House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 24 July 2006 (pt 0035)

24 July 2006 : Column 860W—continued

Visual Impairment

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what support is provided by his Department for partially-sighted and blind pupils in (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) further and (d) higher education; [86542]

(2) how much funding has been allocated by his Department for the provision of appropriate literature and equipment for partially-sighted and blind students in (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) further and (d) higher education in (i) Somerset and (ii) England in each year since 1997. [86543]

Mr. Dhanda: The special educational needs (SEN) code of practice provides advice to local authorities and schools on their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children who have special educational needs, including children who are blind or partially sighted. The code sets out a graduated approach to providing support. Many children who are blind or partially sighted will have statements of SEN. All statements are reviewed at least annually. The purpose of the review is to consider a child’s progress, to ensure they are achieving desired outcomes and, if necessary, to amend their statements to reflect newly identified needs and provision.

Children with SEN, including those who are blind or partially sighted, benefited from the substantial increase of £1,170 in the funding per pupil from £2,940 in 1997-98 to £4,110 per pupil in 2005-06 (a rise of nearly 40 per cent.) and from the increase in local authorities’ budgeted expenditure on the education of children with SEN from £2.8 billion in 2001-02 to £4.5 billion in 2006-07. £300 million was also made available from 2003-04 through the schools access initiative to improve access to mainstream schools for disabled pupils. Recently a further £100 million per annum has been announced for both 2006-07 and 2007-08. Funds can be used for improving physical access, including adaptations for sensory disability such as improved colour schemes; access to the curriculum; access to written information in alternative formats. This encompasses information, communication technology equipment (both hardware and software).

Decisions about the support provided for children in Somerset are a matter for the local authority, taking into account its statutory duties.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has a responsibility under the Learning and Skills Act to support young people and adults with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including learners with visual impairments. Overall, in 2004/05 the LSC supported more than 640,000 learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities which accounted for nearly £1.5 billion.

Disabled students’ allowances (DSAs) are available to help students in higher education with the extra costs they may incur on their course as a direct result of a disability (or specific learning difficulty).

DSAs are paid in addition to the standard student support package; they are not means-tested and do not have to be repaid.

In academic year 2004/05 (the latest for which figures are available) 64,200^{(1 )}DSAs were awarded in England and Wales totalling £74.1 million. In addition there were over 2,600 OU students with DSAs worth around £3.5 million.

⁽¹⁾ The total number of students in receipt of DSAs involves an element of double-counting since a student can have more than one allowance.

24 July 2006 : Column 861W

York Schools

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much capital expenditure there has been on schools which come under York local education authority in each year since 1986. [86524]

Jim Knight: Records are not maintained centrally of local authority capital expenditure on schools, as this is decided in accordance with local asset management plans and will depend upon local authorities’ total sources of available funding. The Department has maintained records of capital allocations to local authorities for schools since 1996, and those for York city council and schools in its area are set out in the following table:

24 July 2006 : Column 862W

	£ million
1996-97	0.8
1997-98	1.3
1998-99	1.8
1999-2000	4.5
2000-01	7.4
2001-02	4.8
2002-03	25.5
2003-04	9.7
2004-05	9.4
2005-06	8.7
2006-07	28.3

The large allocations in 2002-03 and 2006-07 result, respectively, from a PFI allocation of £15.4 million and successful Targeted Capital Fund bids of £22.2 million.

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much per child was spent on (a) (i) pre-school, (ii) primary school and (iii) 11 to 16-year-old secondary school pupils in York schools and (b) sixth formers (A) in York schools and (B) at York College in each year since 1996-97 (1) in cash and (2) at current prices. [86525]

Jim Knight: The Department does not hold any comparable expenditure information for pre primary pupils and it is not possible to distinguish figures for sixth formers from 11 to 16-year-old secondary pupils. The Department does not collect figures for York College. The available information is contained in the following tables:

School based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,4,5 )} and combined local authority and school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,6 )} since 1996-97^{( 7,8,9)}
£ cash terms^{( 10,11)}
	Primary school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,4)}	Pre-primary and primary school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,4)}	Secondary school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,5)}	Combined LA and school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,6)}
1996-97	—	1,540	2,210	2,500
1997-98⁽⁷⁾	—	1,600	2,350	2,590
1998-99⁽⁷⁾	—	1,730	2,460	2,690

1999-2000^(8,9)	1,760	1,800	2,430	2,710
2000-01	1,860	1,870	2,640	2,850
2001-02	2,180	2,260	2,830	3,130

2002-03	2,390	—	3,080	3,270
2003-04	2,560	—	3,330	3,740
2004-05	2,680	—	3,660	3,900

