700
European University—Initiative Subscription	2,800
Europe International Services	1,000
College of Europe Bologna Centre	300
European University Institute Bursaries	300
Student Loans Debt Sale Adjustment(93)	-6,400
Total	205,500
Support for Children, Young People and Families
Extended Schools	75,000
Vulnerable Children Grant	39,400
Parenting Fund and Activities Supporting Parenting	28,800
Family Fund Trust	22,800
Youth Related Activities	19,800
Special Education Needs including support for Early Years, Communications Aid Project, Disability Tribunal and Non-maintained Special Schools	31,600
Change Fund	14,600
Teenage Pregnancy	12,000
Information Sharing and Assessment	11,800
Disabled Access: Youth Service	8,000
Communication Unit	7,900
Local Authority Capacity and Intervention	6,000
DirectGov	4,700
Section 64 Grant to Voluntary Sector	4,200
Children's Commissioner	3,000
Publicity	3,000
Participation Fund	2,500
Adoption Services	2,000
Invest to Save Funded Children's Agenda Programmes	1,700
Child Contract Centres	1,700
Child Protection Co-ordinators	1,300
Quality Protects Regional Development Fund	1,300
Total	303,100
Further Education, Adult Learning, Skills and Lifelong Learning
FE Teach Learn Train Bursary	95,500
Student Support	38,000
International Education Programmes	20,300
International Labour Organisation Subscription	9,100
Management Information Across Partners	2,800
Bridging Allowance for 16 to 19-year-olds	1,300
Total	167,000
Activities to Support all Functions
E-portals	1,400

⁽⁹³⁾ This represents a gain resulting from an adjustment in the calculation of the student loans debt.



 
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Departmental Staff

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer of 29 November 2005, Official Report, column 478W and column 321W, on departmental staff, how much was spent by the Learning and Skills Council on the development of basic skills (a) within her Department and (b) in all Government Departments in the last year for which figures are available. [36028]

Bill Rammell: Improving the skills of workers who are delivering public services is a key priority for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and they secure basic skills provision through a range of sources, including further education colleges, to meet local needs. As the information requested is of an operational nature Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive, has written to the hon. Member with further information. A copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.

Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 21 December 2005:

I write in response to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, where you asked how much was spent by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on the development of basic skills a) within her Department and b) within Government departments generally, in the last year for which figures are available. The Parliamentary Question was referred to the LSC by Bill Rammell for me to write to you with further information.

The LSC funds colleges and other education and training providers to provide basic skills training to individuals and employers. Whilst the Council has a strategic interest in the total numbers of individuals undertaking basic skills training, we do not routinely collect data on the employers of individual learners. Therefore the Council has no data on any provision of basic skills training to individuals working within government departments (including the Department for Education and Skills). In addition the Council has no agreement for direct funding of basic skills provision within government departments (including the Department for Education and Skills). Neither are we aware of any direct agreement between any of our funded providers and government departments (including the Department for Education and Skills) for the provision of basic skills.

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many civil servants in her Department worked from home for at least one day a week in the last year for which figures are available. [40292]

 
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Maria Eagle: My Department does not monitor the number of staff who work from home centrally and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, within the newly launched 10 point plan Delivering a Diverse Civil Service" there is senior leadership commitment to work life balance and all senior civil service (SCS) and feeder grade posts should be available on a flexible working pattern basis unless robust and objective justification is provided.

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