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3 Feb 2011 : Column 942W—continued
Legal Aid: Prisoners
Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing legal aid to prisoners in respect of judicial review proceedings in each of the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of defending against judicial review proceedings for prisoners (a) in receipt of legal aid and (b) not in receipt of legal aid. [37980]
Mr Djanogly: It is not possible to estimate the cost of providing legal aid to prisoners in judicial review proceedings, as the Legal Services Commission does not distinguish between prisoners and non-prisoners in granting legal aid for judicial reviews.
With regards to the costs incurred by the Ministry of Justice and its associated bodies in defending itself against judicial review proceedings, it is not possible to provide accurate and up to date figures in the time frame requested. I will write to the hon. Member when this is available and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.
Legal Aid: Social Security Benefits
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the effects of his proposed reductions in expenditure on legal aid provision for social welfare issues on people in Coventry. [37908]
Mr Djanogly: There is no intention to conduct such an assessment. Impact assessments will be published alongside any response to the legal aid consultation in due course, however these are unlikely to contain any detailed geographic analysis of impacts.
Magistrates Courts
Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what ongoing private finance initiative contractual obligations are in place in respect of Kidderminster magistrates court. [37771]
Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice has on-going private financial contractual obligations for the magistrates courts provided under the Herford and Worchester PFI contract (namely Hereford, Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester) which runs from 28 February 2000 for 25 years.
Prisoners' Release
Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the availability of parole board hearings for persons imprisoned for public protection. [38026]
Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice and the Parole Board meet regularly to assess the Parole Board's capacity to hold oral hearings for persons imprisoned for public protection. Joint working and careful planning have enabled the Parole Board to sit more oral hearing panels a month.
The following table shows the number of IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) cases considered by the Parole Board:
| Number | |
| (1 )Provisional | |
Prisoners: Health
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a generic health treatment community order; and whether he has made an estimate of the number of people who could be subject to such orders as an alternative to a short prison sentence in a year; [37544]
(2) whether he has plans to make psychiatric reports available to courts in respect of defendants with mental health disorders who may be eligible for a mental health treatment requirement pursuant to a community order; [37545]
(3) what plans he has to offer (a) mental health, (b) alcohol and (c) drug treatment to offenders sentenced to community orders including health treatment requirements. [37546]
Mr Blunt: : The Government's proposals for improving rehabilitation outcomes, including through improved access to mental health, drugs or alcohol treatment services, are set out in 'Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders', published on 7 December.
This consultation document also includes proposals for making better use of community sentences to punish and rehabilitate offenders providing effective alternatives to custody where community-based punishment and treatment may be more appropriate. In particular, we are consulting on options on how health treatment requirements should be formulated as part of community orders, to better motivate and engage offenders into treatment for mental health, drugs and alcohol problems. The consultation period will end on 4 March and we will publish the Government's response in May 2011.
Health
Biomedical Research
Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding he has allocated for biomedical research over the period of the comprehensive spending review; and if he will make a statement. [38014]
Mr Simon Burns: The Department's revenue allocations for research and development are shown in the following table.
| £ million | |
The Department does not allocate funding specifically for biomedical research. It funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. The NIHR funds a range of health research programmes and infrastructure including biomedical research centres and biomedical research units.
Cancer: Drugs
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria the Cancer Drugs Fund will use to assess the appropriateness of funding a treatment; and whether he has any plans to establish an advisory board on such criteria. [37973]
Mr Simon Burns: We have consulted on our plans for the design of the Cancer Drugs Fund and our consultation closed on 19 January. Decisions on the implementation of the Cancer Drugs Fund will be taken once the responses to the consultation have been considered.
Cancer: Health Education
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish his Department's implementation plan for cancer information prescriptions. [37923]
Paul Burstow: On 11 January, we published "Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. The strategy reports that the National Cancer Action Team, in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK, is supporting the use of information prescriptions (IPs) so that every cancer patient in England should be able to benefit over the lifetime of the strategy. Work is continuing to develop the use of IPs throughout the cancer pathway.
The implementation framework for cancer IPs is being piloted by a number of beacon sites in national health service trusts. The framework is now being finalised to reflect the early learning from the sites, the direction set by the new strategy and plans to make IPs more accessible to hard to reach groups. We expect to publish the final implementation framework in the spring.
Carers: Older People
Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the conclusions and recommendations of the Age UK report, Invisible but Invaluable. [37759]
Paul Burstow: This Government welcomes the Age UK report, "Invisible but Invaluable". We do recognise the valuable contribution made by older carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing unpaid support to family members or friends. Local authorities and the national health service have a vital role to play in identifying and supporting more carers.
In November 2010, the Government published "Recognised, valued and supported: next steps for the Carers Strategy". The Strategy is a cross Government strategy and shows how Government intend to support carers in terms of the outcomes and plans of health, social care, education and other services across Government. Two of the key recommendations were:
supporting those with caring responsibilities to identify themselves as carers at an early stage, recognising the value of their contribution and involving them from the outset both in designing local care provision and in planning individual care packages; and
enabling those with caring responsibilities to fulfil their educational and personalised support both for carers and those they support, enabling them to have a family and community life.
the Department has provided funding of over £63,000 plus VAT for the training of up to 200 general practitioners (GPs) and practice staff in the current financial year. As a result of this training, GPs and practice staff will be better able to identify and support carers; and
an additional £400 million in primary care trust (PCT) baselines to support the provision of breaks for carers. The "Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2011-12" indicates that PCTs should pool budgets with local authorities to provide carers' breaks, as far as possible, via direct payments or personal health budgets. This money is not ring fenced but for 2011-12, PCTs should agree policies, plans and budgets to support carers with local authorities and local carers' organisations, and make them available to local people.
Community Health Services: Fuels
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the effects of increases in fuel prices on district nurses and health visitors in the NHS who use their own cars for work; and if he will make a statement. [37976]
Mr Simon Burns: Rates of reimbursement for travelling expenses are contained in the national health service terms and conditions handbook. These apply to district nurses and health visitors unless alternative arrangements have been agreed locally. Any changes to national rates of reimbursement would be agreed by the NHS Staff Council.
Proposals for a new national system of reimbursing travel expenses were published by the NHS Staff Council on 14 October 2010. If agreed the proposal provides a system that is simpler, fairer, more transparent and better for the environment. The proposal also includes a review mechanism which will allow rates to reflect the changing cost of motoring.
