§ Mr. StevensonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what resources have been allocated to(a) higher education and (b) further education for each of the last five years in (i) the West Midlands region and (ii) Stoke-on-Trent. [140129]
§ Alan JohnsonI am unable to provide the information requested before the House prorogues. I will write to my hon. Friend with the information and place a copy of my letter in the Library.
§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students he estimates enrolled on courses of study for(a) Higher National Diploma and (b) foundation degrees in each of the last three academic years. [133601]
§ Alan Johnson[holding answer 21 October 2003]: The latest figures collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) are given in the table; comparable figures for 2002/03 will be available from HESA in January 2004, and from the LSC in spring 2004.
Early data for 2002/03, collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) covering both HE and FE sector institutions, show that there were 57,700 students on HNDs and 12,400 on Foundation Degrees.
Enrolment Numbers on Higher National Diploma (HND) and Foundation Degree Courses at English FE and HE institutions FE institutions HE institutions Academic Year HND Foundation Degree HND Foundation Degree 1999/00 25,504 1 n/a 39,196 1n/a 2000/01 25,710 1 n/a 39,181 1n/a 2001/02 26,075 162 38,772 2,499 1Not applicable. Foundation degrees were first introduced in 2001/02. Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Learning Skills Council (LSC).
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§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of(a) GCSE year and (b) sixth form students have continued to higher education in (i) the North West and (ii) England in each year since 1992. [134891]
§ Alan JohnsonThe available information on participation rates by region shows the proportion of 18-year-olds entering full-time undergraduate courses in the UK via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and is given in the table. Comparable figures for the years prior to 1994 are not available centrally.
It should be noted that the proportions in the table are based only on the number of 18-year-olds entering full-time HE. This is a different definition to the Department's main measures of HE participation: the Age Participation Index (API), which measures the proportion of UK domiciled students who enter full-time HE by the age of 20, and the Initial Entry Rate (IER) which measures the proportion of 17–30 year old English domiciled first time entrants to full or part-time HE. Neither the API nor the IER are calculated for each LEA, because of the lack of detailed data at local authority level.
Proportion of 18-year-olds entering full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS Students from: Year of entry North West1 England 1994 17.6 17.9 1995 20.2 19.5 1996 19.70 19.9 1997 20.2 20.5 1998 20.3 20.0 1999 20.4 20.0 2000 21.0 20.6 2001 21.3 21.5 2002 21.8 22.0 1 Covers the local education authorities of Blackburn with Darwin, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cheshire, Cumbria, Halton, Lancashire, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Salford,Tameside, Trafford, Warrington and Wigan.
§ Mr. FlookTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of(a) GCSE and (b) sixth form students have continued to higher education in (i) Somerset, (ii) the South West of England and (iii) England in each year since 1990. [135421]
§ Alan JohnsonThe available information on participation rates by local authority and region shows the proportion of 18-year-olds entering full-time undergraduate courses in the UK via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCASJ, and is given in the table. Comparable figures for the years prior to 1994 are not available centrally.
It should be noted that the proportions in the table are based only on the number of 18-year-olds entering full-time HE. This is a different definition to the Department's main measures of HE participation: the Age Participation Index (API), which measures the proportion of UK domiciled students who enter full-time HE by the age of 20, and the Initial Entry Rate 1476W (IER) which measures the proportion of 17 to 30-year-old English domiciled first time entrants to full or part-time HE. Neither the API nor the IER are calculated for each LEA, because of the lack of detailed data at local authority level.
Proportion of 18-years-olds entering full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS Students from: Year of entry Somerset South West1 England 1994 18.2 19.0 17.9 1995 18.8 19.8 19.5 1996 21.0 20.6 19.9 1997 21.6 21.0 20.5 1998 21.1 20.3 20.0 1999 19.9 19.8 20.0 2000 20.5 20.6 20.6 2001 21.4 20.8 21.5 2002 20.8 21.1 22.0 1 Covers the local education authorities of Bath and NE Somerset, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Plymouth, Poole, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Swindon, Torbay, and Wiltshire
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what percentage of young people from(a) the North West Region, (b) Merseyside, (c) St Helens and (d) England took up places in higher education in each year since 1997; [137998]
(2) what proportion of young people from (a) the North West region, (b) Merseyside and (c) St Helens have studied or are studying at higher education establishments in each of the last five years. [138013]
§ Alan JohnsonThe available information on participation rates of young people by local authority and region shows the proportion of 18–20 year olds entering full-time undergraduate courses in the UK via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and is given in the table.
