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15 May 2006 : Column 796W

UK-domiciled undergraduates( 1) studying at HEIs in Great Britain (including the Open University)
		of which:
	Total	Male( 2)	Female( 2)	Under 21	21 and over
1979/80	638,835	395,835	243,000	311,410	327,425
1980/81	662,160	409,100	253,060	328,180	333,980
1981/82	693,385	423,800	269,585	346,625	346,760
1982/83	718,315	431,875	286,440	359,400	358,910
1983/84	738,395	439,080	299,315	364,060	374,335
1984/85	745,345	437,785	307,560	365,400	379,950
1985/86	763,765	439,730	324,030	361,850	401,915
1986/87	790,760	448,830	341,930	358,925	431,835
1987/88	806,945	454,715	352,230	363,680	443,265
1988/89	830,645	461,010	369,635	367,980	462,665
1989/90	876,580	476,280	400,305	388,345	488,240
1990/91	933,455	498,080	435,375	414,010	519,445
1991/92	1,024,020	539,300	484,720	453,540	570,480
1992/93	1,131,870	583,985	547,885	488,670	643,200
1993/94	1,228,990	625,765	603,220	516,180	712,810
1994/95	1,307,835	647,875	659,960	531,295	776,540
1995/96	1,410,955	674,435	736,520	535,875	875,080
1996/97	1,460,265	679,085	781,180	549,010	911,250
1997/98	1,476,680	675,780	800,900	575,135	901,545
1998/99	1,501,290	677,000	824,290	600,560	900,735
1999/00	1,504,730	668,105	836,625	617,210	887,520
2000/01	1,528,540	670,865	857,675	621,800	906,740
2001/02	1,557,995	677,590	880,405	626,990	931,000
2002/03	1,609,780	688,285	921,495	635,290	974,490
2003/04	1,666,445	716,910	949,540	645,305	1,021,145
2004/05(3)	1,701,080	724,520	976,560	655,015	1,046,065
(1) Full-time and part-time students. (2) Includes estimates for the gender split of Open University students for the years prior to 1988/89, and estimates for the gender split of a small number of students in the years 1990/91 to 1993/94. (3) Includes provisional estimates for HE students in further education colleges. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5, so components may not sum to totals. Source: Universities Statistical Record (USR), the Open University, and the Education Departments of England, Scotland and Wales for the years up to 1993/94; Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Learning and Skills Council, Scottish Executive, and Welsh Assembly for 1994/95 and later years.

University Maintenance Grants

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many nationals from other EU countries he expects to be eligible to claim university maintenance grants when directive 2004/38/EC comes into force; and if he will make a statement. [66134]

Bill Rammell: We estimate that around 6,000 EU nationals studying full-time in English institutions, who have not satisfied the existing provisions as migrant workers or self-employed persons, could in principle be eligible to claim maintenance support (consisting of loans and grants) in the 2006/07 academic year as a result of changes we have made following the ECJ ruling in the Bidar case. It is therefore expected that the majority of additional EU nationals who will be eligible to claim maintenance support in 2006/07 would have been eligible even if directive 2004/38 had not come into force. We anticipate the directive will add a small number of people to those who are already eligible to claim maintenance support.

Vulnerable Children

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to address the issue of children (a) in local authority care and (b) on the Child Protection Register going missing; and what information his Department collects from local authorities to assist in the work in each case. [68794]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department of Health published “Children Missing from Care and Home—a guide to good practice” in November 2002. This was issued, along with Circular LAC (2002)17 under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, making the guidance a requirement for local authorities. This guidance includes information about responding to individual children who have been missing from their care placement and about the need for services in each area to follow a strategic approach to ensure consistent management of missing from care incidents.

Information about children missing from their agreed placement for more than 24 hours by local authority may be found on the Department's website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000646/index .shtml

The revision of “Working Together to Safeguard Children” was published in April 2006. Section 11.64 of this document includes advice about the steps to be followed where children who are the subjects of child protection plans go missing. This document may be found at http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/ safeguarding/workingtogether/

Information about children subject to child protection plans who go missing is not collected centrally.

White Papers

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many White Papers were published by his Department in 2005; and if he will make a statement. [68246]

Mr. Dhanda: 14 White Papers were published within the Command Papers series in 2005. These are detailed in the following list:

15 May 2006 : Column 797W

Command number	Title
6452	Parental Separation: Children’s Needs and Parents’ Responsibilities
6462	Draft Children (Contact) and Adoption Bill
6476	14-19 Education and Skills
6483	21st Century Skills: Achievement and Challenge
6522	Departmental Report
6562	The Government’s Response to the Seventh Report from Education and Skills Committee of Session 2004-05
6583	The Government Reply to the Report from the Joint Committee on the Draft Children (Contact) and Adoption Bill
6594	The Government’s Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Report on Environmental Education
6599	The Government’s Response to the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee Report—National Skills Strategy: 14-19
6610	The Government’s Response to the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee Ninth Report Session 2004-05
6629	Youth Matters
6677	Higher Standards, Better Schools for All—More Choice for Parents and Pupils
6702	Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment
6719	Autumn Performance Report

Working Together

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will place in the Library the responses to his Department's public consultation on Working Together to safeguard children; if he will list responses which sought the rejection of the Bichard Inquiry recommendation regarding disclosure of details of sexual activity by minors when coming into contact with health professionals; and if he will make a statement. [66908]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department published an analysis of the responses to the public consultation on ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ and the Government's response on 22 March. I will arrange for copies to be placed in the Library.

There was overwhelming support from respondents for the Government to issue new, clearer guidance for professionals on when to share information with social services and the police to protect sexually active children from harm and abuse, in line with the recommendation in the Bichard Inquiry Report.

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