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Further Education
Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact of the targeting of further education funding according to Priorities for Success on the level of provision of courses in (a) Leeds and (b) England for (i) people with learning disabilities and (ii) other priority groups; and if he will make statement. [90924]
Phil Hope: Funding for provision for people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities has increased significantly over recent years, and in 2004/05 the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) supported more than 641,000 learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities which accounted for nearly £1.5 billion. Continued investment in this provision remains a priority. This was stated in the Department's Grant Letter to the LSC for 2006-07, and was built upon by the LSC in their Annual Statement of Priorities for 2006/07.
The LSC's funding strategy set out in Priorities for Success, realigns funding to support the Government targets, apprenticeships, Train to Gain, and free first full level 2 while protecting support for disadvantaged adult learning and securing more resource for those with learning difficulties and disabilities. Priorities for Success makes clear that support for disadvantaged adults who lack basic and level 2 skills for employability and progression to Level 3 is a priority, with free tuition for learners studying basic skills, a first level 2, and for all those on income-related benefits
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what proportion of the total budget for further education was spent on adult students with learning disabilities in each (a) institution and (b) region in each of the last five years; [90985]
(2) how much funding was provided for further education for adult students with learning disabilities in each (a) institution and (b) region in each of the last five years. [90986]
Phil Hope: The Learning and Skills Council allocates specific budgets to institutions or regions for adult learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, therefore we do not hold the detail of institutional funding. Funding for provision for people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities has increased significantly over recent years, and in 2004/05 the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) supported more than 641,000 learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities which accounted for nearly £1.5 billion.
Continuing investment in this provision remains a priority, which was confirmed in our 2006-07 Grant Letter to the LSC, and the LSC has in turn made clear in their strategic planning guidance the priority it attaches to this provision. Information on individual institutions can be found at the institution's website and performance information on Ofsted's website (www.ofsted.gov.uk)
Law Students
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what publicly-funded assistance is available to mature students to study law and subsequently train as lawyers. [90610]
Phil Hope: Mature students are generally able to receive support to study law degrees on the same basis as younger students and on the same basis as for other degree courses. For full-time students, new rates of student support in 2006/07 offer above inflation increases in the amount of maintenance loan available to students (up to £6,170 in London). These maintenance loans are available to students under the age of 60. New fee loans of up to £3,000 ensure that no eligible student pays upfront fees. Student loans for maintenance and tuition fees incur no real rate of interest, are repaid only when graduate earnings are £15,000 or more and are written off after 25 years.
A means tested HE maintenance grant of up to £2,700 has been introduced for new students, who will also receive institutional bursaries of at least £300 if they pay fees of £3,000 at a publicly-funded institution. Students with dependants can claim additional grants including adult dependants grant (worth up to £2,455), parents learning allowance (worth up to £1,400) and a child care grant (worth up to £8,840). In addition, student parents are eligible to receive child tax credit from the Inland Revenue. Some students are also eligible for university access to learning funds and disabled students allowances. Mature law students who do not qualify for undergraduate support may be eligible for a career development loan which has an element of subsidy from public funds.
Part-time mature students receive the same support as other part-time students. In 2006/07 a fee grant of up to £1,125 is available, depending how intensive the course is, together with a course grant of up to £250.
Mature students can apply for the training contract grant scheme (TCGS) which is administered by the Legal Services Commission. The TCGS provides financial support to law students wishing to work in the legal aid sector.
The information given is in relation to England.
London Olympics (Building Skills)
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what courses are available for citizens in east London to upgrade their skills so that they can apply for employment on the London Olympics site. [90722]
Phil Hope [holding answer 11 September]: In preparation for the Olympics, Construction Skills—the Sector Skills Council, have set up a team “Constructing London 2012” to identify the skills needed to deliver the Games. They are working closely with the Learning and Skills Council to identify training requirements for the site and Mark Haysom, the LSC Chief Executive, will write to you with further details. In addition, we are completing the national roll-out of the Train to Gain to service to help equip employees to upgrade their skills.
I write in response to your recent Parliamentary Question in which you asked what courses are available for citizens in East London to upgrade their skills so that they can apply for employment on the London Olympics site. I am happy to provide the following information.
