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2 July 2008 : Column 992W—continued

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will review salary negotiations for public sector employees in organisations within his Department's responsibility to reflect the rise in the consumer price index to a point above three per cent. [214552]

Mr. Lammy: The Government's pay policy is guided by the following principles. Public sector pay settlements should be consistent with maintaining the necessary levels of recruitment, retention and staff engagement needed to support service delivery; ensuring that total pay bills represent value for money and are affordable within departments' overall expenditure plans; and consistent with the achievement of the inflation target. Timing of pay decisions for a particular workforce depends on pay-setting arrangements for that workforce.

Departmental Visits Abroad

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the cost of overseas visits by each Minister in his Department has been since 1997. [214626]

Mr. Lammy: Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2007/08 is currently being compiled and will be published before the summer recess. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code.

Higher Education: Admissions

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many students from Wirral West constituency entered (a) Oxford and (b) Cambridge University in the last five years; what steps his Department has taken in (i) Wirral and (ii) England to encourage more people from lower socio-economic groups to apply to these and other leading universities; and if he will make a statement. [213018]

Bill Rammell: The latest available information is shown in the table. Comparable figures for the 2007/08 academic year will be available in January 2009.

2 July 2008 : Column 993W

Entrants to undergraduate courses at the university of Oxford and the university of Cambridge( 1) from Wirral West parliamentary constituency, academic years 2002/03 to 2006/07
Academic year	University of Oxford	University of Cambridge
2002/03	10	15
2003/04	5	5
2004/05	10	5
2005/06	10	5
2006/07	5	5
(1) The university of Cambridge has taken the opportunity of a new student record system to review the recording of student data. The head of planning and resource allocation at the university of Cambridge should be consulted about significant variances when comparing data for 2004/05 and 2005/06 or using 2005/06 data where there are particular sensitivities. These sensitivities include postgraduate research and postgraduate taught totals; ‘other postgraduate’ and ‘other undergraduate’ totals; clinical medical FTEs; data relating to new entrants; and sources of financial support for postgraduates. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population basis and have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record.

The Aimhigher programme helps to raise the aspirations of young people towards university. Aimhigher is a national programme which supports trips to universities, masterclasses, summer schools and similar activities. Greater Merseyside Aimhigher has strong links with the university of Liverpool and others that offer a high rate of return. For example, Magdelene college, Cambridge runs a roadshow in schools in Wirrall; university of Liverpool runs a summer school for year 10 pupils from across Wirrall; and Birkenhead sixth-form college runs activities with Fitzwilliam college, Cambridge. Greater Merseyside Aimhigher will be receiving nearly £13 million between 2008/09 and 2010/11.

The National Programme for Gifted and Talented Education helps to raise attainment, especially for those underachieving as a consequence of disadvantage. The programme is designed to raise students’ attainment and aspirations, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, so that more are well-placed to compete for places at universities with the highest rates of return. Each region, including the North-West, has an Excellence Hub—an HE-based partnership providing outreach opportunities that support this objective.

Higher Education: Student Wastage

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the drop out rate was for each (a) higher education institution and (b) higher education course taught in a further education institution in the most recent year for which figures are available. [209454]

Bill Rammell: Student retention rates at higher education institutions in this country compare very well internationally. The UK ranks fifth in the OECD for first degree completion rates, out of 23 countries who report data in this area. A university education is now open to more students than ever before and the Government are totally committed to providing opportunities for all people to achieve their potential and to maximise their talent.

While there has been a slight increase in non-completion for the 2005/06 academic year, the proportion is lower than for most years for which data are available and is much lower than in the late 1990s.

2 July 2008 : Column 994W

This has been achieved and maintained during a period when the student population has increased and its diversity widened.

The available information on the proportions of UK-domiciled starters to full-time first degree courses who are projected to neither obtain an award nor transfer to another institution, for each English HEI, along with their benchmarks, are shown in table 1.

The figures in table 1 include higher education provided under a franchise in a further education institution; however these figures are not identified separately. Information is not available for higher education students registered at further education institutions (i.e. directly funded).