24 July 2006 : Column 863W

24 July 2006 : Column 864W

£ real terms (2005-06 prices)^{( 10,11,12)}
	Primary school based expenditure perpupil^{( 1,2,3,4)}	Pre-primary and primary school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,4)}	Secondary school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,2,3,5)}	Combined LA and school based expenditure per pupil^{( 1,6)}
1996-97	—	1,920	2,760	3,110
1997-98⁽⁷⁾	—	1,940	2,840	3,130
1998-99⁽⁷⁾	—	2,040	2,900	3,170

1999-2000^(8,9)	2,030	2,080	2,810	3,130
2000-01	2,120	2,130	3,010	3,250
2001-02	2,430	2,510	3,150	3,480

2002-03	2,580	—	3,330	3,530
2003-04	2,680	—	3,490	3,920
2004-05	2,740	—	3,740	3,980
⁽¹⁾ The expenditure data to 1998-99 are drawn from the annual ‘RO1’ spending returns which local authorities submitted to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions. Figures for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 are drawn from section 52 (table 3) outturn statements which local authorities submitted to the DfES. Figures for 2002-03 onwards are taken from section 52 (table A) outturn statements. The change in sources is shown by the blank rows. ⁽²⁾ School based expenditure includes only expenditure incurred directly by local authority maintained schools. This includes the pay of teachers and school-based support staff, school premises costs, books and equipment, and certain other supplies and services, less any capital items funded from recurrent spending and income from sales, fees and charges and rents and rates. This excludes the central cost of support services such as home to school transport, local authority administration and the financing of capital expenditure. The pupil data are drawn from the DfES Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis. ⁽³⁾ From 2002-03 onwards the school based expenditure calculation is broadly similar to the calculation in previous years. However, 2001-02 and earlier years includes all premature retirement compensation (PRC) and Crombie payments, mandatory PRC payments and other indirect employee expenses, while from 2002-03 only the schools element of these categories is included. In 2001-02 this accounted for approximately £70 per pupil of the England total, while the schools element of these categories accounted for approximately £50 per pupil of the England total in 2002-03. Also, for some LAs, expenditure that had previously been attributed to the school sectors was reported within the LA part of the form from 2002-03 and would therefore be excluded from the school based expenditure calculation, though this is not quantifiable from existing sources. ⁽⁴⁾ Figures for the primary sector alone were not available until the inception of section 52 in financial year 1999-2000. The pre-primary figures are not sufficiently robust to use in this reply. ⁽⁵⁾ Secondary school based expenditure includes all expenditure incurred directly by local authority maintained secondary schools. It is not possible from existing sources to distinguish this expenditure between expenditure on 11 to 16-year-olds and expenditure on 6th form pupils attending maintained secondary schools. ⁽⁶⁾ Combined local authority and school based expenditure includes all expenditure on the education of children in local authority maintained establishments and pupils educated by the authority other than in maintained establishments. This includes both school based expenditure and all elements of central LA expenditure except youth and community and capital expenditure from revenue (CERA). Pupil figures include all pre-primary pupils, including those under fives funded by the authority and being educated in private settings (only available from 1999-2000), pupils educated in maintained mainstream schools and any other local authority maintained pupils. All pupil numbers are adjusted to be on a financial year basis. ⁽⁷⁾ Spending in 1997-98 reflects the transfer of monies from local government to central Government for the nursery vouchers scheme. These were returned to local government from 1998-99. ⁽⁸⁾ Figures prior to 1999-2000 exclude any expenditure on service, strategy and regulation. ⁽⁹⁾ The expenditure data for 1999-2000 onwards reflect the return of grant maintained schools to local authority maintenance. ⁽¹⁰⁾ ‘—’denotes figures are not available or have not been scored on a consistent basis ⁽¹¹⁾ Figures are rounded to the nearest £10. ⁽¹²⁾ Cash figures are converted to 2005-06 prices using the 30 June 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) deflators. Note: As reported by York local authority as at 17 July 2006.

Prime Minister

Casinos

Mr. Swire: To ask the Prime Minister (1) when (a) he and (b) his officials have held meetings in the last 12 months with casino operators interested in securing licences under the Gambling Act 2005; where each meeting took place; and what was discussed; [83362]

(2) what meetings (a) he and (b) his officials have had with (i) Mr. Philip Anschutz and (ii) representatives of Anschutz Entertainment Group; [84905]

(3) what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with Anschutz Entertainment Group on its development of the millennium dome site and surrounding land. [84906]

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will list the meetings he has had with representatives of the Anschutz Entertainment Group and associated companies since 1997; [85660]

(2) what meetings he has had with (a) casino developers, (b) representatives of Kerzner International and (c) representatives of the Anschutz Entertainment Group in the last five years. [86852]

The Prime Minister: My officials and I have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals on a wide range of subjects. Information relating to internal meetings, discussion and advice is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

I also refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 10 November 2004, Official Report, column 696W.

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