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21 July 2009 : Column 1718W—continued
Greece
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the dates and times were of each official engagement the Secretary of State undertook (a) at the Bilderberg Conference and (b) at other times on his visit to Greece in May; and which (i) individuals and (ii) companies he met on each of those engagements. [284713]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 7 July 2009]: On Friday 15 May prior to the conference my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met a number of UK and Greek businesses at a business breakfast hosted at the British embassy and the Union of Greek Shipowners. He also met his counterpart in the Greek Government. During the course of the conference he was able to have productive meetings with other attendees about the future of the UK automotive sector and other issues.
Havering Sixth Form College: Finance
Angela Watkinson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether funding will be made available to Havering Sixth Form College to revise the enabling works undertaken in its unsuccessful bid for its Learning and Skills Council capital project. [288119]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 20 July 2009]: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has supported colleges throughout the development of capital proposals, and is committed to meeting all outstanding contractual obligations. The LSC has consistently said that it will ensure no college is unable to meet its financial obligations as a result of decisions on capital projects. Whether funding will be made available to Havering Sixth Form College is a matter for the LSC.
Higher Education: Admissions
Annette Brooke: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of creating 5,000 further student places in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [287047]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 20 July 2009]: In 2008-09 the total cost of the maintenance grant and resource accounting and budgeting cost of loans was around £3,000 per student where the RAB charge represents the future cost to Government of subsidising and writing off the loans issued. £3,000 is likely to be an under-estimate of providing an extra place in 2009-10 because it is partly based on students falling under less generous student support regulations than are in operation in 2009-10. The maximum total grant and RAB cost per entrant in 2009-10 is around £5,200, therefore the academic year student support cost for the first year of study for 5,000 additional entrants in 2009 could be anything up to £26 million; depending on students' individual characteristics.
No estimate of teaching costs is offered here as these vary between courses and institutions. The allocation of teaching grant to institutions to help meet these costs is governed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Guidance on how HEFCE allocates its funds is available at:
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applicants to higher education institutions (a) found a place in clearing and (b) were eligible to find a place in clearing in each year since 1993. [287758]
Mr. Lammy: Information on clearing is not available for 1993, as applications to higher education were processed through the University Central Council on Admissions (UCCA) and the Polytechnics and Colleges Admissions Service (PCAS). UCCA and PCAS numbers on clearing are not held centrally. From 1994, applications were processed through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
The numbers for 1994 onwards are in the table, which has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the letter of 21 July 2009 from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to the Higher Education Funding Council for England, how many additional students he expects to be in higher education in 2009-10; and what progress the Government have made towards their commitment of having half of all young people attend higher education by 2010. [288411]
Mr. Lammy: Our grant letter to HEFCE this year confirmed additional teaching grant funding for the equivalent of an extra 10,000 full-time-equivalent places in 2009-10. HEFCE estimate that this will result in 3,000 additional full-time first year entrants. Further to this, we announced on 20 July 2009 that we would be providing financial support for an additional 10,000 students in science, technology, engineering and maths over the duration of their course in Higher Education. We will not receive outturn data on the 2009-10 student population until early 2011.
The Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 target was to increase participation in Higher Education towards 50 per cent. of those aged 18 to 30 with growth of at least a percentage point every two years to the academic year 2010-11. Over half of young people from all social
backgrounds aspire to go to university. Progression towards 50 per cent. is a measure of how well we are responding to the families who want the best for their children while making an essential investment in our economic success. Latest figures showed 43.3 per cent. of 17-30 year olds participated for the first time in higher education in 2007-08.
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of young people living in (a) Sunderland and (b) England entered university in each of the last 10 years. [289157]
Mr. Lammy: The Government do not collect data on the number of people resident in a particular area who are not in higher education. Therefore, it is not possible to calculate what percentage of young people living in Sunderland local authority entered university in the last 10 years.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) published "Young participation in higher education" in January 2005, which is available from the HEFCE website at:
The HEFCE report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19 disaggregated by local education authority (LEA) for the years 1997 to 2000.
At national level, the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) covers English-domiciled 17 to 30-year-old first-time entrants to higher education courses, at UK higher education institutions and English, Scottish and Welsh further education colleges, who remain on their course for at least six months. The latest available figure is 43 per cent. in 2007/08. For young people (aged 17-20), the figure is 34 per cent.
The number of young entrants to higher education from Sunderland local authority and England, in the last 10 years, are shown as an alternative in the table. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available in January 2010.
| Young( 1) undergraduate entrants( 2) from Sunderland local authority( 3) and England, UK higher education institutions( 4) , academic year 1998/99 to 2007/08 | ||
| Academic year | Sunderland | England |
| (1) Covers entrants under the age of 21. (2) Covers entrants to full-time and part-time courses. (3) The table does not include entrants where the local authority area of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid home postcodes. (4) Excludes the Open university due to inconsistencies in their coding of entrants across the time series. Notes: 1. Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | ||
Higher Education: Greater Manchester
Mark Hunter: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people resident in each local authority area in Greater Manchester (a) applied for and (b) enrolled on a course in a higher education institution in each year since 1997. [288366]
Mr. Lammy: The latest information from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) on the number of applicants and accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses is shown in table 1.
| Table 1: Applicants and accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses via Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) | ||||||
| Academic year | Bolton | Bury | Manchester | Oldham | Rochdale | Salford |
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