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English Local Government: Discussion Papers

Baroness Gould of Potternewton asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will publish their proposals for reforming local democracy.[HL536]

Baroness Hayman: We have published today the first in a series of papers inviting discussion on proposals to modernise English local government. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

This first paper--on local democracy and community leadership--sets out proposals for modernising local electoral arrangements, for developing new ways in which councils can listen to their local communities and involve them in their decisions, for devising new ways in which councils can work, and for strengthening councils' roles as leaders of their local communities.

Other papers in the series will cover our proposals for best value in service delivery, a new ethical framework for local government, and aspects of the local government finance system. Following what we hope will be a wide public debate, we will set out our firm proposals in a White Paper. Our aim is a re-invigorated local government playing its full part as a partner with central government in laying the foundations for stable economic growth and improving the quality of people's lives.

Rendered Condensate on Farmland: Safety

The Earl of Shrewsbury asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they were satisfied that:


(a) the practice of spreading condensate produced by the rendering of cull cow cattle onto pasture

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which is grazed by farm animals is completely safe; and


(b) that there is no danger to the health of humans who come into contact with such condensate.[HL287]

The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): A small number of rendering plants spread condensate on farmland. In response to concerns about the practice, the Environment Agency commissioned a risk assessment report by independent technical consultants about the safety of condensate spread from a plant.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has reviewed the risk assessment and concluded that the risk to human health from this practice was negligible. The committee noted that additional analyses of the possible protein content of condensate are being undertaken and asked to see the results of these before reaching a conclusion on the safety of this practice with regard to grazing animals.

BSE: Inquiry Remit

Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will ask Lord Justice Phillips to review, at an early stage in the course of his inquiry into the BSE epidemic, whether any further measures need to be taken to reduce the risks of a prolongation of that epidemic.[HL372]

Lord Donoughue: No. Her Majesty's Government do not intend to alter the scope of Lord Justice Phillips' Inquiry, which has been asked to focus on the action taken in response to the emergence of BSE and nvCJD up to 20 March 1996.

Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee

Lord Gladwin of Clee asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the future of the Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee.[HL 358]

Lord Donoughue: The Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee (SBREC) has been the subject of a non-departmental public body prior options review. Departments are asked to look at the functions the body carries out; to assess whether they are still needed; and to decide whether the current arrangements provide the best way of carrying them out.

The SBREC has carried out its functions well, and we are very grateful to its past and present chairman and members, who have given valuable service to the industry over the years. Although the committee has no statutory basis, its work is linked to certain statutory arrangements which date back to 1938 and require the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to be closely involved with the research programme. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries

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and Food believes there is no need for the Government to be so closely involved in these arrangements, but that there is a case for industry-funded research and education to continue, and that it would be more appropriate, if the industry agrees, for these to be under the aegis of a development council for sugar beet. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is therefore consulting interested parties on a proposal to establish such a council to take on the functions currently undertaken by the SBREC.

In deciding whether to establish a development council, Ministers have to follow the procedures in the Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947. In particular, they need to be satisfied that its establishment is desired by a substantial number of persons engaged in the industry.

European Union: Educational Material

Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty's Government:

What programmes the European Union has in force, or in prospect, which may lead (a) schools or (b) other educational establishments in this country to disseminate information about the European Union; how much such programmes are estimated to cost over what period of time; and how they are paid for.[HL447]

The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone): Her Majesty's Government is unaware of any programmes with this objective. However, the European Commission may disseminate information about the EU on its own initiative and has in the past published materials intended for use in schools and other educational institutions. It would be for individual institutions to decide whether to make materials of this sort available to learners. The resources for such activities are drawn from the Commission's administrative appropriations specified annually in the general budget of the European Union.

Independent School Pupils Supported by Central Government Funding

Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will place in the Library of the House a schedule setting out the number of pupils in each independent school, at the latest conveniently available date, who are supported by:


(a) the assisted places scheme;


(b) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (and related departments, agencies etc.);


(c) the Ministry of Defence (and related departments, agencies, etc.); and


(d) any other publicly funded scheme.[HL400]

Baroness Blackstone: A schedule, drawn from currently available records of the number of pupils

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supported by central government funding at independent schools in the United Kingdom through the schemes specified, has been placed in the Library.

GCSE: Analysis of Results 1994-97

Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish data for England showing for comprehensive schools, modern schools, grammar schools, all state schools, independent schools and all schools separately, the percentage of

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all 16 year-old pupils in each of the years 1994 to 1997 passing GCSE examinations with Grades A* to C in the following subjects: mathematics, English, English literature, sciences (showing separately percentages for single award science, double award science, physics, chemistry and biology), French, history and geography, showing data separately for boys, girls and all pupils and including, for each category of school, the number of schools and the number of 16 year-old pupils.[HL375]

Baroness Blackstone: The information requested in respect of GCSE achievements is shown in the following table.