In preparation for the Olympics a range of actions are already being undertaken:
The London region LSC and LDA have published research that analyses previous Olympics and Paralympic Games helping to forecast the skills and employment opportunities that the Games will create.
Construction Skills—the Sector Skills Council, have set up a team “Constructing London 2012” to identify the specific skills needed to deliver the Games.
The London Employment and Skills Taskforce, as requested by Misc 26, have an action plan in the consultation phase which identifies specific projects and actions designed to help Londoners access the employment and learning opportunities driven by the Games.
A £15 Million European Social Fund has already been contracted to deliver underpinning activity to support learners and build capacity across 3 regions, East of England, South East of England and the London, managed in partnership by the regional LSCs and RDAs.
In addition, we are expanding Train to Gain in line with the recommendations of the Women and Work Commission to focus on training at level 3 for occupational areas where women are under-represented.
The London Region LSC will invest in excess of £1 billion per year in post-16 education throughout London in the years preceding the Games. East London already has in place a wide variety of learning available to it's citizens throughout all 6 boroughs including e-learning, Apprenticeships, Skills for Life, ESOL and National Vocational Qualifications delivered through a comprehensive provider base including Further Education Colleges, Work Based Learning Providers, Sixth Form Colleges and the Voluntary and Community sector.
As an example of current planning and investment, East London already has in place 4 major Further Education Centres of Vocational Excellence surrounding the Olympic site, specialising in Construction Skills at all levels, and working together as a One Stop Shop for construction learning and employment in conjunction with the local authorities and JobCentre Plus.
I trust this is helpful.
Post-graduate Debt
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken to reduce the level of post-graduate debt. [88805]
Bill Rammell: Higher education is the best investment most people will make, with a substantial graduate premium compared to what a similar individual would have earned if they just had A-levels. There is now more money available to students from the student finance system and, where this is in the form of student loans, the debt incurred is quite unlike commercial debt. Students repay student loans after they have left university or college and only in real terms the same amount that they originally borrowed. Graduates do not pay back until they are in work and earning more than £15,000. Someone on the average graduate starting salary of £18,000 could be paying only £5.19 per week. If at any time their income drops below £15,000 the repayments will stop until they are earning more again. We have also provided that, if after 25 years students starting in 2006/07 or later have still not paid back all their student loan, the Government will pay it off for them.
There are also new grants which should benefit up to half of new entrants to full time courses. From 2006/07 lower income students are eligible for maintenance grants of up to £2,700 and minimum university bursaries of £300, typically £1,000, which gives them the option to reduce potential loan debt substantially.
Pupil Performance
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local education authorities in England in order of percentage of pupils achieving (a) A* to A, (b) A* to B and (c) A* to C in five or more subjects including English and Maths at GCSE in 2006, stating in each case whether the local authority is selective, partially selective or comprehensive. [91067]
Phil Hope: Figures showing GCSE attainment in 2006 by local authority are not yet available. It is also not possible at this stage to calculate numbers of pupils achieving GCSEs or how many GCSEs they achieved. Provisional results, based on the information collected for the School and College Achievement and Attainment Tables, will first be published as National Statistics in October 2006.
School Meals
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that school meals contain popular, nutritionally balanced staple foods. [90659]
Phil Hope: To ensure that school meals contain nutritionally balanced staple foods we have introduced new standards for school lunches. In addition the School Food Trust has issued guidance ‘Eat Better Do Better—a guide to introducing the Government’s new food based standards for school lunches’. The guidance explains why the new school food standards need to be in place, offers serving suggestions and gives advice on good practice to school caterers.
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the average (a) fat and (b) saturated fat content is of manufactured potato chips (i) deep fried and (ii) baked in ovens as their final cooking method in schools; [90660]
(2) whether manufactured chips which are (a) deep-fried and (b) baked in ovens as their final cooking method are classified in the same way under the new food-based standard for school meals in terms of the frequency with which they are allowed to be served; [90662]
(3) when he has met the School Food Trust to discuss the classification of deep-fried products; and what advice and recommendations he has received from the Trust on this subject. [90663]
Phil Hope: The following data on the fat and saturated fat content of fried and oven baked chips is taken from the UK food composition tables McCance and Widdowson's “The Composition of Foods, sixth edition (2002)”.
| Fat g/100g | Saturated Fat g/100g | |
These figures are averages based on analysis of samples cooked according to normal domestic practice. They are not based on chips cooked in schools.
