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7 July 2008 : Column 1410W—continued
In addition, in 2008 the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator employs two press officers.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the budget of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s press office was in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [216209]
Jim Knight: The QCA budget for press office operations, excluding staffing, was as follows, in each year since 2002:
| £ | |
The information is not available for 2001-02.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority: Manpower
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what estimate he has made of the number of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) staff who will (a) take voluntary redundancy and (b) move to the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator when the QCA is disbanded; [216070]
(2) what estimate he has made of the amount of compensation being paid to Qualifications and Curriculum Authority staff who are (a) taking voluntary redundancy and (b) moving to the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator; and if he will make a statement. [216071]
Jim Knight: The Government plan to legislate in the 2008-09 session to establish the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual), which will be based in Coventry. Ofqual will have about 125 staff, many of whom will transfer from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. The QCA will not be disbanded but will evolve into a Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, which will also be based in Coventry.
As a result of the relocation, rather than the creation of Ofqual, QCA currently expects about 300 QCA and Ofqual staff to take voluntary redundancy. Staff will confirm their preferences for relocation, redeployment or redundancy in the autumn.
QCA estimates that £15.5 million will be paid to QCA staff who take voluntary redundancy as a result of its relocation to Coventry. No compensation will be paid to QCA staff who transfer to the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many Qualifications and Curriculum Authority staff have (a) been made voluntarily redundant, (b) taken early retirement and (c) resigned in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [216072]
Jim Knight: The following numbers of QCA staff have (a) been made voluntarily redundant, (b) taken retirement and (c) resigned in each year since 2001:
| Redundancy | Retirement | Resigned | |
QCA does not distinguish between early retirement and other retirement.
Schools: Asbestos
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many and what proportion of schools have had asbestos in their buildings in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area; and if he will make a statement; [215698]
(2) what recent steps his Department has taken to remove asbestos from schools; and if he will make a statement. [215699]
Jim Knight: The majority of the many domestic and non-domestic buildings in England are likely to contain asbestos. In this schools are no different. Our best estimate is that some asbestos-containing materials can be found in around 70 per cent. of school buildings.
Health and Safety Executive guidance is clear that if asbestos is unlikely to be disturbed or damaged, it is usually safer to leave it in place and manage it. Routine condition surveys are rigorous enough to identify damaged material that could contain asbestos, and this would then trigger further action such as intrusive surveys and the repair or removal of any asbestos-containing materials.
Detailed information about the incidence of asbestos in schools is not collected centrally. Local authorities are responsible for school buildings under their management. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 place a duty on those with legal responsibilities for maintenance of buildings to manage the risk from asbestos. This includes assessing whether there is asbestos in buildings and, depending on its condition, removing it or managing it.
The HSE provides advice and guidance on the management of asbestos in schools.
Schools: Finance
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidelines his Department has issued to local authorities on the allocation of dedicated schools grant funding. [215734]
Jim Knight: The methodology underlying the allocation of DSG to individual local authorities can be found in the DSG Technical Note 2008-11 at:
This methodology has been used to make allocations for the years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Local authorities retain responsibility for setting the overall level of the Individual Schools Budget and for determining schools' budget shares, subject to the School Finance (England) Regulations 2008.
Each local authority's scheme for financing schools must contain a provision which sets out the frequency with which the budget share will be made available to governing bodies.
Local authorities will need to decide what level of contingency to establish within their central expenditure to allow relevant data changes to take effect within a financial year and meet any exceptional and unplanned cost pressures that may arise.
Schools: Hemsworth
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the total financial allocation per pupil was in each (a) primary and (b) secondary school in Hemsworth constituency in each of the last five years. [215733]
Jim Knight: The Department allocates education funding to local authorities so the requested information for Hemsworth constituency is not available, as it forms part of the Wakefield local authority. The revenue funding allocated by Wakefield local authority to each maintained primary and secondary school is included in the following table.
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