These new rates of reimbursement would apply to journeys made on and after 1 July 2013. Existing rates will apply until then.
Departmental Secondments
Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what secondments (a) GlaxoSmithKline, (b) Pfizer, (c) Sanofi Aventis, (d) Astra Zeneca and (e) Novartis have made to his Department in each of the last five years; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks. [38176]
Mr Simon Burns: There have been no secondments to, or from, the Department and GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis, Astra Zeneca or Novartis in any of the last five years.
Fertility: Medical Treatments
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the availability of fertility treatment on the NHS; how many women over the age of 40-years-old received infertility treatment on the NHS in the most recent quarter for which figures are available; what assessment he has made of the effects of such provision on NHS budgets; and if he will make a statement. [38056]
Anne Milton: No recent assessment has been made of the availability of fertility treatment on the national health service, and information about the number of women over the age of 40-years-old who have received NHS funded infertility treatment is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to make commissioning decisions based on clinical evidence and discussions with local general practitioner commissioners, secondary care clinicians and providers, in order to meet their statutory responsibilities.
The NHS deputy chief executive, David Flory, wrote to PCT commissioners on 11 January 2011 to highlight that they should have regard to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence fertility guidelines, when considering commissioning services, including the recommendation that up to three cycles of in vitro fertilisation are offered to eligible couples where the woman is aged between 23 and 39.
The Department also supports Infertility Network UK, the leading fertility patient organisation, to work in partnership with PCTs to encourage good practice in the provision of fertility services. This work is ongoing.
General Practitioners
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanism he plans to put in place to monitor expenditure on the GP consortia pathfinder programme. [37926]
Mr Simon Burns: We have no plans to monitor expenditure centrally on the general practitioner (GP) consortia pathfinder programme.
Primary care trust (PCT) clusters will support the development of all emerging GP consortia, including pathfinders, through offering support, including a fund
of £2 per head for support in the development of their consortia. This can be used flexibly to fund, for example, clinical backfill, training and organisational development. Clusters will also provide support through a qualified or accredited senior finance manager; an organisational development expert/facilitator; an individual with expertise of appropriate governance arrangements or corporate affairs and a commissioning expert.
Subject to the legislative process, GP consortia will be accountable to the NHS Commissioning Board for managing public funds and for the outcomes they achieve.
General Practitioners: Manpower
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the ratio of GPs to population in (a) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) England. [37487]
Mr Simon Burns: General practitioner (GP) work force census data are not available by county or constituency area. Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency is contained within and serviced by Blackpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) and North Lancashire PCT. The ratio of GPs per 100,000 head of population for Blackpool PCT is 70 and for North Lancashire PCT is 63.8.
The five PCTs provided cover all the districts of Lancashire so for Lancashire the ratio of GPs per 100,000 head of population is 61.2 and for England the ratio is 69.3.
The information is collected by the NHS Information Centre and is shown in the following table:
| GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) per head of population in select areas, as at 30 September 2009 | ||
| GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) | GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) per 100,000 population | |
| Sources: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics Office for National Statistics, 2009 Final Mid-Year Population Estimates (2001 census based), adjusted May 2010 to reflect revisions to migration methodology | ||
Health
Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to ensure that there is a sufficient and appropriately qualified multi-disciplinary public health workforce at local authority level; and if he will take steps to ensure that public health continues to be a highly-regarded career path for both medical and non-medical graduates. [38086]
Anne Milton: Working with representative and professional organisations the public health work force strategy will be published in autumn 2011. It will set out how to secure the supply of highly trained and motivated staff, with the skills needed across the range of public health interventions, including those in local authorities who will provide public health advice and commission services.
Health: Private Sector
Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will assess the likely effects of including private healthcare companies in the commissioning process in the light of international experience; [37780]
(2) what mechanisms he plans to put in place to prevent private healthcare companies participating in the commissioning process solely for the purpose of profiteering. [37781]
Mr Simon Burns: External private organisations are currently widely used by primary care trusts to support the commissioning process. There is evidence that in many cases external organisations have succeeded in improving commissioning processes and can provide support in key areas such as data analysis and commercial skills.
General practitioner consortia will receive a maximum management allowance to reflect the costs associated with commissioning. They will have the freedom to decide what commissioning activities they undertake for themselves, and for what activities they choose to buy in support from external organisations, including local authorities, private and voluntary sector bodies.
The Department does not intend to monitor how consortia spend their management allowance, as consortia will have the freedom to use their resources in ways that achieve the best and most cost-efficient outcomes for patients. Consortia will, however, need to take account of value for money when contracting with external organisations.
Hearing: Babies
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanism he plans to put in place for the delivery of quality assurance for the newborn hearing screening programme by Public Health England; and if he will make a statement. [37770]
Anne Milton: The Public Health White Paper, 'Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England', makes clear that Public Health England will be responsible for funding and ensuring the provision of screening services in the future. Part of its role will be to design and provide quality assurance and monitoring for all screening programmes including the NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme.
Hospital Beds
Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of patients medically fit for discharge who remained in hospital in the latest period for which figures are available. [36166]
Paul Burstow: The most recent estimate of the cost of an excess bed-day in an English hospital in 2009-10 is about £250.
Industrial Health and Safety
Alok Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress his Department has made on reviewing the health and safety regulations for which it is responsible since his appointment. [36972]
Anne Milton: Lord Young's review of health and safety laws and the compensation culture, Common Sense Common Safety, carried out for the Prime Minister, was published on 15 October 2010.
Actions to implement Lord Young's recommendations are being taken forward across Government. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for implementing the recommendation to combine health and safety inspections and food safety inspections undertaken by local authorities and the other recommendations relating to food safety. This work is being taken forward by the FSA in line with the timetable set out in the report.
Influenza: Newton Abbot
Anne Marie Morris:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of
the availability of the influenza vaccine in Newton Abbot constituency. [36168]
Anne Milton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) on 19 January 2011, Official Report, columns 850-51W.
Maternal Mortality
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the five most prevalent causes of maternal mortality were in the last 10 years. [37849]
Anne Milton: The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health publishes a report once every three years; 'Saving Mothers' Lives' (formerly entitled 'Why Mothers Die'). The most recent, published in December 2007, covered the years 2003-05. This publication gives numbers of deaths in the United Kingdom reported to the inquiry in the three-year periods considered and divides them into deaths directly and indirectly due to pregnancy and childbirth.
