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Commission for Equality and Human Rights
24. Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality when she plans to appoint the members of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. [67748]
Meg Munn: We hope to appoint the chair of the new commission by summer this year, with commissioners and the chief executive to follow in late autumn.
Equality Audits
Anne Moffat: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what her assessment is of the merits of equality audits. [68063]
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Meg Munn: Equal pay audits or reviews can identify unlawful pay inequalities between men and women. The Equal Opportunities Commission has developed a useful toolkit which describes a model equal pay review process. This is available on their website at www.eoc.org.uk.
The merits of equal pay reviews in addressing the gender pay gap were most recently independently examined by the Women and Work Commission. The commission found that there were pros and cons to undertaking an equal pay review depending on the issues or activities which have most potential impact on women's opportunities and pay in a particular company or sector. For example, there may not be any unlawful inequality in pay between men and women but greater access to flexible working could enable more women to reach higher and better paid positions in an organisation or company.
Job Sharing
Anne Moffat: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps she is taking to encourage employers to provide job shares. [68062]
Meg Munn: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) on 28 February 2006, Official Report, column 658W.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Advanced Skills Teacher Programme
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what financial support the Department has committed to the advanced skills teacher programme. [66036]
Jacqui Smith: Since the introduction of the Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) grade in 1998 the Department has provided grant funding for AST posts through the Standards Fund.
By the end of 2007–08 the Department will have committed £455 million through the standards fund to the AST programme, made up of £310 million in government grant and £145 million in required local authority contributions.
Since April 2004 the level of grant funding specifically for ASTs has been fixed nationally to reflect the number of posts in existence in each local authority at the start of that financial year. New local funding flexibilities mean that schools and local authorities can chose to fund additional AST posts either using delegated funding or other appropriate grant funding.
In addition to this the Department funds the external assessment of teachers against the AST standards which applicants for AST posts must meet. Total funding for AST assessment up to and including financial year 2004–05 is £3.4 million. Figures for 2005–06 are not yet available.
Arson
Chris Ruane:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total number of arson
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attacks was for the 100 (a) primary and (b) secondary schools with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest percentage of children receiving free school meals in each of the last 10 years. [66093]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information is not available.
Children's Centres
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children's centres have been established in each month since November 2004; what the location is of each; and if she will make a statement. [67411]
Beverley Hughes: I have placed in the Library copies of a table listing the numbers of children's centres designated in each month since November 2004. The figure for each month is broken down by local authority.
The first phase of children's centres from 2004–06 focused on creating children's centres in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, building largely on existing provision. Children's centres were offering services to over 650,000 children by the end of March 2006.
For phase 2 (2006–08), centres will begin to be established in the relatively less disadvantaged areas, to meet the interim objective of creating 2,500 children's centres by March 2008. Our aim is to have 3,500 children's centres across the country by 2010, one for every community.
Creationism
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the teaching of creationism in schools in England. [67195]
Jacqui Smith: Creationism is not taught as a subject in schools, and is not specified in the science curriculum.
The National Curriculum for science clearly sets down that pupils should be taught that the fossil record is evidence for evolution, and how variation and selection may lead to evolution or extinction.
Creationism could be discussed in RE lessons as one of the many religious views on how the world was created.
Education Expenditure
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the total public expenditure per head of population on (a) capital and (b) running costs of education was for the Metropolitan area of (i)Greater Manchester, (ii) West Yorkshire, (iii) South Yorkshire, (iv) West Midlands, (v) Merseyside, (vi) Tyne and Wear and (vii) South Tyneside in each of the last 10 years; [67280]
(2) what the total public expenditure per head of population on (a) capital and (b) running costs of education was in (i) London and (ii) each of the English regions in each of the last 10 years. [67321]
Jacqui Smith:
Information on education expenditure is not collected on the basis requested. Annual expenditure returns are made on the basis of current
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local authority areas, and do not relate expenditure to general population. It would be possible to aggregate local authority figures to give overall figures for current Government Office regions, but these would again not be related to population.
Equal Pay
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are undertaken within her Department to ensure that women are obtaining equal pay to men doing work of equal value. [65850]
Maria Eagle: The Department carries out equal pay reviews. The gender analysis, covering the three-year pay settlement from April 2003 to March 2006, did not identify any inequality in the pay of women.
EU Students (Loans)
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students from other EU member states who received loans for study at a higher education institution in England defaulted on repayment of those loans in each of the last five years. [66429]
Bill Rammell: For the past five years students from other EU member states have not been entitled to student loans.
Exclusions
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the exclusion rates were for the 100 (a) primary and (b) secondary schools with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest percentage of children receiving free school meals in each of the last three years. [65992]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information has been placed in the Library. Figures relate to children educated in schools in England only.
Exclusions data for the 2004/05 academic year are expected to be available in June 2006.
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Educationand Skills how many pupils in (a) Wakefield District and (b) Normanton constituency have been permanently excluded from school in each of the last five years. [66025]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information is given in the tables.
Figures for the number of permanent exclusions during 2004/05 academic year are expected to be available in June 2006.
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(5)The number of exclusions expressed as a percentage of the total number of pupils on the school roll in January of the same school year. Excludes dually registered pupils.
(6)There are known quality issues with exclusions data for these years. Figures shown here are as reported by schools but are unconfirmed and should be used with caution.
(7)1 or 2 exclusions, or a rate based on 1 or 2 exclusions
Source:
Annual Schools Census
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