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Fair Trade
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is the value of fairly traded (a) tea and (b) coffee used in her Department in each of the last five years. [17549]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is not possible even at disproportionate cost to identify the value of fairly traded tea and coffee as separate records are not kept.
Threshold Pay
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers are receiving threshold pay; and how many are expected to be eligible in 2002–03. [19353]
Mr. Timms: About 195,000 teachers in England were assessed as meeting the threshold standards in the first (2000) round, which entitles them to be paid on the upper pay scale while they are employed as a classroom teacher in the maintained sector. Applications for the second round of the threshold (November 2001) have not yet been assessed.
We estimate that about 250,000 teachers in England were eligible to apply for threshold assessment in 2000 and that about 20,000 teachers will become newly eligible to apply for threshold assessment in September 2002.
Sixth Forms
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the heads of secondary schools with sixth forms who sit on each Learning and Skills Council. [21437]
Margaret Hodge: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) will be taking over responsibility for funding school sixth forms from 2002–03. However, 14 heads of secondary schools with sixth forms currently sit on the LSC. The precise breakdown is as follows:
| Local LSC | Member | School with sixth form |
|---|---|---|
| North West | ||
| Greater Merseyside | David Atkin | Headteacher: Rainhill High School |
| West Midlands | ||
| Hereford/Worcester | Valerie Thomasson | Headteacher: The Minster College |
| South West | ||
| West of England | Andrea Arlidge | Headteacher: St. Katherine's School |
| North East | ||
| County Durham | Unica O'Reilly | Headteacher: Wolsingham School and Community College |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | ||
| North Yorkshire | Rachel Totton | Headteacher: Whitby Community College |
| East of England | ||
| Bedfordshire | John Mitchell | Headteacher: The Cedars Upper School and Community College |
| Cambridgeshire | Christopher Walford | Headteacher: John Mansfield School |
| Essex | Susan Anderson | Headteacher: Hedingham School |
| Hertfordshire | Jane Creasey | Headteacher: Sir John Lawes School |
| Gail Tolley | Headteacher: Stanborough School | |
| Norfolk | Robert Young | Headteacher: Hamond's High School |
| Suffolk | Neil Watts | Headteacher: Northgate High School |
| London | ||
| South London | Pauline Cox | Headteacher: The Tiffin Girls School |
| National | ||
| Young People's Committee | Ian Gartshore | Headteacher: Downham Market School |
| Total | 14 |
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Further sixth form expertise is brought by:
- Two former head teachers (from schools with sixth forms) on LLSCs (1 as an Executive Director);
One deputy head teacher, one assistant head teacher and one teacher (from schools with sixth forms) on LLSCs.
In addition, further knowledge and experience of schools is brought by:
- Three headteachers of schools without sixth forms, on local councils;
36 representatives from local education authorities who bring knowledge and understanding of school sixth forms;
101 members who are school governors.
(31) Headteachers without sixth forms
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Education SSA
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to reform the education standard spending assessment. [21560]
Mr. Timms: As part of the review of local government funding we have set up two working groups, with local government and schools partners, to develop proposals for a new LEA and school funding system. We will be in a position to make proposals for the new system by the summer of 2002 and intend to introduce the new system in 2003–04.
Teenagers (Health Education)
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to ensure that health support and advice is made available through schools to young people in their teenage years. [21814]
Margaret Hodge: We are the first Government to introduce a non-statutory framework for Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) that provides the opportunities for pupils to receive the health support and advice they need to live confident, healthy and independent lives. Through PSHE, schools deliver a range of programmes that include, for example, drug, alcohol, tobacco and sex and relationship education. Schools receive Standards Fund money directly to support these programmes.
Pre-school Education
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Ofsted-inspected pre- school nurseries and playgroups have closed in each of the past three years. [21953]
Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the form requested. The Department collects information on day nurseries and playgroups and pre-schools defined in terms of the full day or sessional care that they provide. It does not collect information on pre-schools separately from playgroups. The available information is shown in the table.
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| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playgroups and pre-schools | 15,700 | 15,000 | 14,300 | 14,000 |
| Day nurseries | 6,700 | 7,000 | 7,500 | 7,800 |
(32) Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
Local authorities provided the data. Ofsted did not assume responsibility for registration and inspection of children's day care facilities until September 2001.
Figures for 2001 for England and Government Office regions were published in Statistical Bulletin 08/01 "Children's Day Care Facilities as at 31 March 2001", which is available at www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/ and from the Library.
Small Businesses (Communications)
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what structures exist to facilitate communication between her Department and small businesses. [22152]
John Healey: My Department is committed to working actively with everyone who shares our aim of building a competitive economy and inclusive society. Small businesses have an important contribution to make to achieve that aim and my Department has regular communications with them both directly, for example with the ICT Industry Club where half of the 150 members are small businesses, and through organisations such as the Learning and Skills Councils, the Small Business Service, Regional Development Agencies and many other national and local organisations. We also run an online forum for small businesses that offers direct access to my Department for all small businesses; the forum is at www.business.dfes.gov.uk.
The new employer-led Sector Skills Councils licensed from 2002 will lead discussion with Government about skills and productivity in their industry or business sectors, including the needs of small business. The purpose of this discussion will be to develop effective policies and provision that better meets the needs of employers to drive up competitiveness and business effectiveness.
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