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2 July 2008 : Column 996W

Table 1: Proportion of full-time first degree starters at English higher education institutions, who were projected to neither gain an award nor transfer to another institution—academic year 2005/06
Percentage
	Projected	Benchmark
Anglia Ruskin University	21.7	20.0
Aston University	7.9	11.6
Bath Spa University	10.0	16.0
The University of Bath	4.4	6.8
University of Bedfordshire	20.6	18.4
Birkbeck College	—	—
Birmingham City University	19.8	17.5
Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies	12.9	16.6
The University of Birmingham	4.9	7.7
Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln	6.6	12.2
The University of Bolton	38.0	22.6
The Arts Institute at Bournemouth	10.1	15.3
Bournemouth University	13.1	15.5
The University of Bradford	16.9	18.1
The University of Brighton	13.0	14.9
The University of Bristol	4.2	5.1
Brunei University	11.6	15.8
Buckinghamshire New University	14.2	17.7
The University of Buckingham	0.0	22.8
The University of Cambridge	0.9	4.5
Canterbury Christ Church University	15.6	15.8
The University of Central Lancashire	22.5	18.3
Central School of Speech and Drama	3.9	12.8
University of Chester	15.2	15.3
The University of Chichester	7.8	15.9
The City University	14.7	15.9
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	5.8	15.0
Courtauld Institute of Art	6.8	5.6
Coventry University	20.0	18.4
The University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone, Rochester	10.9	15.8
Cumbria Institute of the Arts	13.2	16.1
Dartington College of Arts	11.1	15.7
De Montfort University	14.4	15.5
University of Derby	23.5	21.7
University of Durham	2.5	6.1
The University of East Anglia	13.5	9.9
The University of East London	19.9	24.2
Edge Hill University	18.4	16.8
The University of Essex	12.1	13.3
The University of Exeter	8.3	7.9
University College Falmouth	11.9	15.3
University of Gloucestershire	10.1	16.3
Goldsmiths College	14.4	15.1
The University of Greenwich	20.8	20.3
Harper Adams University College	13.3	15.3
University of Hertfordshire	15.7	17.9
The University of Huddersfield	15.5	17.2
The University of Hull	10.2	14.1
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine	2.9	4.7
Institute of Education	—	—
The University of Keele	8.6	12.1
The University of Kent	11.1	14.9
King's College London	7.6	7.5
Kingston University	16.4	19.0
The University of Lancaster	6.7	8.5
Leeds College of Music	0.0	8.4
Leeds Metropolitan University	15.8	16.4
The University of Leeds	7.9	8.0
Leeds Trinity and All Saints	16.9	15.7
The University of Leicester	7.0	9.2
The University of Lincoln	14.1	16.0
Liverpool Hope University	25.6	18.1
Liverpool John Moores University	21.1	16.4
The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts	10.4	15.5
The University of Liverpool	8.1	9.7
University of the Arts, London	14.1	13.2
University of London (Institutes and activities)	3.3	7.1
London Metropolitan University	21.6	22.6
London South Bank University	27.3	22.3
London School of Economics and Political Science	3.4	5.3
Loughborough University	5.5	10.8
The Manchester Metropolitan University	20.1	18.6
The University of Manchester	8.4	8.1
Middlesex University	33.9	21.0
The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne	7.5	7.8
Newman College of Higher Education	19.9	17.1
The University of Northampton	17.1	17.4
The University of Northumbria at Newcastle	17.8	15.2
Norwich School of Art and Design	5.9	14.4
The University of Nottingham	3.3	5.8
The Nottingham Trent University	11.5	13.8
Oxford Brookes University	13.1	14.0
The University of Oxford	2.4	3.7
University College Plymouth St. Mark and St. John	19.2	17.6
The University of Plymouth	14.4	16.2
The University of Portsmouth	13.0	16.3
Queen Mary and Westfield College	11.5	11.6
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication	8.4	17.6
The University of Reading	6.7	9.6
Roehampton University	21.2	16.4
Rose Bruford College	14.8	14.5
Royal Academy of Music	8.9	9.2
Royal Agricultural College	10.9	18.0
Royal College of Music	3.4	16.5
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College	7.1	9.4
Royal Northern College of Music	12.0	16.6
The Royal Veterinary College	6.1	3.2
St. George’s Hospital Medical School	6.4	7.6
St. Martin’s College	14.8	14.5
St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham	14.4	16.1
The University of Salford	22.0	18.3
The School of Oriental and African Studies	17.5	12.8
The School of Pharmacy	3.4	8.2
Sheffield Hallam University	14.5	15.8
The University of Sheffield	7.0	7.2
Southampton Solent University	21.2	20.4
The University of Southampton	5.3	9.3
Staffordshire University	21.2	18.3
The University of Sunderland	19.9	16.6
The University of Surrey	9.5	12.7
The University of Sussex	9.9	11.2
The University of Teesside	15.7	19.9
Thames Valley University	28.9	22.4
Trinity Laban	19.7	17.6
University College London	8.0	7.3
The University of Warwick	4.0	5.6
University of the West of England, Bristol	19.5	16.0
The University of Westminster	19.6	19.8
The University of Winchester	11.9	13.7
The University of Wolverhampton	20.9	18.9
The University of Worcester	15.5	16.2
Writtle College	17.9	17.3
York St. John University	10.7	14.1
The University of York	4.1	6.4
Notes: 1. The projected outcomes for a cohort are based on the assumption that their patterns of progression will follow those of students currently in the system. A student is assumed to have left with no award if they have been inactive for two years. 2. For each institution, the performance indicator is shown against a benchmark. This is a sector average which is adjusted for each institution to take into account the following factors: subject of study, qualifications on entry and age on entry. The benchmarks can be used to show how a university is performing compared to the sector as a whole, and also help to determine whether a meaningful comparison can be drawn between two or more universities. The benchmarks are not targets. Source: Performance Indicators in Higher Education, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

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