The data in the table are from the confidential inquiry report 'Saving Mothers Lives'. The figures supplied are for the last 10 years for which data are available.
| Cause of death | 1994-96 | 1997-99 | 2000-02 | 2003-05 | |
| Notes: 1. Coincidental causes means deaths linked to pregnancy only by a temporal association in that they occurred during pregnancy or within six weeks of birth. 2. The total number of deaths over the most recent period of 2003-05 represented approximately 0.008% of the total number of maternities (2,114,004). 3. The next Maternal Death Enquiry Review (2006-08) is due to be published in March. | |||||
Medical Equipment: Expenditure
Mr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what mechanisms there are to ensure the NHS recovers medical aids loaned to patients and others; [38076]
(2) what estimate he has made of the expenditure by the NHS on medical aids in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [38106]
Paul Burstow: It is the responsibility of the local national health service to monitor and arrange for the recovery of medical aids, where this is safe and cost-effective.
Information on the expenditure by the NHS on medical aids is not held centrally as it is Government policy to reduce burden on local councils and primary care trusts who would be the bodies responsible for collecting these data.
NHS: Finance
Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) criteria to be applied and (b) evidential basis is for the proposed (i) health ringfence and (ii) health premium. [38085]
Anne Milton: From April 2013, upper tier and unitary local authorities will receive a new ring-fenced public health grant, in order to improve the health of their local population. The size of the ring-fenced grant will be based on relative population health need and weighted for inequalities. We are currently consulting on the range of activity for which local authorities will take responsibility and this will be key in determining the size of the grant. Work is also ongoing to determine baseline spending on public health activities in the national health service and this will inform the process of determining the size of the local authority public health grant. Our consultation also seeks views on the approach we should take to public health allocations.
The new health premium will be designed to incentivise action to reduce health inequalities and reward progress in improving the health of the local population, based on elements of the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
We will develop the formula for the health premium in an open and transparent way and are consulting on both the Public Health Outcomes Framework and the approach we should take to the premium itself in order to get the detail right, ensuring that it is fair, rewards areas for their achievements, and incentivises reductions in health inequalities. We intend to establish a stakeholder group to assist in this process.
Pain
Dame Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to provide training on chronic pain for (a) general practitioners and (b) nurses. [38059]
Anne Milton: The content and standard of health care training is the responsibility of the independent regulatory bodies. Their role is that of custodian of quality standards in education and practice.
The General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), are the respective independent bodies with regulatory responsibility for general practitioner (GP) and nurse education standards.
Both bodies have established curricular that incorporates mandatory learning outcomes for the deterrence and treatment of chronic pain.
The Royal College of General Practitioners has chosen chronic pain as a clinical priority area during 2011-13. A clinical champion will be appointed to lead this area of work from April 2011. Their work will address the training needs of front-line GPs and improve community-based provision of pain management.
The NMC has recently revised their standards for nurse pre-registration education. The new standards contain essential skills clusters that are incorporated into all nurse education programmes. The skills associated with these clusters are implicit throughout the required standards and include training and knowledge on prevention and treatment of chronic pain.
Prescription Drugs
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the cost per quality adjusted life year for each drug with patient numbers of less than 500 approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the last five years. [37974]
Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is not held by the Department. I have asked the chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to write to the hon. Member with this information. A copy will be placed in the Library.
Prescriptions
Duncan Hames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions were issued for medicines which are available over-the-counter in pharmacies in each of the last three years; how many such prescriptions were provided free of charge; and what the cost to the NHS was of (a) the drugs provided and (b) their processing. [37677]
Mr Simon Burns: Estimates of over-the-counter medicines are available only for those medicines classified as General Sales List ('GS' medicines) or Pharmacy only medicines ('P' medicines). The total number of items for these medicines is not available except at disproportionate cost. However, information on the number of General Sales List and Pharmacy only prescription items that were dispensed free at the point of dispensing (including items dispensed to patients holding a pre-payment certificate) are available.
These figures, together with the net ingredient cost, and the cost to the national health service of processing the prescriptions, for the three most recent years available, are shown in the following table.
| Estimate of GSL and P medicines exempt from prescription charges at the point of dispensing and dispensed by pharmacies in England from 2007-08 to 2009-10( 1,2) | |||
| £000 | |||
| Financial year | Prescription items( 3) | Net ingredient cost | Processing cost( 4) |
| (1) Data have been supplied for medicines which have a General Sales List (GSL) or Pharmacy only medicine (P) marketing authorisation only. Unlicensed medicines and devices have been excluded. (2) Data include some Prescription Only Medicines (POM) which also have a GSL/P marketing authorisation for different pack sizes. This is because dispensing contractors are not always required to inform NHS RxS of the pack size they have used to meet the prescription order, therefore some items recorded against a POM pack size may have been supplied using smaller GSL or P packs. (3) Prescription items are the number of times a P or GSL medicine appears on a dispensed prescription form which was exempt at the point of dispensing. This includes items which have been supplied to patients who hold a pre-payment certificate. (4) Processing costs include all the related NHS RxS administrative expenditure including staff, information technology maintenance and overheads directly related to processing prescriptions. This does not include NHS RxS capital expenditure and depreciation or any other NHS costs associated with the prescribing or dispensing of the medicine to the patient. Source: NHS Prescription Services (NHS RxS) Information Systems, NHS RxS Common Drug Reference Database and NHS Business Services Authority Costing Model | |||
Preventive Medicine
Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to take steps to maintain a focus on preventative healthcare in his proposals for reform of the NHS. [38084]
Anne Milton: The White Paper 'Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England', sets out the Government's vision for public health. Subject to Parliament, the Government will create a new public health service-Public Health England-with a renewed focus on health prevention, health protection and improvement.
The Government have reinforced their commitment to tackling the preventable causes of ill-health by announcing their intention to give local authorities ring-fenced public health budgets to improve the health of their local population. A new health premium will reward progress on specific public health outcomes.
We are currently consulting on the detail of these proposals.
Speech Therapy: Worcestershire
Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on levels of provision for speech and language therapy in Worcestershire; and if he will assess the adequacy of such provision in comparison with national levels. [37485]
Paul Burstow: The most recent data for 2009-10 are recorded in the following table and provide a count and percentage of all appointments for speech and language therapy and total out-patient appointments for Worcestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and England.
