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10 Dec 2007 : Column 64W—continued
Departmental Computers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many of his Department's (a) computers and (b) laptops have been stolen in 2007; and what the value of those items was. [168604]
Mr. Lammy: No computers or laptops have been stolen from the Department in 2007. The value of stolen items is therefore zero.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what contracts his Department has with external consultants; what the total value, including all VAT and disbursements, of these contracts is for the current financial year; how long each contract lasts; and what the forecast total value is of each contract. [163801]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS operates a devolved procurement structure for consultancy contracts. As such there is no central register of contracts let. Therefore this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether his Department's information technology and data management systems are BS7799 compliant. [168745]
Mr. Lammy: The Department currently shares information technology and data management systems with the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's Information Security Management System is not only compliant but has been independently certified to BS7799 since May 2002. In March 2007 certification was successfully achieved against the new ISO27001 standard. The certificate will be updated to reflect the name change to BERR at the next surveillance audit in 2008.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families systems work to the principles of the BS7799 standard.
Departmental Manpower
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people aged (a) 30 to 39, (b) 40 to 49, (c) 50 to 59 and (d) 60 to 69 years have (i) applied for jobs, (ii) received interviews and (iii) gained (A) temporary and (B) permanent jobs in his Department in 2007. [165119]
Mr. Lammy: The Department was formed as part of the machinery of government changes on 28 June 2007. Numbers of staff recruited to the new Department since then have been small. The figures are set out by the relevant age bands in the following table:
| Age range | Permanent | Temporary |
Detailed information on applicants and interviews is held by individual teams and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Educational Institutions: Registrations
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 166W, on educational institutions: registrations, how many illegal immigrants were detected at each of the 114 colleges removed from the Register of Education and Training Providers. [170510]
Mr. Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
The Border and Immigration Agency is not able to advise how many illegal immigrants were detected at the 114 colleges removed from the Register of Educational Providers since its inception. The Border and Immigration Agency can advise the names of the colleges removed and the numbers of students granted further leave to remain on the basis of their studies at these colleges. However, some of these students may have started their studies in the UK at these colleges, found them to be non bona fide and transferred to a genuine education provider. At present, it is not mandatory for a foreign student to notify the Border and Immigration Agency when they change their place of study. Nor is it mandatory for a foreign student to study at any given establishment, although this will change with the introduction of the points based system.
Galileo
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what ancillary functions have been designed into the Galileo satellite system; what assessment he has made of their contribution to achieving the objectives of the Galileo project; and if he will make a statement. [165180]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 19 November 2007]: The main characteristics of Galileo were agreed by the Council of European Transport Ministers at their meeting on 9-10 December 2004. There have been no decisions taken on any ancillary functions for the system.
Higher Education: Closures
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which UK university (a) mathematics, (b) chemistry and (c) science departments have closed since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [170440]
Bill Rammell:
Information on the closure, merger or opening of particular university departments has not been collected by the Department and not all science
teaching is organised on a departmental basis. However, we have consistently made it clear that, if a physics or chemistry department closes at one institution, the Higher Education Funding Council for England should seek to maintain capacity elsewhere and we announced last year that the Council should report to us on how provision can be maintained in this way. Some science subjects are starting to become more popular and the measures that we are taking to increase demand and the extra £75 million announced last year should help to sustain capacity as demand increases. Physics and chemistry are also taught as major subjects at some 50 and 70 UK institutions, respectively. The latest figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that the number of students who have been accepted for entry to full-time undergraduate courses in chemistry in autumn 2007 is up by nearly 13 per cent. compared to 2005, while the figures for physics have increased by 10 per cent. over the same period.
