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24 Jun 2009 : Column 981W—continued
The majority of the £210 million that is safeguarded annually for informal adult learning is delivered through local authorities, and therefore comprises a significant proportion of their funding allocations (around £200 million a year over 2007/08 and 2008/09 academic years). The rest of the funding they receive supports adult
learner responsive provision as well as training in the workplace (Train to Gain and apprenticeships) for both adults and young people.
Learning and Skills Council: Manpower
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) directors, (b) senior managers, (c) specialist and delivery managers and (d) executive support and administration staff there were in each Learning and Skills Council office in each of the last five years. [280319]
Kevin Brennan: The Department does not hold this level of information. Geoff Russell, the Learning and Skills Council acting chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with the information he has requested. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Local Press
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what timetable the Office of Fair Trading has set for its review of local newspapers. [278599]
Kevin Brennan: Following its review of the local media merger regime, the OFT submitted a summary of its findings and recommendations to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for it to consider as part of the Digital Britain report. These findings and recommendations, and the OFT's full report, will be published alongside the final Digital Britain report shortly.
Overseas Students: Fees and Charges
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the monetary value of overseas student (a) fees and (b) spending to the economy. [281393]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 19 June 2009]: The latest estimates, taken from the “Global Value” report published by the British Council in September 2007, are that international students in further and higher education were estimated to contribute £2.2 billion in tuition fees and £3.1 billion in other spending in 2003-04. Tuition and other spending in relation to students on English language courses was estimated at £1.1 billion.
Personal Care Services: Training
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department funds training programmes which provide skills relevant to the beauty treatment and tanning sector; and if he will make a statement. [280079]
Kevin Brennan:
Funding for further education and skills is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold a comprehensive database of learning aims that are eligible for LSC funding; this falls within
the remit of the LSC. Beauty therapy is one of the learning aims that are eligible for LSC funding, and a variety of courses fall within the beauty therapy framework.
The LSC agrees indicative budgets with colleges and providers prior to the start of the academic year based on the expected delivery of an overall volume of learning. The actual funding paid will depend on the choice of learning area made by employers and learners. As funding is not allocated at an individual course level, details of the amount made available to support specific qualifications in this sector are not held centrally in the Department.
Steel: Prices
Mr. Gray: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if the Secretary of State will make it his policy to support small businesses affected by the changes in the price of steel. [264870]
Ian Lucas: Due a significant fall in demand, steel prices have dropped sharply from the peaks seen in the summer of 2008. Changes in prices are the natural consequence of market forces and as such it would not be right for the Government to interfere in the market in any way. However, if there was firm evidence that anti-competitive or unfair trade practices were the cause then we would press the European Commission to take action.
Since the start of the year the Government have introduced a range of measures to help increase liquidity and ease credit conditions for small businesses. This is real help that is focused and funded. It is help that has only been made possible due to the fiscal stimulus offered by the Government in the PBR. We have recapitalised the banks, agreed to underwrite more than £20 billion worth of credit lines and lending and tailored a package of bank measures—including a new £50 billion Bank of England facility for purchasing high quality assets—to get bad assets out into the daylight and help lending flow again.
Students: Finance
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effects on students in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point of the recent changes to the budget of the Learning and Skills Council. [280229]
Kevin Brennan:
Students in Essex and elsewhere have already benefited from the increase in investment for further education of 53 per cent. in real terms since 1997. Recent changes which will affect LSC budgets were announced in Budget 2009. The Budget made available an additional £300 million of further education capital spending and £122 million to support extra training in England for young people who have been unemployed for 12 months. As part of DCSF-funded activity, there will be £655 million to support over 54,000 more young people to take up a guaranteed place at school or college. As part of Budget 2009, the Government committed to delivering an additional £5 billion of efficiency savings in 2010-11. The then Secretary of State for DIUS wrote to the LSC on 7 May setting out expectations on the contribution to those efficiencies from post-19 further education provision. Taking into account these changes, the LSC will see an estimated
overall increase in resources for frontline teaching, learning and learner support services for post-19 learners of around £140 million between 2009-10 and 2010-11. We expect students in Essex and the Castle Point area to benefit from this increase. Funding allocations for 2009/10 post-19 provision are currently being finalised and will be completed later this month.
Students: Loans
Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people have (a) applied for and (b) received a career development loan to train to become (i) a driving instructor and (ii) a teacher in each of the last five years. [258054]
Mr. Simon: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) administer Career Development Loans (CDLs) on behalf of the Department. Details of the number of loans awarded for approved driver instructor and teacher training courses for the last five years are set out in the following tables. Information on the number of loans applied for is not collected.
Courses undertaken using a CDL are the personal choice of the individual taking out the loan. Changes in annual numbers undertaking any particular type of course, such as driving instruction, are a reflection of changing trends in individual career aspirations of those applying for loans.
| Approved driving instructor courses | |
| Number | |
| Teacher training courses—post graduate certificate in education | |
| Number | |
Children, Schools and Families
Absenteeism: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parents in Peterborough have appeared in court on charges related to the unauthorised absence from school of their child in the last (i) six, (ii) 12 and (iii) 24 months. [281685]
Mr. Coaker:
The Ministry of Justice collects and publishes data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the offence under s444(1) of failing to secure their child's regular attendance at school; and for prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly. It is
possible, because of the way courts record data, that some section 444 data is also collected under the more general heading of various offences under the Education Act 1996.
The Ministry of Justice collects prosecution data on the basis of police force areas only and not local authority area. Cambridgeshire police force area covers Peterborough and the number of parents prosecuted for failing to secure their children's regular school attendance between 2006 to 2007 (latest available data) is detailed in the following table. Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts for offences under the Education Act 1996 S.444( 1) , in Cambridgeshire police force area, 2006 07( 2,3) | |
| Number | |
| (1) Includes the following; (a) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1 )(8)). (b) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8)(1a)(8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit - Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice | |
Apprentices: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many hours a week on average 16 to 18 year-olds spent on apprenticeships in each industrial sector in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in the latest period for which figures are available. [280452]
Mr. Iain Wright: Apprenticeships for young people are normally full-time and the hours that each individual spends on their framework each week are a matter for the apprentice and their employer. Some apprentices work part-time. Information about the number of hours that apprentices work and train each week is not collected centrally. We have recently consulted on a Specification for Apprenticeship Standards in England including a proposal to set a minimum number of guided learning hours per year for all apprentices. Following consideration of the responses, we expect to publish the Specification for Apprenticeship Standards in England in August.
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost was of each Building Schools for the Future project completed in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [279322]
Mr. Coaker:
A total of 44 school projects (of which three were primary schools procured through the Newcastle local education partnership) were completed in the calendar year 2008, each benefiting from investment as
part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The table shows the level of capital funding provided to each school project. Local authorities may have supplemented this with additional funding from other sources. Commercially sensitive actual cost data is held on the Partnerships for Schools cost benchmarking database, but release of project-level data may prejudice future public sector negotiations with the private sector.
| Local authority | School | Capital funding (including ICT) (£ million) | New build/refurb | Notes |
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