Neophyte Liberal MP - Paul Rowen of Rochdale

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what
schemes have so far been approved for the voluntary aided sector under
the Building Schools for the Future scheme; and what the total value of
these schemes is.18th October 2005.

Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools), Department for Education and Skills) Hansard source


The Government has announced 37 projects in waves 1 to 3 of Building Schools for the Future (BSF), of which 29 have at least one voluntary aided (VA) school within them.
So far 13 project outline business cases have been approved by the Treasury or the Department, and the VA schools that are included in these are listed as follows:

Knowsley Kirby RC; Central RC
Lancashire St. Theodore's RC Burnley
Leeds Corpus Christie RC; New RC High
Leicester English Martyrs; St. Paul's RC
Lewisham Northbrook
Newcastle St. Cuthbert's RC; St. Mary's RC
Solihull The Archbishop Grimshaw RC
Stoke St. Peter's CE; St. Margaret Ward RC;St Thomas More RC; St Joseph's RC
Waltham Forest Holy Family RC

All the BSF projects are currently moving towards procurement, but none have been signed as yet. Funding is not finalised until contracts have been signed, and no details can be released prior to this for commercial reasons.

Which begs the Question ... why does the State support Faith Schools ?

Paul has been a busy bee after his brief holiday - Look out for some more PQ's on Human genetics and Education.... meanwhile

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total
investment in quality bus corridors has been in each Passenger
Transport Area in each of the last five years.

Karen Buck (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport) Hansard source
The information on investment provided is based on annual returns the Department receives from local transport authorities. It does not hold records on the level of investment in quality bus corridors alone for all Passenger Transport Areas. An authority may have classified investment in quality bus corridors as a bus priority scheme or less likely as a bus infrastructure scheme. The following tables include information provided on both bus priority and bus infrastructure covering the five years of the first local transport plans.

The information on investment provided is based on annual returns the Department receives from local transport authorities. It does not hold records on the level of investment in quality bus corridors alone for all Passenger Transport Areas. An authority may have classified investment in quality bus corridors as a bus priority scheme or less likely as a bus infrastructure scheme. The following tables include information provided on both bus priority and bus infrastructure covering the five years of the first local transport plans.

Bus priority schemes

					£000
Passenger Transport Area	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Greater Manchester	4,743	6,589	6,484	9,099	8,572
Merseyside	697	1,158	69	12	0
West Yorkshire	774	854	1,354	1,530	1,812
South Yorkshire	2,422	4,106	3,680	4,703	5,999
West Midlands	9,598	11,839	19,702	21,945	37,775
Tyne and Wear	590	3,117	12,987	13,590	10,305

Bus infrastructure

					£000
Passenger Transport Area	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Greater Manchester	2,130	826	1,681	1,535	1,395
Merseyside	6,884	6,292	6,462	4,016	5,308
West Yorkshire	1,962	4,664	6,128	6,056	7,295
South Yorkshire	1,568	656	549	2,684	1,377
West Midlands	505	2,656	1,993	3,162	4,381
Tyne and Wear	519	1,281	0	0	0

The figures for 2005–06 are forecast expenditure to the end of this financial year. Other bus related investment is not included in these figures.

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Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the
total additional cost of introducing free travel for pensioners will be
in 200/ 07; (2) what the cost to passenger transport areas will
be for the provision of free travel for pensioners; and if he will make
extra resources available to cover this.

Karen Buck (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport) Hansard source

The Government will provide an extra £350 million in 2006–07 which will be sufficient to fund the cost to the concessionary travel authorities, including the passenger transport executives.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what
progress he has made in considering the Greater Manchester Integrated
Transport Strategy submitted to his Department on 4th April; (2) what
progress has been made in his consideration of the Manchester Metrolink
Phase 2.

Derek Twigg (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport) Hansard source
The Integrated Transport Strategy for Greater Manchester incorporates proposals for Metrolink Phase III into a wider package of measures. The Department has had a number of discussions with Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive concerning their strategy and these are continuing.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria
will be used for the approval of schemes for the Transport Innovation
Scheme

Derek Twigg (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport) Hansard source
Information on the objectives and operation of the Transport Innovation fund was published on 5 July 2005 in the paper "The Transport Innovation Fund". This paper outlined the characteristics that successful schemes would meet. More detailed guidance on the operation of the fund, including information on the application and decision making process, will be published by the end of 2005.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what
her plans are for replacing the Leadership Incentive Grant when it
finishes next year.

Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools), Department for Education and Skills) Hansard source

Ministers have yet to take decisions on the targeting of additional funds through the new Single School Grant from 2006–07 onwards.

Comment
Maybe next time , ask what date the Minister expects to make an announcement on the continuation etc ......

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how
many head teachers and senior teachers have completed the National
Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) programme; how many
middle leaders have completed Leading from the Middle; and how many
applicants have failed to complete either NPQH or Leading from the
Middle programmes in each of the last five years.

Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools), Department for Education and Skills) Hansard source

On the basis of information provided by the National College for School Leadership:

The number of candidates who have completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) in the last five years is—2,258 in 2001; 3,183 in 2002; 3,295 in 2003; 3,838 in 2004; and 1,899 (to date) in 2005. Of those who hold NPQH—4,601 are headteachers and 8,657 assistant and deputy headteachers. While we can say how many candidates completed the NPQH in a given year, this will not necessarily be the same year they were appointed to a headteacher or assistant or deputy headteacher post. It is, therefore, only possible to say how many headteachers, and assistant and deputy headteachers currently hold NPQH.

The number of middle leaders who have completed the Leading from the Middle Programme since it was delivered for the first time in September 2003, is 1,978 in Cohort 1 which started in September 2003; 1,965 in Cohort 2 which started in April 2004; and 3,127 in Cohort 3 which started in September 2004. As the programme lasts for 10 months, no information is available so far for the numbers who have completed Cohort 4 which started in April 2004.

The number of applicants who have failed to complete NPQH in each of the last five years is—77 in 2001; 315 in 2002; 332(17%) in 2003; 508((26%) in 2004; and 328 (10.5%)in 2005.

The number of applicants who have failed to complete the Leading from the Middle programme is 175 from Cohort 1; 193( 10%) from Cohort 2; and 124 (4%) from Cohort 3.

Comment
It is difficult to tell what these figures show us, there are many who believe teaching leadership is a fairly pointless exercise. There are many styles of leadership, derived usually from alifetime of experience and many failures and succeses on the way. The training often involves formulaic responses which are rarely useful in real life.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she intends
to follow the recommendations of the Select Committee on Science and
Technology's Fifth Report and create a new Human Genetics, Fertility
and Tissue Commission.

Jane Kennedy (Minister of State, Department of Health) Hansard source

The Government published their response to the report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, "Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law", on 16 August 2005. Copies are available in the Library. Conclusions can be read here

The Government considered whether to establish a single commission with a remit covering the entirety of bioethics issues as part of the Department's review of its arm's length bodies. This was rejected, after careful consideration, on the basis that the present distributed model of advisory bodies with more specific briefs remained the best option as it enables specific bioethical issues to be addressed by dedicated groups with the appropriate expertise and sufficient time to devote to the issue.

...he might also pursue how underepresented ..or even not represented ,are any opportunities for lay people, religious representatives, or alternative views other than those of mainstream embryologists, fertility peddlars and academic reseachers.