Higher Education: Finance
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills on what he plans to spend the £100 million annually previously spent on second degrees. [172265]
Bill Rammell: All of the £100 million will be redistributed back to higher education providers to enable more people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in higher education for the first time. We estimate that by 2010-11, 20,000 people will be studying for a first HE qualification who otherwise would not have been able to do so—enough to fill an entire university.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the excepted courses are that are mentioned in his letter of 7 September 2007 to the chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. [171963]
Bill Rammell: The excepted courses to which reference was made cover those relating to medicine, initial teacher training, dentistry, veterinary studies, social work, other health professional courses, architecture, landscape design and management, and town and country planning. The courses are kept under review. In addition, we asked HEFCE to consider whether there should be further exceptions or modifications for some categories of student; and on what grounds. The consultation exercise that HEFCE is conducting on how the policy can best be implemented ends on 7 December.
School Leaving
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the basis was for his calculation that the economic benefits of increasing the compulsory education age to 18 years would be £2.4 billion per birth cohort; and if he will place in the Library the documentary sources used to make the calculation. [171859]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The basis of the estimate of economic benefits of raising the participation age (RPA) is new joint research by Sheffield university and DCSF. The research's central estimate of the additional benefits of RPA is around £2.4 billion for a single cohort of young people, discounted over their lifetimes. This research was published alongside the introduction of the Education and Skills Bill to the House on 29 November. This estimate was derived in three stages:
1. Modelling how many additional young people participate in full-time education as a result of RPA;
2. Modelling the attainment of these additional participants; and
3. Estimating the value of lifetime productivity gains from more young people having attained these extra qualifications.
For further details of the methodology and data sources used to estimate the economic benefits of RPA (and the magnitude of the benefits under alternative scenarios), the full report is accessible at:
The research will also be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Students: Loans
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount of debt owed to the Student Loan Company by residents from the London Borough of Havering in higher education. [168422]
Bill Rammell: On 31 March 2007, 7,744 borrowers from the London borough of Havering owed £58,372,536 for publicly-owned student loans. This is based on the local authority area the borrower lived in at the time of their application for a loan.
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the debt owed to the Student Loan Company by residents from the London Borough of Bexley in higher education. [168647]
Bill Rammell: On 31 March 2007, 8,701 borrowers from the London borough of Bexley owed £67,771,064 for publicly-owned student loans. This is based on the local authority area the borrower lived in at the time of their application for a loan.
Home Department
101 Calls: Leicester
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what expenditure her Department incurred in advertising, marketing and promoting the 101 telephone line in Leicester; how many calls to the line resulted in prosecutions for (a) antisocial behaviour and (b) other criminal offences; on what date the decision was taken to withdraw funding for the line; and on what date this decision was communicated to Leicester city council; [170138]
(2) what representations she has received from Leicester city council in the last 12 months on funding of the 101 telephone line. [170197]
Mr. McNulty: The 101 service was launched to the public in Leicester city and Rutland on 4 September 2006 and subsequently in Melton and Harborough, covering a population of approximately 450,000. Around £272,000 was spent by the Home Office on publicising the new service locally and informing the public in these areas how it should be used, resulting in more than 65,000 calls to date from the public being made to the local 101 service.
Information on how many of these calls to the 101 service resulted in prosecutions for (a) antisocial behaviour and (b) other criminal offences is not collected centrally.
It was decided on 8 November 2007 not to continue to fund centrally the operation of the 101 service in the live areas but to continue to fund the national 101 telephony infrastructure, to ensure that the number remained available for use by those areas who wished to maintain or develop their own locally funded 101 service. Following discussion with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, co-sponsors of the 101 Programme, this decision was communicated to Leicester city council on 15 November 2007.
The Home Office has worked closely with Leicester city council and partners over the last 12 months to understand the benefits of the 101 service and to inform options for its future operation. As such, Leicester city council’s views were taken into consideration as part of the Home Office’s decision on future funding for the 101 service.
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were for being drunk and disorderly of 10 to 17-year-olds in (a) England and Wales and (b) each police force area in each year since 1997. [165676]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested on prosecutions is provided in table A.
In addition to prosecutions, the offence of being drunk and disorderly can attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND). The offence was added to the PND scheme on 1 January 2004 and data on the number of PNDs issued in 2004 to 2006 broken down by police force area are provided in table B.
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