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14 Jun 2007 : Column 1184Wcontinued
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.
£ million (rounded to nearest half million) | |||
Academy | Cost | DfES Contribution | |
(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 Askes Hatcham are both conversions from City Technology Colleges. |
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
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.
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.
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.
£ | ||
Hotel contract | Business travel contract | |
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.
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.
£000 | |
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