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21 May 2008 : Column 292W—continued
Pre-School Education: Finance
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much and what proportion of the Graduate Leader Fund has been spent; and what guidance has been given to local authorities about how to allocate it. [206908]
Beverley Hughes: The Graduate Leader Fund (£305 million over the CSR period 2008-11) superseded the Transformation Fund on 1 April 2008. Information on the first year of spend (i.e. 2008-09) will be provided to the Department by local authorities through their audited financial statements in the autumn of 2010.
Guidelines on the Graduate Leader Fund guidelines were issued to local authorities in March 2008. The purpose of the funding is to support all PVI full daycare settings to employ graduate leaders of early years practice by 2015. In return, settings in receipt of funding commit to employing a graduate to lead learning and development within the setting in a reasonable time period.
The guidelines set out the Government's expectations as to how the fund should be used by local authorities in particular:
working with PVI providers to prioritise and allocate funding in ways which best match local demand;
passporting the grant to PVI providers;
providers being able to use funding as a contribution to salary costs and for further continuous professional development for graduates and those training towards becoming graduate early years professionals.
Schools: Computers
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of children in maintained schools who have access to computers at school. [206931]
Jim Knight: Over 99 per cent. of schools report having computers available for teaching and learning. In primary schools, there is on average one computer for every 5.7 pupils, and in secondary schools one computer for every 3.2 pupils.
Schools: Cricket
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of support for cricket in state schools. [206926]
Kevin Brennan: The annual School Sport Survey was introduced in 2003-04 and collects data relating to participation in PE and school sport. The latest survey found that 90 per cent. (up from 85 per cent. in 2003-04) of maintained schools in England provided cricket during the academic year. The survey also found that 56 per cent. (up from 45 per cent. in 2003-04) of schools were linked to a local cricket club.
Youth Services: Local Government Finance
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding in real terms his Department and its predecessors have provided to Lancashire county council for youth services in the last 10 years; how much of that sum was spent in West Lancashire constituency; and what percentage of the allocation to Lancashire county council that represents. [204215]
Kevin Brennan: Local authorities in England are not allocated money specifically for youth services. It is up to local authorities to decide how much of their overall funding they wish to allocate to youth services based on their own individual needs and circumstances. However, the following table includes how much Lancashire LA has budgeted for youth services in each of the last nine financial years (budget data are not available prior to the inception of Section 52 for the 1999-2000 financial year). Financial data on youth services are collected at a local authority level and as such we are unable to say how much of Lancashire's budgeted funding for youth services has been spent in the West Lancashire constituency.
| Budgeted net expenditure by Lancashire LA on youth services | ||
| £ | ||
| Cash terms | Real terms | |
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Higher Education: Finance
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of UK-born British passport-holding students refused access to concessionary rates of education at UK universities as a result of residence with UK national parents temporarily based overseas for three to five year employment contracts. [206752]
Bill Rammell: There is no record kept of such cases. Generally, UK nationals who have temporarily resided overseas because their parents have undertaken temporary employment contracts are eligible to pay the capped rate of fee and to student support.
UK nationals can be treated as ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands if they would have been so resident but for the fact that they or certain family members, including their parents, were temporarily employed elsewhere; so long as they are ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of their course.
Students: Grants
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many undergraduates qualified for maintenance grants of (a) £2,765, (b) £2,417, (c) £1,548, (d) £1,230, (e) £927, (f) £401 and (g) £50 for the 2007-08 academic year; and how many received no grant. [203523]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 6 May 2008]: The number of undergraduates qualified for maintenance grants for the academic year 2007/08 is not available at the level of detail requested. However the 2007/08 mid-year provisional data were published by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release of 27 November 2007 available at
The table gives the relevant information.
| Distribution of maintenance grants to English domiciled students 207/08 (provisional early figures). | |
| Students( 1) | |
| (1 )Excludes students who do not apply to SLC for support. Excludes those not eligible for a maintenance grant because they receive an NHS bursary. (2) Full grant includes ITT students receiving the full reduced grant (£1,382). Source: Student Loans Company. | |
In July 2007 the Secretary of State announced increases to the means-testing threshold below which students are entitled to a full maintenance grant—up from £17,910 for entrants in 2007/08 to £25,000 for entrants in 2008/09. The threshold for a partial grant will increase from £38,330 for entrants in 2007/08 to £60,005 for entrants in 2008/09. These thresholds relate to household residual income. This will mean that one third of all eligible students in England entering higher education in the academic year 2008/09 are expected to be entitled to a full non-repayable grant worth £2,835 and another one third are expected to be entitled to a partial grant of between £50 and £2,835. Due to these reforms, by 2011, the number of students receiving some level of grant will increase by around 100,000. As part of this change, an extra 50,000 students will receive a full grant.
