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10 Dec 2008 : Column 128W—continued
| Table 2: Apprenticeship starts in Wandsworth local authority, London and all regions | ||||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |||||
| Advanced apprenticeship | Apprenticeship | Total | Advanced Apprenticeship | Apprenticeship | Total | |
| Notes: 1. Figures for advanced apprenticeships include a small number of higher level apprenticeships. 2. Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. 3. Local authority and region is based on learner's home postcode. Source: WBL ILR 2005-06 and 2006-07 | ||||||
Copyright
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his policy is on penalties for (a) physical and (b) online copyright infringement; and if he will make a statement. [241331]
Mr. Lammy: Penalties for criminal copyright infringement must be proportionate to the harm caused to UK industries, so that they act as an effective deterrent. We have recently (31 October) completed a consultation on introducing exceptional summary maxima (above £5,000) in the magistrates courts for offences of online and physical copyright infringement.
Degrees: Standards
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what percentage of students completing BEd courses were awarded a (a) pass, (b) third class and (c) lower second class degree in each of the last 10 years. [242002]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The available information relates to undergraduates gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by class of degree in English Higher Education Institutions, and is given in the following table.
| First degree with QTS qualifications obtained by class of degree English higher education institutions, academic years 1997 - 98 to 2006 - 07 | |||||||||||||
| Of which: class of degree | |||||||||||||
| Pass | Third | Lower Second( 2) | Other( 3) | Total classified | Unclassified( 4) | ||||||||
| Academic year | Total first degree qualifiers with QTS( 1) | No. | %( 5) | No. | %( 5) | No. | %( 5) | No. | %( 5) | No. | %( 5) | No. | %( 5) |
| (1) Includes Unclassified qualifications. (2) Includes Lower Second Class Honours and Undivided Second Class Honours. (3) Includes First Class Honours, Upper Second Class Honours and Fourth Class Honours. (4) Includes Unclassified, Aegrotat, Ordinary and General Degrees. (5) The percentage calculations are expressed excluding Unclassified from the denominator. Notes: Includes those on BEd courses and those on BA or BSc with QTS. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five and percentages have been rounded to one decimal place. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record. | |||||||||||||
Defence
Armed Forces: Adult Education
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces enrolled in adult education courses in the latest period for which figures are available. [242089]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Information on how many members of the armed forces have enrolled in adult education courses are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Allowances
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how Longer Service Separation Allowance payments for members of the armed forces are calculated. [242293]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The aim of LSA is to support and improve retention by compensating those personnel experiencing separation over and above that compensated for by the X factor. The Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) conducted a review of the X factor as part of their 2007-08 programme, and the Government accepted the AFPRB's recommendation to increase the X factor from 13 per cent. to 14 per cent. with effect from April 2008. Importantly, since X factor is merged into basic salary, its benefit is not only in a significant increase in monthly salary, but also in pension growth.
Given this X factor provision for lower levels of separation, LSA has a qualifying period of 10 days’ involuntary separation before entitlement is triggered, at which point the allowance is paid with effect from the first day of separation. There is an exception for seagoing units, where LSA is awarded from the first day of departing base port, and also for ‘on the road’ posts in which individuals experience high frequency of separation of periods of at least four days’ duration. Moreover, noting the close relationship between X factor and longer separation allowance, LSA is reviewed periodically by the AFPRB.
The allowance is paid according to 14 different tiers, currently ranging from £6.38 to £26.94 (taxable) per day—as recommended by the AFPRB. Increment level 1 is paid for the first 400 days’ qualifying separation,
with incremental progression for each subsequent 300 days of qualifying separation. As such, the daily payment increases according to the through-career separation ‘clock’. Payment to individuals is through the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Joint Professional Administration System records the number of long service separation allowance days to which members of the armed forces are entitled. [242294]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The number of longer separation allowance days paid is recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration System.
There is no maximum entitlement to longer separation allowance. It is an allowance paid for separation from the family or, if single, from the duty station over and above that accounted for within the X factor element of basic pay.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances a day’s service on operations, recorded for the purposes of calculating a Longer Service Separation Allowance payment for an individual member of the armed forces, could not be used to calculate whether the same individual was in breach of harmony guidelines. [242295]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Activities that cause service personnel to be separated from their home base are as numerous as they are diverse. For this reason the joint personnel administration (JPA) records separated service through 16 separate activity codes that cover all aspects of individual training, collective training, pre-deployment training, courses and operations. Every 24 hour period that a service person spends away from their home base is used in the calculation of harmony, including operations.
Armed Forces: North West
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the projected number is of battalion headquarters to be registered to the North West over the next two years; [240284]
(2) how many battalion headquarters were registered in the North West in each of the last three years. [240547]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: From 2005 to 2006, four infantry battalion headquarters were based in the North West, comprising two regular and two Territorial Army battalion headquarters.
In 2006, the two TA units combined. Since this time, three infantry battalion headquarters have been based in the North West, comprising two regular and one Territorial Army battalion headquarters. Between August 2007 and August 2008, one of these headquarters was temporarily relocated.
There are no plans for the number of battalion headquarters in the region to change over the next two years. The following table summarises battalion headquarters locations in the North West.
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