The provision of services such as speech and language therapy is a matter for local national health service and authority decision after assessment of local area needs.
| Total out-patient appointments | Number of speech and language appointments | Percentage of all appointments which are speech/language | |
| Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | |||
Business, Innovation and Skills
Apprentices
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department allocated to apprenticeships for young people in each of the last three years. [37554]
Mr Hayes: The following table contains apprenticeship expenditure figures for 16 to 18-year-olds for the last three years:
| 16 to 18 apprenticeships | |
| Expenditure (£ million) | |
The 16 to 18 apprenticeships budget for the 2010-11 financial year is currently £780 million and funding for 16 to 18 apprenticeships will increase again to £799 million in 2011-12. This will provide funding for more than 133,000 starts for 16 to 18-year-olds.
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of apprenticeships which will be created in the next 12 months (a) in Liverpool Wavertree constituency and (b) England. [38063]
Mr Hayes: The apprenticeships programme is demand-led, so the Government do not set specific targets for apprenticeships by constituency. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) operates a national system to fund post 19 further education and training. Funding allocations to colleges and providers reflect the pattern of employer demand and funding is moved in year to reflect local need. The National Apprenticeship Service work with local providers and employers in Liverpool Wavertree to make apprenticeship places available where there is demand.
We are committed to have funding in place to train over 350,000 apprentices in England in the 2010/11 academic year. For the 2011/12 academic year, our indicative forecast is for over 360,000 apprenticeship places.
Apprentices: Engineering
John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people took up an engineering apprenticeship in (a) Britain, (b) Cumbria and (c) Carlisle in 2009-10. [35992]
Mr Hayes: The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts by young people (aged under 19) on the engineering framework in England, Cumbria local authority and Carlisle parliamentary constituency in the 2009/10 academic year.
| Apprenticeship programme starts by young people (aged under 19) on the engineering framework in England, Cumbria local authority and Carlisle constituency, 2009/10 | |
| Geography | Apprenticeship starts |
| Notes: 1. England and local authority figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Parliamentary constituency figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Age is based on age at the start of the programme. 3. Geographic information is based upon the home postcode of the learner. The England total figure includes those learners studying in England where the postcode is not known or outside of England. Source: Individualised Learner Record | |
Information on the number of apprenticeship starts is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 27 January 2011
Burton's Foods: Moreton
Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has assessed the merits of offering support for the continued operation of Burton's Foods Factory in Moreton. [37621]
Mr Prisk: No application for public funding to support the continued operation of the Moreton factory has been submitted by Burton's Foods. If received, any such application would be assessed in line with the Department's standard procedures.
Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what grants were paid to Burton's Foods Factory in Moreton in 2009-10. [37694]
Mr Prisk: No publicly-funded grants were paid to the Burton's Foods factory at Moreton during the period in question.
Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will match any grant offered to Burton's Foods Factory in Moreton by the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government in order to secure jobs in England. [37695]
Mr Prisk: Any application for grant funding for Burton's Foods' operations in England will be considered on its merits. According to information provided by the Welsh and Scottish devolved Administrations, no grants have been offered to support the investments in Burton's facilities at Edinburgh and Llantarnam announced at the same time as the company's decision to close the Moreton plant.
Consumer Credit: Licensing
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many consumer credit licences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 were (a) issued or renewed and (b) revoked for failure to comply with debt management guidance by the Office of Fair Trading in each year since 2005. [37571]
Mr Davey: Between 2005 and 2010 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued or renewed a total of 102,691 consumer credit licences. This breaks down as follows:
23,503 licences were issued in 2005-06;
21,777 in 2006-07;
21,356 in 2007-08;
20,474 in 2008-09; and
15,581 in 2009-10.
In 2007-08, the OFT issued 2,551 licences with the debt counselling and/or debt adjusting categories required by businesses wishing to operate in the debt management sector. This figure increased to 3,780 for the period 2009-10. Please note that only a small percentage of traders granted consumer credit licences actually engage in debt management activities.
Between 2005 and 2010 the OFT issued a total of 44 minded to refuse or revoke or minded to refuse a variation application or minded to compulsorily vary notices to debt management companies. Out of 44 notices, non-compliances with the debt management guidance were cited in 40 cases. Of these 40 cases, the licences of 14 traders were successfully revoked or their applications were refused but three of these decisions are subject to appeal to the first tier consumer Credit Appeals Tribunal.
This figure (14) breaks down as follows:
one licence was revoked in 2007-08;
one licence application was refused in 2008-09;
10 licences were refused or revoked in 2009-10; and
two licence applications, including a variation application, were refused in 2010-11.
Of the remaining 27 cases, a further three licences were surrendered and four applications were withdrawn following issue of the OFT's notices. Adjudicators, acting on behalf of the OFT, also made determinations favourable to 10 businesses which permitted them to continue to trade, subject to requirements or undertakings being imposed on their licences. Decisions on the licence status of ten remaining cases have yet to be determined.
Since April 2008 when reforms to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 came into effect the OFT has issued 185 warning letters and 951 advisory letters to traders.
The OFT announced on 28 January 2011 action taken as a follow up to a review of compliance in the debt management sector. This action involves 129 businesses and has already resulted in 35 licences being surrendered
and formal action to revoke licences being taken against another eight licence holders. The OFT is considering further action against a number of other businesses.
Consumers: Advisory Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department has taken to provide consumer advice in deprived communities. [37503]
Mr Davey: This Department is leading work aimed at making the provision of information, advice and education to consumers simpler and more effective. The organisations at the focus of this work are Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. These are the umbrella organisations for the citizens advice bureaux that have a unique track record in providing advice to citizens, often those who are vulnerable or come from deprived communities. This includes consumer advice. In 2009/10 Citizens Advice helped 2.1 million people with over seven million problems at 3,500 locations in England and Wales.
This Department is also involved with Consumer Direct (CD) which is an online and telephone advice service funded and managed by the Office of Fair Trading. It handles approximately 1.7 million telephone calls and emails annually often helping those who are vulnerable or come from deprived communities.
Although at the national level CD does not specifically target communities, individual CD centres work with a range of community groups to give targeted advice and information. 40% of the contacts handled by CD are from people whose annual household income is less than £20,000.
