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15 May 2006 : Column 775W—continued
Publications sent by the Secretary of State to all schools in England in 2004-05
The Department did not send any publications to all schools in 2004-05.
Departmental Staff (Post-Retirement Age)
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what opportunities exist for people to work beyond retirement age in his Department. [69040]
Mr. Dhanda: In the Department, people outside the senior civil service who continue to meet the normal standards of fitness and efficiency can choose to retire at any time from age 60-65. We currently do not allow anyone to stay on beyond age 65. However, we are reviewing our age retirement arrangements in line with the provisions of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 that came into effect from 1 October. A small project board is considering more fully the implications and opportunities offered by the regulations, before a decision is taken on the extent to which our age retirement arrangements can become more flexible, without impacting adversely on our operational and business needs.
Education and Inspections Bill
Ms Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which organisation conducted the racial equality impact assessment of the Education and Inspections Bill; and if he will make the assessment available on his Department's website. [70360]
Jim Knight: The Race Equality Impact Assessment on the Schools White Paper, “Higher Standards, Better Schools for All”, and the subsequent Education and Inspections Bill was carried out by relevant officials within the Department for Education and Skills, which is in accordance with guidance from the Commission for Racial Equality.
The assessment was published on the Department's website on 28 February, the day of Bill introduction, and can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/educationandinspectionsbill/
EU Students (Loan Default)
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of EU-domiciled students who may receive loans for study at a UK higher education institution and then default on repayment of those loans. [65275]
Bill Rammell: We estimate that around 42,000(1,2) EU students studying at English HEIs will be eligible for loans for fees. Because these loans are new, there are no historic data to help model behaviour, but—based on the propensity of home students to take out maintenance loans—we have assumed that 80 per cent. of EU students will take out a fee loan.
The rate of repayment of loans depends on graduates' income, and the cost to Government of making the loans is dominated by a subsidy of the rate of interest. The notion of arrears is different from a commercial loan where repayments are predetermined in value and made to a fixed timetable. Nevertheless, the cost, which for EU loans is estimated to be around £30 million (2,3), includes a factor which reflects late payment.
The SLC has well-established mechanisms for recovering loans from students who move abroad and we are confident that these will enable us to effectively collect repayments from EU students from April 2007.
We are continuing to ensure that all students are fully aware that the Student Loans Company (SLC) has the power to trace them and enforce their debt in other countries. The SLC will use this power as necessary to ensure that all students repay what they owe.
(1) rounded to the nearest 1,000.
(2) Figures are steady state in AY 2006/07 terms.
(3) assuming a RAB charge of 33 per cent.
Euro (UK Entry)
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures have been taken by his Department as part of preparations to UK entry to the euro; and what the cost was. [68626]
Bill Rammell: The Department has established a Project Board to oversee preparations within the Department for a possible future changeover to the euro. It also maintains regular links with the HM Treasury Euro Preparations Unit. In line with central guidance, the requirement to consider euro compatibility is built into all major programmes and projects, although any costs relating to meeting this requirement are not separately identified.
European Parliament Recommendation
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is on implementing European Parliament Recommendation 2006/143/EC, on further European Co-operation in Quality Assurance in Higher Education. [68635]
Bill Rammell: There is much good work concerning higher education quality assurance being undertaken under the auspices of the intergovernmental Bologna Process, which involves 45 countries with the objective of creating a European higher education area. I welcome the recommendation as a contribution towards closer European cooperation in this field, for which primary responsibility rests with higher education institutions themselves in this country. We are working with others as part of the Bologna Process to consider the practicalities of implementing a register of quality assurance agencies in Europe.
Exclusion (Black Children)
Ms Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether safeguards have been adopted to ensure that black children will not be disproportionately affected by the exclusion policies in her Department's White Paper. [68736]
Jim Knight: The White Paper commitments are being implemented largely through provisions in the Education and Inspections Bill, which were subject to a full Race Equality Impact Assessment. A copy of this is available in the Library. Guidance on exclusion also emphasises the importance of race equality awareness throughout the exclusion process.
Although exclusion of Black children fell by half between 1997/98 and 2003/04, they are still excluded at around twice the rate for White children. We have an action plan in place to address these disproportionate levels of exclusion, which will also have an impact on Black children and parents affected by the White Paper proposals. This plan includes: ensuring that equality issues are embedded in key policy areas; sharing good practice with local authorities and recommending that they take specific actions, such as analysing exclusions data and taking remedial action if appropriate; and targeting individual local authorities where data show particularly high disproportionality, with support to reduce it.
The reasons for the existing over-representation of some minority ethnic groups in the exclusions figures are complex. We are currently undertaking a Priority Review to establish the reasons for this disparity and what further can be done to reduce it.
Faith Schools
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many maintained faith schools have been closed in each year since 1997, broken down by faith. [70859]
Jim Knight: The information is given in the following table.
| Year closed | Church of England | Catholic | Church of England/ Catholic | Church of England/ Methodist | Methodist | Jewish | Congregational Church | Total |
These include cases where the closed school was directly replaced by another school, sometimes on the same site. This might occur where, for example, a school was replaced by an Academy or a school with different religious character or none; and where two or more schools amalgamated to form a single school (such as infant and junior schools amalgamating to form primary schools, or as part of a wider reorganisation).
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