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22 July 2008 : Column 1300W—continued
| 200 6-07 | |||||
| Of which: | |||||
| Local authority name | Total number of schools | Total revenue balance (£) | Committed revenue balance | Uncommitted revenue balance | Community focused extended school revenue balance |
Secondary Education: Disabled
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many secondary schools in Leeds put a disability equality scheme in place in each of the last five years. [220780]
Kevin Brennan: We expect all schools and local authorities to have in place a disability equality scheme. However, data on those schools that have implemented them is not collected Centrally.
Secondary Education: Disadvantaged
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils receive free school meals in the (a) top 100, (b) top 500, (c) bottom 500 and (d) bottom 100 performing secondary schools; and what the national average number of pupils in secondary schools receiving free meals is. [220657]
Kevin Brennan: Information on the number of pupils who are known to be eligible and are claiming their free school meal entitlement by school performance has been placed in the Library.
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how the Government plans to engage with (a) the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, (b) the Equality and Human Rights Commission and (c) the Scottish Human Rights Commission in formulating a response to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations. [220101]
Beverley Hughes: The UK Government and devolved Administrations will seek dialogues with a range of organisations, including the respective Human Rights Commissions, when considering the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education: North Yorkshire
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision for adult education in north Yorkshire. [215730]
Bill Rammell: The Learning and Skills Council has responsibility for ensuring that there is sufficient, good quality provision for post-16 learners in further education delivered by FE colleges and providers in England. Quality in north Yorkshire is assured through the same assessment processes as all other areas of England in that all further education colleges and providers are subject to inspection by Ofsted.
In line with the LSC’s national approach to commissioning, regional LSCs will discuss with each FE college and provider their contribution to the delivery of skills for employability and further progression in learning in line with Government priorities. The performance of FE colleges and providers in delivering LSC-funded FE provision is also considered against the published national minimum levels of performance.
These discussions will inform decisions on whether the range of provision available in an area is sufficient and of good quality, and whether there is a need to tender for new provision, expand existing provision and/or replace poor quality provision. The offer to all local citizens, particularly those in disadvantaged neighbourhoods is central to these decisions.
Apprentices
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer of 5 June 2008, Official Report, column 1131W, on apprentices, what the reasons are for the planning assumption that the number of adult apprenticeship starts will reduce between 2009-10 and 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [216964]
Mr. Lammy:
The adult apprenticeship start figures are converted from the planned figures used for the 2008-09 Learning and Skills Council grant letter and LSC statement of priorities. These figures were produced before the apprenticeships review and were on a different basis from the starts measure that is now the agreed
measure following that review. For the 2009-10 LSC grant letter and LSC statement of priorities, due to be published later this year, we will be revisiting the planned figures for apprenticeships on the agreed basis of starts and ensuring that our apprenticeship trajectory matches the ambition that we set out in world-class apprenticeships. We will continue to provide funding to expand the apprenticeship programme to meet the needs of both young people and adults.
Apprentices: Construction
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps he plans to take to ensure that more apprenticeship placements are made available for young people wishing to acquire skills in the construction industry. [218894]
Mr. Lammy: “World-class Apprenticeships” (WCA) announced a package of measures designed to boost capacity and make it easier for employers to take on apprentices A construction taskforce is working directly with the Learning and Skills Council to increase the numbers of apprenticeships in the sector. Last year saw the highest number of starts, 21,000, in construction for four years.
Funding for apprenticeships will increase by almost a quarter between 2007/08 and 2010/11 to over £1 billion.
We are also working to ensure major developments such as the Olympic and Paralympic games include opportunities for apprenticeships. Already the Olympic Development Authority has committed to get at least 2,000 people in apprenticeships and work placements (up to 2012) at the Olympic park and other venues that the ODA is working on or building.
A national apprenticeship service, announced in the WCA, will have a particular focus of giving young people the opportunities to explore ‘non-traditional’ areas, for instance, potential female apprentices will be encouraged to look at trades concerned with construction and the built environment.
Computers: Graduates
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of trends in numbers of computer science graduates in England. [218338]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 21 July 2008]: There have been on average some 18,500 computer science first degree qualifiers over the five years to 2006-07. While levels in 2006-07 are lower than in the past five years it is too early to draw conclusions about trends. The labour force survey shows that adults with a degree in computing have the 4th highest employment rates.
I am encouraged by the range of contact currently taking place between the Sector Skills Council (e-skills UK), the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the higher education sector to ensure their IT and computing courses continue to meet the needs of industry. The ITMB degree framework helps prepare undergraduates for the changing role of the IT professional by providing them with the technology and business skills employers need. E-skills are also supporting activity in schools
such as the 14-19 diploma in information technology and computer clubs for girls which improve the information available to pupils and can help drive demand for computer science courses.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many students at UK universities graduated with degrees in (a) computer science, (b) mathematics and (c) physics in each of the last five years. [218731]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 14 July 2008]: The latest available information is given in the table. Comparable figures for the 2007-08 academic year will be available in January 2009.
| Number of First Degree Qualifiers( 1) in Computer Science, Mathematical Sciences and Physics: UK higher education institutions( 2) | |||||
| Subject of study | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| (1) Figures cover qualifiers of all domiciles and all modes of study. (2) Figures exclude those qualifying from the Open University due to inconsistencies in their method of recording subject of study over the time period. (3) Computer Science as a subject area includes the following principal subjects: Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Others in Computing Science. (4) Mathematical Sciences as a subject area includes the following principal subjects: Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics, Others in Mathematical and Computing Sciences, Others " Mathematical Sciences, Balanced Combination of Maths Sciences and informatics. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record. | |||||
The STEM programme aims to increase the number of young people taking up post-16 qualifications in the area of STEM, which includes ICT. By ensuring that more young people are going into mathematics and the sciences at post-16 we are enabling more people to take up degrees and other HE qualifications in ICT and computing fields.
Sixty four per cent. of computing graduates work in STEM jobs. This is slightly higher than all STEM graduates (48 per cent.), which suggests that either there is slightly higher demand for computing graduates so that computing graduates are more likely to have the right skills that employers are looking for than other STEM graduates. Five per cent. of e-skills employers have skills-shortage vacancies, the same as the UK average. There are still some 36 per cent. of computing graduates or 73,000 individuals not working in a STEM job, who could be used to overcome any excess demand.
I am encouraged by the range of contact currently taking place between the Sector Skills Council (e-skills UK), the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the higher education sector to ensure their IT and computing courses continue to meet the needs of industry. The ITMB degree framework helps prepare undergraduates for the changing rote of the IT professional by providing them with the technology and business skills employers need. E-skills are also supporting activity in schools such as the 14-19 diploma in information technology and computer clubs for girls which improve the information available to pupils and can help drive demand for computer science courses.
Departmental Marketing
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the cost was of (a) internet and website design and hosting, (b) print media design and (c) broadcast media of each of his Department's public information campaigns since 1997. [214683]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of machinery of Government changes in June 2007.
(a) The costs for website setup, design and ongoing maintenance and content updates in the financial year 2007/08 was £89,532.16. The cost of web hosting is unknown as it is wrapped up in a larger contract, but would very roughly estimate this to be no more than £25,000 pa.
(b) We are unable to provide costs for print media design as there is no central record of leaflets, reports or printed material for a public audience. Print media design is commissioned by many teams within the Department and it would be disproportionate in cost to gather this information in detail.
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