Women and Equality
Departmental Pay
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality when in 2008 the Government Equalities Office will be the subject of an equal pay audit. [204688]
Barbara Follett: The Government Equalities Office is currently working towards a single set of terms and conditions for its staff. That work will be completed in the summer and the equal pay audit will follow.
Departmental Responsibilities
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what work has been conducted by the Government Equalities Office on (a) race, (b) age, (c) sex and (d) disability discrimination since its inception, excluding work conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Women's National Commission, and the former Equalities Commissions and other Government Departments. [201427]
Barbara Follett: In his statement of 26 July 2007, the Prime Minister made clear the remit of the Government Equalities Office (GEO) and confirmed which Departments would retain responsibility for disability and race issues. The GEO has undertaken a range of work relevant to race, age, sex and disability discrimination, including consulting on proposals for a new Equality Bill, and taking lead responsibility for the Equalities PSA. Further details of the work of the GEO will be detailed in the departmental report which will be published in due course.
Equal Opportunities
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps she plans to take to promote good practice in employment opportunity through the report and list of good employers recently published by the Government. [201393]
Barbara Follett:
In their report “Shaping a Fairer Future” (published February 2006) The Women and Work Commission recommended that the Government, with the help of partners like Opportunity Now, should
build up a set of exemplar companies who would be prepared to pilot projects to tackle the causes of the gender pay gap.
The Government responded by setting up such a programme, run under contract by Opportunity Now, the gender arm of Business in the Community. A list of 113 exemplar employers was compiled and published as an online report in March 2008.
The Government Equalities Office will continue to work with Opportunity Now and other partners in sharing and disseminating lessons learned from the Exemplar Employers programme. We are presently in discussion with Opportunity Now on next steps.
Prostitution: Foreign Workers
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what estimate she has made of the number of women working as sex workers in the UK whose countries of origin are (a) other EU member states and (b) overseas states; and if she will give a breakdown of the principal countries of origin in each case. [204939]
Barbara Follett: Due to the hidden nature of prostitution, reliable statistics on the numbers involved and their countries of origin are difficult to obtain. Estimates suggest that at any one time in 2003 there were approximately 4,000 victims of trafficking for prostitution in the UK. However, no research has been undertaken which would provide either evidence or provide a basis for estimates on the number of women working as sex workers in the UK whose countries of origin are (a) other EU member states (b) other overseas states.
Solicitor-General
DNA: International Cooperation
David Davis: To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2008, Official Report, column 387W, on DNA: international cooperation, when the Crown Prosecution Service inquiry into the lost disc containing DNA profiles of Dutch criminals is now expected to be concluded. [204254]
The Solicitor-General [holding answer 8 May 2008] : The report on the inquiry is being published today along with a written ministerial statement.
Public Prosecution Service: Londonderry
Mark Durkan: To ask the Solicitor-General what progress has been made on the (a) plans and (b) timescale for the opening of the regional office of the Public Prosecution Service in Derry; what the proposed (i) staffing complement and (ii) service areas are; and if she will make a statement. [205592]
The Solicitor-General: The proposed Public Prosecution Service, Derry Northern Regional Office is located at 35 Limavady Road, Londonderry. The building will be a three-storey office building with 30 car parking spaces on a site dedicated to the PPS.
Work commenced on the building shell in January 2008. The programme of work will be completed in September 2008 with the building becoming fully operational in October 2008.
The building will be known as Foyle Chambers and will accommodate 50 PPS staff.
At present the Northern Regional Office is being operated from offices in Coleraine and Ballymena Chambers.
The service areas for Foyle Chambers are Derry, Magherafelt and Limavady.
Public Prosecution Service: Newry
Mark Durkan: To ask the Solicitor-General what progress has been made on the (a) plans and (b) timescale for the opening of the regional office of the Public Prosecution Service in Newry; and if she will make a statement. [205591]
The Solicitor-General: PPS has identified a suitable site on the Belfast Road, Newry that would enable the PPS to provide a Southern Regional Office that meets PPS office accommodation and car parking requirements within the revised PPS timescale autumn 2009.
Land and Property Services (Valuation) have agreed provisional and outline terms in respect of proposals to lease the building on this Belfast Road site. This agreement is ‘Without Prejudice and Subject to Contract’ which includes planning permission being granted.
The developer has made a submission to the planners based on the new ‘Pre Application Discussion for Strategic Projects and Major Housing, Commercial, Industrial and Public Sector Proposals’. A favourable response has been received which will permit the developer to submit a formal planning application on 21 May 2008. This new fast-tracked planning process anticipates that planning permission could be achieved in August 2008. On receipt of the planning permission the building will take nine to 12 months to become operational.
The Southern Regional Office is presently being sustained from Belfast until the Southern Regional Office is opened in Newry.
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