This Department is also discussing with the consumer organisation Which? about making wider use of its online information and thereby reducing the costs to the taxpayer of providing such information.
Departmental Libraries
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) certified and (b) chartered librarians his Department and its predecessors have employed in each year since 2000. [37653]
Mr Davey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills employs staff with qualifications recognised by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and will reimburse these staff for their subscriptions to CILIP. No records are kept as to whether these staff are chartered members.
The following table shows the number of BIS staff with CILIP recognised qualifications.
| Number of people with CILIP recognised qualifications | |
Departmental Regulation
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what regulations his Department has removed since 6 May 2010. [37403]
Mr Prisk: Since May 2010 the Department has launched a review of employment law and is conducting a fundamental review scrutinising the overall stock of BIS regulation, alongside legacy measures inherited from the previous Administration. These have yet to conclude and so to date no significant regulations have been revoked.
Departmental Responsibilities
Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2010, Official Report, columns 1005-06W, on the Scottish Government First Minister, in what capacity Tavish Scott MSP attended the meeting; and whether any other Members of the Scottish Parliament were invited to attend. [37906]
Mr Davey: Tavish Scott MSP attended the meeting in his capacity as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. No other Members of the Scottish Parliament were invited to attend.
Environment Protection
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Department for Energy and Climate Change on the green economy roadmap. [38023]
Mr Prisk: The Green Economy Roadmap is a joint initiative between three Departments, BIS, DECC and DEFRA, to provide clarity to business on the green economy, the Government's policy intentions and the implications for business over the next 10 years. I have discussed plans for the roadmap with my ministerial counterparts in both DECC and DEFRA and we intend to publish this coming April.
Exports
Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward proposals to extend the ban on exports of ADE-651 bomb detectors and similar devices beyond Afghanistan and Iraq. [37883]
Mr Prisk: The Government currently have no plans to bring forward controls on the export of ADE-651 bomb detectors and similar devices beyond Afghanistan and Iraq.
Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the sale of ADE-651 bomb detectors and similar devices sourced from abroad to (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq by UK-based companies since January 2010. [37884]
Mr Prisk: Neither my the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills nor I have had any meetings on the issue of bomb detectors this year.
Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on ensuring the export ban of ADE-651 bomb detectors and similar devices to Afghanistan and Iraq is enforced. [37885]
Mr Prisk: No such discussions have taken place with the Secretary of State for the Home Department. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are the responsible enforcement authority for strategic export controls. HMRC works with the UK Border Agency to enforce prohibitions on the exportation of military equipment.
Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will work with his EU counterparts towards implementing an EU-wide ban on the export of ADE-651 bomb detectors and similar devices. [37886]
Exports: Military Aircraft
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the most recent export licences were granted for components for (a) F-15 aircraft, (b) F-16 aircraft and (c) Apache helicopters (i) directly to Israel and (ii) to the US for incorporation with the final customer being Israel. [37565]
Mr Prisk: The most recent licences the Government have issued, with dates, are as follows:
Components for F-16 aircraft exported to the US for incorporation, with the ultimate end user being Israel-January 2006 (components for military aircraft head-down displays and military aircraft head-down display equipment);
Components for Apache helicopters exported to the US for incorporation, with the ultimate end user being Israel-January 2006 (components for combat helicopters).
Our records for the last 10 years show no components have been supplied direct to Israel for Apache helicopters, F-15, or F-16 aircraft and no components have been supplied to the US for incorporation for F-15 aircraft, with the final customer being Israel.
Further Education: VAT
Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what requirements arising from EU regulations govern the exemption from value added tax or zero-rating of buildings for sixth form and further education colleges in respect of (a) entirely new-build colleges, (b) extensions or new buildings for existing colleges and (c) adjustments, conversions and maintenance work within existing colleges. [37512]
Mr Gauke: I have been asked to reply.
No VAT exemptions apply to the construction of buildings.
EU law allows the UK to continue to apply zero rates that were in force on 1 January 1991.
In the construction field, zero rates are applied by the UK to the construction of new dwellings, communal residential buildings, and buildings to be used by charities for specific purposes, namely as village halls or for non-business activities. Works of alteration, which may include extensions, adjustments and conversions, are zero-rated when they are carried out to listed buildings which are dwellings, communal residential buildings and charity buildings.
Works of repair and maintenance are outside the scope of these zero rates and have always been liable to VAT.
Sixth form colleges and further education colleges may qualify for the zero rate if they are charities and use their buildings solely for non-business purposes.
Higher Education: North West
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people normally resident in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency applied to attend university to start in the academic year (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12. [37305]
Mr Willetts: The information requested is in the following table:
| Applicants to full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS from Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency for entry in academic year 2009/10 and 2010/11 | ||
| Parliamentary constituency | 2009/10 | 2010/11 |
| Note: Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency has been identified using the home postcode regardless of declared area of permanent residence. Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) | ||
At 24 January 2011, 678 people from Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency had applied for entry in academic year 2011/12. Final UCAS data for 2011/12 will be available in January 2012.
Local Enterprise Partnerships
Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will assess the merits of providing a small budget to local economic partnerships for the purpose of establishing a secretariat which would not be under the control of a single organisation. [37784]
Mr Prisk: As set out in the Local Growth White Paper local enterprise partnerships will be expected to fund their own day-to-day running costs. To support local enterprise partnerships in their development we have recently announced a capacity fund to help them understand the real issues facing local businesses in their localities. More detail on this fund will follow shortly.
National Union of Students: Membership
Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) if he will bring forward proposals to reform the membership of rules for student unions and the National Union of Students so that membership is by voluntary opt-in; [37120]
(2) if he will review the funding arrangement for the National Union of Students for the purposes of establishing voluntary membership funding arrangements. [37121]
Mr Willetts: I do not believe there is a need to change the existing funding and membership arrangements. Individual students' unions are not automatically members of the National Union of Students (NUS). Their choice, whether to affiliate or not, will be based on consultation with their local student members. If they decide to affiliate, they pay an annual subscription to the NUS and their local members automatically become NUS members.
Students have the right, under Part II of the Education Act 1994, to opt-out of membership of their local students' union, and by effect also from the NUS.
Office of Fair Trading: Complaints
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints relating to the practice of debt management companies the Office of Fair Trading has received in each year since 2005; and how many such complaints resulted in the revocation of a company's licence. [37569]
Mr Davey: During the period 2005-11 the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) Enquiries and Reporting Centre received a total of 985 complaints about debt management companies.
