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14 Jun 2007 : Column 1184W—continued

City Academies

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of each completed academy; and what contribution was made by the Government to each. [140973]

Jim Knight: There are 26 Academies open where construction work has been completed. The cost of each is detailed in the chart. These figures presented are as at May 2007 and are subject to change as final accounts have yet to be agreed.


14 Jun 2007 : Column 1185W
£ million (rounded to nearest half million)
Academy Cost DfES Contribution

1

Bexley Business Academy(1)

38.5

36

2

Walsall City Academy

17.5

15

3

Greig City Academy, Haringey

16.5

14.5

4

Capital City Academy, Brent

27.5

25.5

5

Lambeth Academy

25.5

23.5

6

King's Academy, Middlesbrough

22.5

20.5

7

Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough

22.0

18.5

8

The West London Academy, Ealing(1)

32.5

30.5

9

Stockley Academy, Hillingdon

28.0

25.5

10

Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham

23.5

23.5

11

The Academy at Peckham, Southwark

30.0

28

12

Bristol City Academy

27.5

25

13

Manchester Academy

20.0

18

14

Mossbourne Community Academy, Hackney

28.5

26.5

15

The Academy of St. Francis of Assisi, Liverpool

21.0

19

16

Northampton Academy

27.5

25.5

17

City of London Academy, Southwark

33.5

31.5

18

Trinity Academy, Doncaster

25.0

23

19

Marlowe Academy, Kent

28.0

25

20

London Academy, Barnet

33.5

32

21

Sandwell Academy

27.0

24.5

22

Grace Academy, Solihull

31.5

29.5

23

Salford City Academy

16.5

15

24

David Young Community Academy, Leeds

23.5

21.5

25

Dixons City Academy, Bradford(2)

6.5

6

26

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Academy, Lewisham(2)

7.0

6.5

(1 )The Business Academy, Bexley and West London Academy, Ealing are “all through” Academies catering for pupils from age 3 to 19. This cost includes the cost of both the primary school and secondary school.
(2 )Dixons and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham are both conversions from City Technology Colleges.

City Academies: Finance

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average private sector capital contribution has been to new city academies established over the last 12 months. [141024]

Jim Knight: When the academy programme was launched in 2000, sponsors were required to provide 10 per cent. of the capital costs of a new building up to a maximum of £2 million. We have since moved to an endowment model of sponsorship, and sponsors will, as the norm, establish an endowment fund worth £2
14 Jun 2007 : Column 1186W
million (or £1.5 million for the fourth or subsequent academy for sponsors of multiple academies). The Department does not distinguish between sponsorship commitments made by private sector donors and those made by charitable organisations.

There are at present 47 open academies. Of these: two academy trusts had met their full sponsorship commitments before May 2006; one is a former city technology college which is not required to provide sponsorship in the form of a capital contribution; and one is providing sponsorship under the endowment model of sponsorship, leaving a total of 43 academies with commitments to provide a contribution to capital costs.

Over the 12 months ending 31 May 2007 sponsor contributions to capital costs amounted to £13,202,000, an average of £307,023 over the 43 open academies described above.

Sponsors' donations contributing to capital costs are normally made over the lifetime of the building costs of the project, so in the majority of cases a number of payments towards capital costs remain to be made.

Departments: Sign Language

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of providing British Sign Language (BSL) videos on his departmental website for the benefit of those whose first language is BSL. [142492]

Mr. Dhanda: We always consider the needs of minority audiences, including those for whom BSL is a first language, when developing communications campaigns for external audiences, working closely with the Central Office of Information (COI) Diversity Unit. Decisions about the scale and shape of campaign activity need to reflect our responsibility to get the best possible value for money from our marketing budgets.

In recent years, we contributed to a cross-Whitehall BSL video magazine, distributed by COI, which has now been discontinued. The increasing public access to digital media has helped us to respond to accessibility issues around provision of our information. We are committed to including all our public information campaigns on our website in plain English, which helps to overcome many barriers for those with impaired hearing.

Departments: Travel Agents

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department and its agencies paid in travel agencies' fees in each year since 1997. [139909]

Alan Johnson: Details of payments of travel agencies' fees incurred by the Department over the last eight years are set out in the following table.


14 Jun 2007 : Column 1187W
£
Hotel contract Business travel contract

2006/07

169, 864

447,131

2005/06

129,224

422,565

2004/05

142,697

396,225

2003/04

98,107

381,192

2002/03

87,541

385,627

2001/02

100,746

441,353

2000/01

97,738

425,770

1999/2000

92,753

399,975


The Department has engaged an agent to arrange hotel accommodation for DfES staff that stay overnight when on official business. The Department has also engaged an agent to arrange all travel tickets for both domestic and foreign travel. The fees stated above form part of the contract of both agents.

The Department does not have any executive agencies.

Departments: Westminster City Council

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which grants for which his Department is responsible have been made to Westminster city council since 1997-98; and what the value was of each grant. [137760]

Alan Johnson: The grants made to Westminster city council in each year since 1997-98 by this Department, as recorded by the council in the Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns, are as follows.


14 Jun 2007 : Column 1188W
£000

1997-98

Standards Fund

545

Section 11 (Ethnic Minorities) Grant (excluding SRB) 1363

1998-99

Standards Fund

809

Under-5s Specific Grant

460

Ethnic Minorities Achievement Grant

1,539

1999-2000

Standards Fund

1,879

Nursery Education Grant for four-year-olds

64

Ethnic Minorities Achievement Grant

1,398

2000-01

Standards Fund

3,650

Nursery Education Grant for four-year-olds

47

Provision for three-year-olds

30

Ethnic Minorities Achievement Grant

1,249

Sure Start

2

Child Care and Early Years

360

2001-02

Standards Fund

7,478

Teachers Pay Reform

867

School Standards Grant

1,469

Child Care and Early Years

678

2002-03

Standards Fund

9,555

Nursery Education for three-year-olds

915

Teachers Pay Reform

1,083

School Standards Grant

1,540

Child Care and Early Years

593

2003-04

Child care

865

Excellence in Cities

1,065

School Standards

1,967

Standards Fund

8,223

Teachers' Pay Reform

2,073

Children's Services

5,706

2004-05

Adoption Support and Guardianship Special Orders

189

Choice Protects

246

General Sure Start Grant

15

Education Actions Zones

10

Excellence in Cities

1,119

Safeguarding Children

739

School Standards

2,125

Standards Fund

8,472

Teachers' Pay Reform/Threshold

2,415

Teenage Pregnancy Local Implementation

65

2005-06

Adoption Support and Guardianship Special Orders

314

Choice Protects

530

General Sure Start Grant

3,877

Change Fund

43

Safeguarding Children

862

School Standards

2,286

Standards Fund

10,465

Teachers' Pay Reform/Threshold

2,402

Transforming Youth Work Development Fund

17

Teenage Pregnancy Local Implementation

115

2006-07

Children's Services

901

General Sure Start Grant

2,366

Standards Fund - School Standards Grant

2,420

Standards Fund—Other

8,725

Teenage Pregnancy Local Implementation

140


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