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GCSE achievements of 15 year-old pupils in schools

	1993-94						1994-95						1995-96						1996-97
	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total
Comprehensive schools
Number of 15 year-olds	223.7	217.1	440.6	242.9	235.6	478.6	249.9	243.7	493.6	246.4	240.6	486.9
Number of schools			2,855			2,849			2,850			2,841
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	37	37	37	36	36	36	38	38	38	39	39	39
English	40	58	49	38	57	47	38	57	48	38	56	47
English literature	34	51	43	36	54	45	36	54	45	36	54	45
Any science	38	38	38	39	39	39	40	40	40	40	41	41
Single award science	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2
Double award science	35	34	35	36	35	36	36	36	36	37	37	37
Physics	2	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	3	2	2
Chemistry	2	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Biology	2	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	3	2	2
French	15	27	21	15	27	21	15	27	21	15	27	21
History	16	21	18	15	21	18	15	20	18	15	20	18
Geography	20	19	20	21	19	20	22	21	22	22	21	22
Selective schools
Number of 15 year-olds	8.0	8.6	16.6	9.2	9.9	19.1	9.5	10.1	19.7	10.0	10.5	20.5
Number of schools			159			164			164			168
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	95	94	95	94	93	93	94	94	94	94	95	94
English	95	98	97	93	97	95	93	97	95	94	98	96
English literature	87	94	91	87	95	91	86	94	90	88	95	91
Any science	91	91	91	91	92	91	91	91	91	92	92	92
Single award science	7	4	6	4	3	4	5	2	3	3	2	2
Double award science	47	73	60	50	74	63	50	71	60	53	72	63
Physics	38	14	25	37	14	25	38	18	27	37	17	26
Chemistry	36	14	25	35	14	24	37	18	27	36	17	27
Biology	38	15	26	36	14	25	37	18	27	36	17	26
French	68	77	73	66	74	70	65	73	69	61	69	65
History	48	54	51	47	52	50	45	49	47	48	50	49
Geography	53	46	49	56	45	50	58	50	54	57	48	52
Modern schools
Number of 15 year-olds	9.6	9.9	19.5	10.6	10.5	21.1	10.3	10.5	20.8	10.3	10.4	20.7
Number of schools			167			163			156			160
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	25	23	24	24	22	23	26	24	25	27	26	26
English	30	50	40	27	48	37	27	48	38	27	48	37
English literature	20	38	30	24	42	33	24	42	33	25	45	35
Any science	24	24	24	28	26	27	29	28	28	29	29	29
Single award science	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	6	5	4	4	4
Double award science	21	19	20	25	21	23	25	22	23	25	24	25
Physics	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chemistry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Biology	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
French	7	18	13	10	20	15	11	21	16	13	23	18
History	7	12	10	8	13	11	8	13	10	8	13	11
Geography	13	13	13	13	12	12	14	14	14	14	13	14
Maintained Schools
Number of 15 year-olds	248	239	486	271	260	531	279	269	547	276	266	542
Number of schools			4,168			4,299			4,292			4,303
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	38	38	38	36	37	37	38	39	38	39	40	39
English	40	58	49	38	57	48	39	57	48	38	56	47
English literature	34	52	43	36	54	45	36	54	45	37	55	46
Any science	38	38	38	39	40	40	40	41	41	40	42	41
Single award science	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Double award science	34	34	34	35	36	35	35	37	36	35	37	36
Physics	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	3	4	2	3
Chemistry	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	3	4	2	3
Biology	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	3	4	2	3
French	16	28	22	16	28	22	16	28	22	16	28	22
History	16	22	19	16	21	18	16	20	18	16	21	18
Geography	21	19	20	21	20	21	22	21	22	23	21	22
Independent Schools
Number of 15 year-olds	24.6	21.5	46.1	25.3	22.2	47.5	24.6	22.2	46.8	23.6	21.3	45.0
Number of schools			1,060			1,062			1,061			1,053
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	80	81	81	79	81	80	80	82	81	80	82	81
English	79	87	83	78	87	82	78	86	82	78	86	81
English literature	70	79	74	70	80	75	70	80	75	70	80	75
Any science	74	76	75	77	79	78	76	79	77	76	79	78
Single award science	3	5	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	3	4	4
Double award science	17	30	23	26	40	32	27	40	33	28	42	35
Physics	48	29	39	44	26	35	42	26	34	41	25	33
Chemistry	46	33	40	42	28	36	42	29	36	41	28	35
Biology	45	37	41	40	32	36	40	32	36	40	31	36
French	66	74	70	66	73	69	64	72	68	63	70	66
History	47	45	46	46	45	45	45	42	43	44	42	43
Geography	48	42	45	48	41	45	48	43	46	49	43	46
All schools
Number of 15 year-olds	272.1	260.1	532.3	296.2	282.0	578.2	303.3	290.7	594.0	299.5	287.2	586.7
Number of schools			5,228			5,361			5,353			5,356
	Percentage achieving grades A*-C in
Mathematics	42	42	42	40	40	40	41	42	42	42	43	43
English	44	61	52	42	60	50	42	59	50	41	59	50
English literature	38	54	46	39	56	47	39	56	48	39	57	48
Any science	42	42	42	42	43	43	43	44	44	43	44	44
Single award science	2	3	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	2
Double award science	32	34	33	34	36	35	34	37	36	35	38	36
Physics	7	4	5	7	4	5	7	4	5	7	4	5
Chemistry	7	4	5	6	4	5	7	4	5	6	4	5
Biology	7	5	6	6	4	5	6	5	6	6	4	5
French	20	32	26	21	32	26	20	32	26	20	31	25
History	19	24	21	18	23	21	18	22	20	18	22	20
Geography	23	21	22	24	21	23	25	23	24	25	23	24

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