This complaint total is broken down as follows:
82 complaints were received in 2005
109 complaints were received in 2006 and in 2007
107 complaints were received in 2008;
301 complaints were received in 2009;
350 were received in 2010; and, finally
19 complaints have been received by the OFT during the period 2010-11.
Out of 44 minded to refuse or revoke of minded to refuse a variation application or minded to compulsorily vary notices that the OFT issued to debt management companies during the period 2005-11, consumer and other stakeholder complaint evidence was cited in 22 notices.
Older Workers: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the number of workers aged 65 years in (a) Cumbria and (b) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency who are likely to remain in the work force for an additional year following the end of the default retirement age. [37985]
Mr Davey: Our impact assessment estimates that around 6,000 additional workers are likely to remain in the work force across the UK in the first year. We do not have data from which to produce robust estimates on the proportion likely to remain in the work force at the sub-regional level. The full impact assessment was published on 13 January and is available at:
Overseas Students: Bangladesh
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many postgraduate students from Bangladesh were enrolled at a university in the UK in each of the last five years; [37583]
(2) how many students from Bangladesh were enrolled on an undergraduate course in the UK in each of the last five years. [37584]
Mr Willetts: The number of Bangladesh-domiciled postgraduate and undergraduate enrolments at UK higher education institutions are shown in the table, for the academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10. Figures for the 2010/11 academic year will become available from January 2012.
| Bangladesh-domiciled postgraduate and undergraduate enrolments( 1) .( ) UK higher education institutions( 2) . Academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10 | |||
| Academic year | Postgraduate | Undergraduate | Total |
| (1) Covers enrolments of all ages to full-time and part-time courses. (2) Excludes the Open University. Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population. 2. Figures in the table have been rounded up or down to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record | |||
Overseas Students: Yemen
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many students from Yemen were enrolled on a postgraduate course in the UK in each of the last five years; [37586]
(2) how many students from Yemen were enrolled on undergraduate courses in the UK in each of the last five years. [37588]
Mr Willetts: The latest available figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) are shown in the table. Figures for the 2010/11 academic year will be available in January 2012.
| Yemen domiciled enrolments( 1) by level of study UK higher education institutions( 2) .( ) Academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10 | |||
| Academic year | Postgraduate | Undergraduate | Total |
| (1) Covers both full-time and part-time enrolments of all ages. (2) No Yemen domiciled enrolments were recorded as studying at the Open University in these years. As OU courses are delivered by distance learning, overseas students are likely to stay in their own country to study. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | |||
Education
Children in Care
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children under the age of five left care, where care is defined as subject to a care order, police protection order, emergency protection order, or placement for adoption, and were adopted in each year from 1995 to 2010. [28908]
Tim Loughton: The percentage of children, under the age of five, subject to a care order, police protection order or emergency protection order or placed for adoption who left care through adoption each year ending 31 March 1995 to 2010 is shown in the following table.
| Percentage of children under the age of five subject to a care order, police protection order, emergency protection order or who were placed for adoption who were adopted( 1, 2, 3, 4) . Years ending 31 March 1995 to 2010. Coverage: England | |
| Children adopted (percentage) | |
| (1) Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number. (2) Only the last occasion on which a child ceased to be looked after in the year has been counted. (3) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements. (4) Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. (5) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which covered all children looked after. (6) Figures are derived from the SSDA903 one third sample survey. Sourc e: SSDA903 | |
Curriculum
Mr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether (a) academies and (b) free schools will be subject to national curriculum changes made by his Department. [32765]
Mr Gibb: Academies and free schools are not required to follow the National Curriculum. However, they are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum.
The new National Curriculum will continue to be a statutory requirement for maintained schools and will also retain its importance as a national benchmark of excellence for all schools, including academies and free schools.
Departmental Manpower
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff in each age group his Department employed at each (a) grade and (b) location in (i) 1980, (ii) 1983, (iii) 1987, (iv) 1992, (v) 1997, (vi) 2001 and (vii) each year since 2005. [17412]
Tim Loughton: The Department for Education was established on 12 May 2010. Information for predecessor Departments on how many staff were employed in the years stated broken down by grade and age, is available in the Civil Service Statistics published on the Cabinet Office's website at:
Departmental Work Experience
Luciana Berger:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many interns his Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were (a) unpaid,
(b) remunerated with expenses only and (c) paid a salary. [17212]
Tim Loughton: The Department engaged 10 interns over the last 12 months, supporting the Cabinet Office six week Summer Diversity Internship Programme.
All interns participating were London-based and received £350 a week as directed by the Cabinet Office.
Free School Meals
Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in (a) Wallasey constituency, (b) the Wirral borough council area, (c) the North West and (d) England are in receipt of free school meals. [33871]
Mr Gibb: Information on free school meal eligibility is shown in the table set out as follows.
The answer includes full time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part time pupils aged 5 to 15 known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals.
| Maintained nursery, primary( 1) , state funded secondary( 1, 2) and special schools( 3) : School meal arrangements( 4, 5) January 2010 | |||||||||
| Maintained nursery and primary( 1) | State-funded secondary( 2) | Special( 3) | |||||||
| Number on roll( 4, 5) | Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4, 5) | Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | Number on roll( 4, 5) | Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4, 5) | Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | Number on roll( 4, 5) | Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4, 5) | Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (4) Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. (5) Includes pupils who have full time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part time attendance and are aged between 5 and 15. Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10 Source: School Census | |||||||||
Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on eligible families not taking up free school meals due to a perceived social stigma. [36007]
Mr Gibb: We receive occasional correspondence on stigma in relation to claiming free school meals. It is an issue that we take very seriously-there are clear financial and nutritional benefits for pupils from poorer families taking a free school lunch.
Cashless catering or 'swipe card' arrangements, integrated dining/queuing and pricing meals so that the cost of a meal is the same for those on free lunches as it is for others, are some of the helpful ways schools can minimise the easy identification and stigmatisation of pupils on free meals. Many schools have chosen to invest their targeted kitchen capital funding in cashless systems for this reason.
The Department has worked closely with other Government Departments to develop a Free School Meals Eligibility Checking System, known as "the ECS". The ECS enables local authorities to check data from the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in order to find out if a family qualifies for free school meals. It represents a significant achievement in reducing bureaucracy and cost for local authorities and encouraging more parents to sign up their children for a free school lunch.