The regulations that set new school lunch standards place restrictions on the frequency that foods, which are deep-fried in the cooking or manufacturing process can be served in schools. This means deep-fried chips and chips that are ‘flash-fried’ during the manufacturing process and baked in ovens as their final cooking method would be restricted by the regulations.
The Secretary of State for Education and Skills has not met with the School Food Trust (SFT); however the Minister responsible for School Food has quarterly meetings with the SFT. The meetings are an opportunity to discuss progress made against targets and policy issues, including school food standards. Deep-frying issues have been discussed in general terms although no specific advice or recommendations have been received.
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which foods meet the relevant Food Standards Agency voluntary nutritional specifications for their category, but are excluded or restricted from school menus by the food-based standards. [90661]
Phil Hope: There will be a number of foods that meet the Food Standards Agency's voluntary Target Nutrient Specifications (TNS) for manufactured foods used in school meals but which are restricted by the new statutory school lunch nutritional standards in England. Of foods covered by the Food Standards Agency's TNS only savoury snacks and crisps are excluded by the new standards.
The purpose of the TNS is to assist school caterers across the UK to choose healthier products for use in school meals. The TNS will help schools to meet the wider nutrient-based school lunch standards that will be introduced in primary schools and secondary schools in England from September 2008 and September 2009 respectively.
Schoolchildren (Bristol)
Kerry
McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for
Education and Skills what percentage of children of school age living
in Bristol local education authority
area attend (a) primary and (b) secondary schools which
are located outside the local education authority boundaries; and what
percentage of these schools are in the independent sector.
[90586]
Phil Hope: We are unable to provide residency based figures for children educated in the Independent sector as the Department does not collect individual level information for pupils in the Independent sector.
The information for primary and secondary schools in the maintained sector has been provided in the following table:
| align="left" valign="bottom" Number of pupils( 3) residing within Bristol local authority | Number of pupils( 3) residing within Bristol local authority who attend schools outside of the local authority | Percentage of pupils( 3) residing within Bristol local authority who attend schools outside of the local authority | |
| (1)
Includes primary and middle deemed primary. (2)
Includes secondary, middle deemed secondary, City Technology Colleges
and Academies. 3 Includes pupils aged 5 to 15 years, solely
registered or main registration of dually registered pupils, excludes
boarders. Source: School Census
2006 | |||
Schoolchildren (Expenditure)
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent in real terms on each school child in (a) England, (b) Waltham Forest and (c) Redbridge in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 1995-96. [90879]
Phil Hope: The available information is contained in the following tables. The Department is currently collecting the financial information for 2005-06.
| Expenditure per pupil on education in Waltham Forest, Redbridge and England in financial year 2004-05—Real terms figures at 2005-06 prices( 1) as reported by local authorities in their 2004-05 outturn statements as at 6 September 2006( 2) | |||
| £ | |||
| 2004-05 at 2005-06 prices | |||
| Primary school based expenditure per pupil( 3) | Secondary school based expenditure per pupil( 3) | Combined local authority and school based expenditure per pupil( 5) | |
| £ | |||
| 1995-96 at 2005-06 prices | |||
| Pre-primary/ Primary school based expenditure per pupil( 3,4) | Secondary school based expenditure per pupil( 3) | Combined local authority and school based expenditure per pupil( 5) | |
| (1)
Real terms figures calculated using GDP deflators as at 30 June
2006. (2) 2004-05 data are subject to change by the
local authority. All figures are rounded to the nearest
£10. (3) School based expenditure includes
only expenditure incurred directly by local authority 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.
(4). Expenditure was not distinguished between the pre-primary
and primary sectors until the inception of Section 52 for financial
year 1999-00. (5) 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). Certain elements of central local authority expenditure
cannot be attributed to a particular phase of education and
consequently a sector breakdown is not available. Pupil figures include
all pre-primary pupils, including those under 5s funded by the
authority and being educated in private settings (only available from
1999-00), 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. | |||
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