It should be noted that this is a different measure of participation to the Department's Initial Entry Rate (IER). The IER measures the proportion of 17–30 year old English domiciled first time entrants to full or part-time HE, and has been developed to measure progress towards the Government's aim of 50 per cent. participation in HE by 2010. The IER is not calculated for each local authority because of the lack of detailed data at this level.
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Proportion of 18–20 year olds entering full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS Year of Entry Domicile 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 North west1 30.2 30.2 31.8 32.5 32.7 33.2 Merseyside2 29.6 28.8 29.6 30.7 32.4 32.6 St Helens 32.1 32.2 32.1 31.7 32.8 32.7 England 32.4 31.6 32.9 34.2 35.2 35.5 1 Covers the Local Education Authorities of Blackburn with Darwin, Blackpool, Bolton. Bury, Cheshire, Cumbria, Halton, Lancashire, Manchester. Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Salford, Tameside, Trafford, Warrington and Wigan. 2 Covers the Local Education Authorities of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, and the Wirral.
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to increase the number of students in higher education establishments in(a) the North West region, (b) Merseyside and (c) St Helens. [138011]
§ Alan JohnsonThe annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) of 22 January 2003 set out the planned increases in full-time equivalent student numbers up to 2005–06. The spending plans assume a national increase of 56,000 places between 2003–04 and 2005–06 compared to the plans for 2002–03.
In HEFCE's last round of bids for additional student places, the North West region was allocated an additional 4,687 full time equivalent places from 2003–04 to 2005–06. Of these 1,263 will be in higher education establishments in Merseyside. There are no higher education institutions in St Helens. No further education colleges in St Helens have been allocated additional places for higher education courses in this bidding round.
In addition, HEFCE has initiated a bidding exercise for institutions that wish to expand their Foundation Degree places in 2004–05. The closing date for institutions to submit their bids is 3 December 2003. Within this exercise 10,000 additional full time equivalent Foundation Degree places are being allocated nationally up to 2005–06. Nearly 1,400 of these are expected to be in North West institutions. Figures for Merseyside are not yet available.
At present it is unlikely that there will be any further bidding exercises for additional student places in the next two years.
§ Paul FarrellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional funding he plans to transfer to the National Assembly for Wales pursuant to his plans to devolve responsibility for higher education. [139106]
§ Alan JohnsonNo decisions have been reached yet. The funding to be transferred will depend on the passage of legislation in the UK Parliament and the outcome of Spending Review 2004.
§ Paul FarrellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, if he will publish the latest research he has received on(a) participation rates and (b) drop-out rates in higher education by (i) parliamentary constituency and (ii) local education authority in (A) England and Wales, (B) Scotland and (C) Northern Ireland. [139635]
§ Alan JohnsonI am unable to provide the information requested before the House prorogues. I will write to my hon. Friend with the information and place a copy of my letter in the Library.
§ Paul FarrellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department has taken to promote better financial understanding in schools and colleges of the changes contained in the White Paper on Higher Education. [139640]
§ Alan JohnsonFollowing the publication of the White Paper "The Future of Higher Education", my department published a booklet "The Future of Higher1478W Education—what it means to students and parents" to ensure that prospective students and their parents are made fully aware of the planned changes arising from the White Paper and how these changes could affect them. Some of these proposals will require Parliamentary Approval before coming into force, so legislation will be introduced to bring this about.
A letter with a copy of the booklet and information on how to order copies was sent to all secondary school head teachers and FE college principals.
In addition, information on the changes to student finance is included in the Aimhigher teachers and tutors pack, all of the booklets for 13–16 year olds, 16–19 year olds, Parents and Mature students in the Aimhigher series, which are sent to schools and colleges on request. The Student Finance Guide "How to get help financial help as a student" outlines the changes proposed in 2006, and is distributed to school pupils through UCAS conventions, LEAs and on request through the nationally advertised helpline.
The school and college Aimhigher road show facilitators are briefed on 2006 changes and will be able to outline these too if asked.
Connexions partnerships have been informed and the HE portal contains the proposed changes.