Bullying or victimisation of pupils claiming free school meals is totally unacceptable. This is why we are now strengthening head teachers' authority to enforce discipline and ensure good behaviour both in and out of school.
Free School Meals: Sunderland
Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people received free school meals in Sunderland in the most recent year for which figures are available. [36409]
Mr Gibb: Information on free school meal eligibility is shown in the table.
The answer includes full time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part time pupils aged five to 15 known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals.
This information has been published in Tables 11a, b and c of the Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2010 Statistical First Release at:
| Maintained nursery, primary( 1) , state funded secondary( 1,2) and special schools( 3) : school meal arrangements( 4,5) -January 2010 | |||||||||
| Maintained nursery and primary( 1) | State-funded secondary ( 1,2) | Special( 3) | |||||||
| No. on roll( 4,5) | No. of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4,5) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | No. on roll( 4,5) | No. of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4,5) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | No. on roll( 4,5) | No. of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 4,5) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (4) Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. (5) Includes pupils who have full time attendance and are aged 0 to 15, or pupils who have part time attendance and are aged 5 to 15. Source: School Census | |||||||||
Free Schools
Dr Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing the first free schools by September 2011. [35051]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 24 January 2011]: Free Schools will receive revenue funding at a rate that is equivalent to maintained schools and academies. Capital funding of up to £50 million has been set aside in 2010-11 to meet the needs of Free Schools. Beyond that, the provision for Free Schools forms part of the overall spending review settlement for schools.
Home Education
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of children who are home-schooled in Dartford constituency. [33280]
Mr Gibb: The Department does not collect information about the number of home-schooled children and has not made a recent estimate of the number of home-schooled children in Dartford constituency.
New Enterprise Allowance
Mr MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer from the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, of 10 January 2011, Official Report, column 8, on the enterprise allowance, if he will continue his Department's support for the Education Business Partnership Scheme in South Yorkshire. [35319]
Mr Gibb: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 25 January 2011, Official Report, column 161W.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to his written ministerial statement of 20 January 2011, Official Report, columns 47-48WS, when he plans to conduct his separate internal review of personal, social, health and economic education; who he plans to consult during the review; if he will make it his policy to ensure (a) selection and (b) publication of comments submitted to him; and if he will make a statement. [36707]
Mr Gibb: Decisions relating to the process and time scale for the internal PSHE review have not yet been taken. The Department for Education is currently considering options and further information will be available in due course.
Pupils: Absenteeism
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what account his Department takes of appeals made direct to it by parents in respect of unauthorised absences of pupils from school. [33173]
Mr Gibb: The Department receives a number of complaints from parents on a variety of school attendance related matters. These are usually considered under section 496/7 of the Education Act 1996. The decision whether or not to authorise individual pupil absences rests with the person who has responsibility for the school register (normally the head teacher) and the governing body of the school which has overall responsibility for the register. Where a governing body has followed the relevant attendance regulations it is unlikely that there will be grounds for the Secretary of State to intervene.
The Secretary of State has power to intervene under section 496/7 of the Education Act 1996 if he considers that the governing body of a maintained school or a local authority has acted unreasonably in the exercise of their powers or duties (section 496) or that they have failed to carry out a duty (section 497). Every matter
that is referred to the Secretary of State under section 496 /497 will be considered on the individual merits of the case.
Where attendance becomes problematic schools should address the matter informally with parents in the first instance. They may also want to back this up with voluntary parenting contracts that provide support to parents to enable them to manage their child's school attendance.
Where parents are unwilling or refuse to co-operate then decisions will have to be taken at a local level in relation to more rigorous sanctions-such as sanctions under the school attendance order framework, including school attendance orders, prosecutions, penalty notices, parenting orders. Ultimately these decisions are made by local authorities and by the courts. We do expect prosecutions to be used as a last resort where other strategies to address poor attendance have failed.
Local authorities receive information on pupil attendance from the schools in their area. They are under a duty to use the school attendance order statutory framework where they identify that a child may not be receiving suitable education because of a failure to attend school regularly, Parents can be prosecuted for failure to comply with a school attendance order. There is provision within the school attendance order framework for parents to complain to the Secretary of State if they feel that the local authority has acted unreasonably in continuing to enforce a school attendance order. The Secretary of State can in these circumstances make whatever direction he thinks fit. Again, each case would be considered on its merits.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent analysis has been undertaken of geographical variations in levels of unauthorised absences from (a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [33176]
Mr Gibb: The most recent analysis on unauthorised absence has been published as part of the Statistical First Release (SFR) "Pupil Absence in Schools in England: Autumn Term 2009 and Spring Term 2010". This is available on our Research and Statistics Gateway website at
This contains Government office region and local authority level analyses (in tables 6 and 7).
Data for the academic year 2008/09 is available in the SFR "Pupil Absence in Schools in England, Including Pupil Characteristics: 2008/09", which can be found at
This contains Government office region and local authority level analyses (in tables 7.1 and 7.2) as well as tables relating pupil absence to school location and pupil residence by local authority district (tables 8.1 to 8.8).
Additionally, we publish pupil residence absence data for various geographic area types on the Neighbourhood Statistics website at
These data are available for 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09.
Pupils: Coventry
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of students in Coventry who will qualify for the pupil premium; and how many students in Coventry have received education maintenance allowance payments in each of the last five years. [35238]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 25 January 2011]: The pupil premium for 2011-12 will be allocated to local authorities and schools with pupils that are known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) as recorded on the January 2011 school census, PRU and AP census. Each pupil known to be eligible for free school meals will attract £430 of funding which will go to the school or academy via the local authority or Young People's Learning Agency if the pupil is in a mainstream setting or will be managed by the responsible local authority if the pupil is in a non-mainstream setting.
Local authorities will also attract the pupil premium for looked-after children which will be allocated to local authorities for pupils who at some point in the year to 31 March 2010 were looked after continuously for at least six months, and who were aged four to 15 on 31 August 2009 as recorded on the April 2010 local authority return. In 2011-12, each pupil will attract £430 of funding which will go to the responsible local authority who will pass it to maintained schools for pupils who have been in care for six months or more in the year to 31 March 2011.
The January 2010 school censuses allow an estimate of the number of pupils known to be eligible for FSM to be made. In Coventry in January 2010 there were 10,395 pupils known to be eligible, which would give rise to a pupil premium of £4,469,850. However, these are estimates only and are not necessarily indicative of how the pupil premium will be distributed. The number of eligible pupils in 2011 could be higher or lower.
The question of how many young people in Coventry received EMA is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency who operate the education maintenance allowance for the Department for Education. Peter Lauener the YPLA's chief executive, has written to the hon. Member for Coventry South with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
The above estimates include FSM-eligible pupils, in reception to year 11, or the appropriate age-range if not following the national curriculum, as at the January 2010 school census, pupil referral unit census and the alternative provision census (i.e. those pupils funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant via local authorities but educated in non-maintained special schools, further education establishments, etc.) and those eligible for the looked-after child pupil premium. Pupil numbers are rounded to the nearest five.
Letter from Peter Lauener, dated 25 January 2011
I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question PQ35238.
The Department of Education has responded to you regarding the first part of your question. I have been asked to provide a reply to the latter part of your question regarding how many students in Coventry have received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payments in the academic year.
EMA take-up for Coventry is:
| Academic year | Take-up |
Pupils: English Language
Kris Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils who enrolled in primary schools in Keighley constituency in each of the last five years did not speak English as a first language. [34143]
Mr Gibb: Information on first language is only collected for those pupils aged five and above. Pupils who are under five as at 31 August (at the start of the school year) are not required to provide such information.
The available information on the number of primary school pupils of compulsory school age and above (age as at 31 August) whose first language is known or believed to be other than English is shown in the following table.
| Number of pupils of compulsory school age and above enrolled in primary schools( 1) where first language is known or believed to be other than English( 2) , Keighley parliamentary constituency-January 2006 to 2010 | ||
| Number of pupils | Percentage of pupils( 3) | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Pupils of compulsory school age and above (at 31 August prior to the year shown) were classified by first language. Excludes dual registrations. (3) The number of pupils by their first language expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils of compulsory school age and above. Source: School Census | ||
Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of primary schools had more than 50 per cent. of pupils with English as an additional language in each year since 1997. [34996]
Mr Gibb: The requested information is shown in the following table:
| Number and percentage of primary schools( 1) with more than 50% of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English( 2) January 1997 to 2010-England | |||
| Number of primary schools( 1) | |||
| With more than 50% of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English( 2) | Total | Percentage | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Pupils of compulsory school age and above, as at 31 August prior to each year shown, were classified by first language. Excludes dual registrations. (3) Includes four schools where pupils below compulsory school age may have been included in the count of pupils whose first language was known or believed to be other than English. (4) Includes 78 schools where pupils below compulsory school age may have been included in the count of pupils whose first language was known or believed to be other than English. Source: School Census | |||
Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils there were where English was an additional language in the last 12 months. [35021]
Mr Gibb: In January 2010 the number of pupils of compulsory school age and above (age as at 31 August) whose first language was known or believed to be other than English was 518,020 in local authority maintained primary schools and 378,220 in state-funded secondary schools.
This information can be found in table 5 in the Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2010 Statistical First Release at:
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the average funding per school pupil in (a) Cambridgeshire County Council area, (b) Surrey County Council area, (c) Peterborough City Council area, (d) Essex County Council area, (e) Buckinghamshire County Council area, (f) Bedfordshire County Council area, (g) Hertfordshire County Council area and (h) nationally in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12. [35029]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 20 January 2011]: The available information for 2009-10 and 2010-11 is shown in the following table:
| Budget spend per pupil for 2009-10 and 2010-11 | ||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
On 13 December 2010, the Government announced the Dedicated Schools Grant settlement for each local authority and details of the pupil premium for 2011-12.
For 2011-12, we are protecting school funding in the system at flat cash per pupil, before adding the pupil premium. Flat cash per pupil means that as pupil numbers go up, the overall budget goes up in line.
Religious Education
Mr Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on the requirement for religious education to be a compulsory subject in all maintained schools. [33977]
Mr Gibb: Religious education holds a unique position as a statutory subject in the basic curriculum for all pupils in maintained schools in England. It is not a part of the National Curriculum, which means that there are no statutory national programmes of study, attainment targets or assessment arrangements. The nature of RE is such that local authorities and schools, who know their communities, are best positioned to design a syllabus which reflects local traditions and needs. The locally agreed syllabus, which is designed by Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education SACRE and adopted by the local authority, is statutory, and that means that local authorities must provide such a syllabus and that maintained schools must follow it. Schools with a religious character can either follow the locally agreed syllabus, or use a syllabus which has been agreed by their governing body. It is the responsibility of the head teacher, governors and local authorities (LAs) to make the necessary provisions for RE in all maintained schools.
We are firmly committed to maintaining the strong position of RE in the basic school curriculum and we do not intend to change the current statutory arrangements.
Mr Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department's review of the national curriculum will include the status of religious education. [34862]
Mr Gibb: Religious education (RE) is a statutory part of the basic curriculum of maintained schools in England, but not a part of the national curriculum. There are a number of important components of a broad and balanced school curriculum for which, as is currently the case, it would be inappropriate to prescribe national programmes of study. RE falls into this category, and therefore, falls outside the scope of a review of the national curriculum.
The nature of RE is such that local authorities and schools, who know their communities, are best positioned to design a syllabus which reflects local traditions and needs. The locally agreed syllabus, which is designed by Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education and adopted by the local authority, is statutory, and that means that local authorities must provide such a syllabus and that maintained schools must follow it. The Government do not intend to make any changes to the statutory basis for RE.
Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons he has excluded religious studies from the humanities list of the English Baccalaureate. [36031]
Mr Gibb: For the purposes of the 2010 performance tables the humanities element of the English Baccalaureate measure was either history or geography. We have not included religious education (RE) as fulfilling the humanity requirement of the English Baccalaureate because it is already a compulsory subject. One of the intentions of the English Baccalaureate is to encourage wider take up of geography and history in addition to, rather than instead of, compulsory RE.
However we recognise, as many schools do, the benefits that religious education can bring to pupils. This is why the teaching of RE remains compulsory throughout a pupil's schooling. Success in all subjects studied at GCSE will also continue to be recognised by other performance table measures, as it has in the past. We are open to arguments about how we can further improve the measures in the performance tables and will review the precise definition of the English Baccalaureate for the 2011 tables.
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