| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 May 2006 : Column 1588W—continued
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Academies
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much her Department has spent to date to promote academies; and how many people are employed (a) in her Department and (b) as consultants for that purpose. [64687]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested in this question relating to costs of promotion is not held in a form that could be retrieved except at disproportionate cost—the term 'promotion' could be interpreted to mean any activity in relation to the Academies programme and the scope of the question covers the six years the programme has been operating.
Within the Academies Group in the DfES there are as at today's date 81 staff and 19 consultants, these staff carry out a range of functions including policy, delivery, communications and educational support.
3 May 2006 : Column 1589W
Bookstart
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what is the cost of Bookstart since the programme began; and how many books have been purchased so far under the scheme; [66742]
(2) how many books have been (a) delivered to and (b) collected by parents under the Bookstart scheme; and how many are awaiting collection. [66741]
Maria Eagle [holding answer 27 April 2006]: The cost of Bookstart since the programme began in 1992 is £20.72 million, of which £12.91 million is Government funding.
Since 1999, the Bookstart programme has purchased 13.1 million books and given more than 11.6 million books to parents. The difference in these two figures represents a rolling level of stock across the UK. We cannot further break down these figures. Pre-1999 figures are not available.
Each local authority conducts an end of year stocktake to estimate how much stock remains to be carried over to the next year. At the end of 2005–06, the estimated carry over figure was 130,000 or approximately 600 books per scheme.
British Edutrust Foundation
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) meetings and (b) correspondence Ministers have had with the British Edutrust Foundation. [65277]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 24 April 2006]: Ministers have had no meetings or correspondence with the British Edutrust Foundation. Lord Adonis has met with Lord Bhatia, who is the recently appointed chair of the foundation, on a number of occasions as listed as follows:
Friday 11 November at Windsor Castle where Lord Adonis gave the key note speech at the British Muslim conference.
Three meetings at the Department on Wednesday 23 November 2005, Thursday 15 December 2005 and Tuesday 24 January 2006
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the decision was taken that Rhodesway school in Bradford would become an academy sponsored by the British Edutrust Foundation. [65278]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 24 April 2006]: Ministerial clearance was given on 16 March for the release of funding for the feasibility phase to enable the British Edutrust Foundation to develop plans to establish a new academy to meet the local learning needs in Rhodesway in Bradford.
Child Protection
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what date she replied to the letter from Norfolk county council of 12 December 2005 regarding Paul Reeve. [47277]
3 May 2006 : Column 1590W
Ruth Kelly: My Department received correspondence from Norfolk county council dated 21 December.2005 and acknowledged receipt, as requested, on 22 December 2005. My officials responded in full to Norfolk county council on 7 February 2006.
Departmental Advertising Costs
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much (a) her Department and (b) its agencies spent on advertising for job vacancies in each of the last five years. [65967]
Maria Eagle [holding answer 25 April 2006]: The information requested is not collected centrally in the format requested and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
When the business needs of the Department require an external recruitment campaign each case is considered separately. External recruitment agencies, drawn from the Cabinet Office Central Framework Agreement, support delivery of all campaigns based on a set of agreed criteria.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Wirral, West have received the education maintenance allowance. [62353]
Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, who operate Education Maintenance Allowances for the DfES and hold the information about take-up of the scheme. Mark Haysom, the council's chief executive has written to the hon. Gentleman with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 25 April 2006:
I am writing in response to your parliamentary question that asked how many children in Wirral West have received Education Maintenance Allowance?"
Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received EMA is available at local education authority (LEA) level, but not at constituency level. By the end of February 2006, 3,294 young people in the Wirral LEA area had received one or more EMA payments in the academic year 2005/06.
First Level 3
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many 19 to 25 year olds are studying for a first level 3 in (a) each region and (b) England. [66758]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 27 April 2006]: The following table shows the number of 19–25 year olds who were studying for a full NVQ level 3 or equivalent qualification 1 in Further Education and work based learning in the academic year 2004/05, by region.
Source:
Individualised Learner Record, 2004/05
3 May 2006 : Column 1591W
We estimate that of the 147 thousand 19–25 year olds in England who were studying for a full level 3 in 2004/05, 70,000 were studying for a first full level 3 qualification. We do not have estimates for 'firstness' at a regional level.
Further/Higher Education
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of secondary school pupils went on to further or higher education in (a) Taunton constituency and (b) England in each year since 1997. [64347]
Bill Rammell:
Figures on participation in further education by young people are not available for parliamentary constituencies, but are available for local
3 May 2006 : Column 1592W
authorities—including Somerset, 2004 is the latest available year. The figures are shown in the following table.
| Somerset | England | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 72 | 70 |
| 1998 | 73 | 70 |
| 1999 | 73 | 72 |
| 2000 | 73 | 71 |
| 2001 | 72 | 71 |
| 2002 | 75 | 72 |
| 2003 | 76 | 72 |
| 2004 | 75 | 73 |
The latest available figures on participation in higher education by constituency were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in January 2005 in Young Participation in England", which is available from their website at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/ This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by constituency, for the years 1997 to 2000. The figures for Taunton, and the comparable figure for England, are shown in the following table. HEFCE have not produced participation figures beyond 2000.
(3) Participation rates for constituencies are reported to the nearest whole number.
Source:
Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The total numbers of entrants from Taunton for each year since 2001/02 are given in the following table:
| 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 18–19 | 480 | 490 | 460 | 495 |
| Aged over 19 | 540 | 535 | 585 | 610 |
| Total entrants | 1,020 | 1,025 | 1,050 | 1,105 |
Note:
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5, so components may not sum to totals
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
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 2004/05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at constituency level.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |