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9 July 2009 : Column 989W—continued
Phorm
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what response he has made to the European Commission's decision of 14 April 2009 to open an infringement proceeding relating to the use of Phorm's targeted online advertising technology by UK internet service providers. [280894]
Mr. Hanson: I have been asked to reply.
The Home Office expressed an informal view about targeted online advertising and RIPA in response to a number of requests. That note concludes that targeted online advertising systems might be lawful if consent was “expressed appropriately”. It did not consider whether the advertising system was either opt-in or opt-out. The Information Commissioner has confirmed that consent should be given on the basis of an opt-in system.
No discussions have taken place between the Home Office and Phorm regarding the use of its technology for counter-terrorism purposes and none are planned.
The European Commission requested a reply within two months and the Government have responded accordingly. It would not be appropriate to disclose the response while the Commission is still considering it.
Cabinet Office
eQuality Networks
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what funding awards (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) Futurebuilders have made to eQuality Networks in each of the last five years. [285470]
Angela E. Smith: Neither the Cabinet Office nor Futurebuilders has provided any funding for eQuality Networks in the last five years.
Forensic Therapies Limited
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much has been paid to Forensic Therapies Limited from the Adults Facing Chronic Exclusion fund in each year since 2002. [284772]
Mr. Ian Austin: I have been asked to reply.
The project has been awarded £525,000 in total, to be paid by September 2010.
Total paid to date is £262,500, comprising:
| £ | |
Children, Schools and Families
Apprentices
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of (a) 16 and (b) 17 year olds are participating in apprenticeships linked to (i) full-time and (ii) part-time jobs. [282734]
Mr. Iain Wright: In 2007/08, 33,300 16-year-olds and 36,400 17-year-olds started an apprenticeship. Information on whether apprenticeships are linked to full or part-time jobs is not available. The number of hours worked per week is determined by individual employers. However, in order to be eligible for public funding, employment must be for at least 16 hours per week unless otherwise agreed with the LSC on a case-by-case basis.
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether energy efficiency standards have been stipulated for circulator pumps to be installed under the Building Schools for the Future projects. [285063]
Mr. Coaker: The Department does not stipulate energy efficiency standards for circulator pumps within the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Our approach is to set targets for carbon emissions by a combination of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems.
We have developed guidance to help the designers of newly built schools achieve their target level of carbon reduction. This guidance encourages the use of energy efficient equipment without being prescriptive about design solutions. Additional funding has been provided to all new secondary schools within BSF, academies and One School Pathfinder programmes to reduce their carbon emissions by 60 per cent.
Children’s Play: Merseyside
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has allocated for children's play schemes in (a) Merseyside and (b) Crosby in 2009-10. [282530]
Dawn Primarolo: Following the commitments made in the Children’s Plan in 2007 and the National Play Strategy in 2008, every top tier local authority in England will receive either play pathfinder or playbuilder funding between 2008 to 2011 through the play capital investment programme.
On average all play pathfinder authorities will receive around £2 million capital funding and £500,000 revenue funding, while playbuilder authorities will receive around £1 million capital and £45,000 revenue funding. Play pathfinder authorities will use their allocated funding to deliver a minimum of 28 play areas plus a new staffed adventure playground, while playbuilder authorities will deliver a minimum of 22 play areas by 2011. The play areas that are delivered can be either completely new areas or existing areas which are significantly refurbished.
Local authorities have joined the programme, and so started receiving their funding, in two phases: wave 1 started in April 2008 and wave 2 in April 2009. Knowsley and Sefton are both wave 1 authorities, while the other three authorities in Merseyside (Liverpool, St. Helens and Wirral) joined the programme in April 2009. Knowsley is a play pathfinder authority and the other four are all playbuilder authorities.
The following tables show the capital and revenue funding allocated to Merseyside authorities and the phase they joined the capital play programme. Allocations for 2010-11 are indicative and will be confirmed in January 2010.
Decisions on where the capital funding is spent within local authority boundaries are taken locally, based on grant requirements around improved play spaces being provided where they are most needed and based on a robust consultation process with local children and young people, families and wider communities.
We are encouraging all Members of Parliament to proactively engage with their local play capital programmes as they roll out, and we are asking local authorities to ensure that their local Members of Parliament and council elected members are appropriately consulted, and briefed, about where the capital funding is spent.
| Wave 1 authorities | ||||||
| £ | ||||||
| Capital funding | Revenue funding | |||||
| Local authority | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
| (1) Wave 1 play pathfinder authorities receive capital funding in 2008-09 and 2009-10 only. | ||||||
| Wave 2 authorities | ||||
| £ | ||||
| Capital funding | Revenue funding | |||
| Local authority | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
Class Sizes
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children in each local authority area are in (a) infant, (b) primary and (c) secondary classes of over 30 pupils; and if he will make a statement. [277512]
Mr. Coaker: The number of children in each local authority area that are in (a) infant, (b) primary and (c) secondary classes of over 30 pupils can be found in tables B13, B12 and B14 respectively of the Statistical First Release “Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008 (Provisional)”. This can be accessed from the following link:
Although national information on class sizes for 2009 can be found in the Statistical First Release “Schools, Pupils and Their Characteristics: January 2009 (Provisional)”, information for local authorities has not yet been published. It is expected that this will be published in late July.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many primary school pupils were educated in class sizes of between (a) 20 and 25 and (b) 26 and 30 pupils in the latest year for which figures are available. [278337]
Mr. Coaker: The requested information is shown in the following table:
| Maintained primary schools( 1) : classes as taught( 2) , as at January 2009 (provisional) in England | |||
| Number of classes | Number of pupils | Percentage of pupils | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) One teacher classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January. Note: Pupil and class numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census | |||
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools in England have an average class size of fewer than (a) 15, (b) 20, (c) 25 and (d) 30 pupils in Key Stage 1; and if he will make a statement. [276885]
Mr. Coaker: The requested information is shown in the table.
| Maintained primary schools( 1) : Number of schools by Key Stage 1 average class size( 2,3 ) as at January 2009 (provisional) in England | |
| Key Stage 1 Average Class | Size Number of Schools( 4) |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes reception classes. (3) One teacher classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census. (4) Schools are counted against each relevant row e.g. those in ‘fewer than 20’ are also in “fewer than 15”. Source: School Census | |
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will estimate the effect on public expenditure of reducing class sizes at Key Stage 1 to an average of 15 pupils. [283913]
Mr. Coaker: The additional cost for financial year 2008-09 of the extra teachers required for an average class size of 15 for Key Stage 1 pupils is estimated to be around £1.5 billion. This estimate excludes the costs of additional support staff, additional classrooms and other factors such as training costs of additional teachers.
Demos
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department has any contracts with the think-tank Demos. [279517]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department does not have any contracts with Demos.
Departmental Food
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of the (a) meat, (b) fruit and (c) vegetables procured by his Department in the last months was produced in the UK. [281948]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: For the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008, the percentage of British sourced meat, fruit and vegetables procured by the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ catering provider, Aramark, was:
(a) Meat: 10 per cent.
(b) Fruit: 40 per cent.
(c) Vegetables: 60 per cent.
Dyslexia: Teachers
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the statement of 30 June 2009, Official Report, columns 165-80, on 21(st)-century schools, what the evidential basis is for his estimate that 4,000 additional dyslexia teachers will be required; in which local authority areas he expects such requirements to arise; and what plans he has to make funding allocations to schools for the employment of dyslexia teachers. [284062]
Mr. Coaker: Of the £10 million funding announced by the Secretary of State on 22 June 2009 to support the implementation of Sir Jim Rose's recommendations on the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties, it is estimated that £7.6 million will be invested in the provision of specialist dyslexia training for teachers. We expect that this will enable around 4,000 teachers to train in appropriately accredited specialist dyslexia training over this financial year and next.
We are working with the Dyslexia-Specific Learning Difficulties Trust, and other partners, to determine how to best organise the delivery of specialist training. We expect to provide further details on this in the autumn.
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