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Pupil-Teacher Ratios
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the present pupil-teacher ratio in (a) primary and (b) post-primary schools in Scotland.
Mr. Lang : The pupil-teacher ratios in education authority schools in September 1988 were 20.3 in primary schools and 12.7 in secondary schools ; the provisional September 1989 figures are 19.7 in primary and 12.4 in secondary.
Hospitals and Community Health Services
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the proposed distribution of the hospital and community health service capital for 1990-91.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : My right hon. and learned Friend has allocated £130.593 million to health boards to meet their gross capital expenditure commitments on hospital and community health services in 1990- 91. This will enable the substantial investment in hospital building projects in recent years to continue.
Substantial investment will be made in major hospital projects now under construction, including the Ayr acute hospital in Ayrshire and Arran, the St. John's hospital in Lothian, the Royal Cornhill hospital in Grampian, the Perth royal infirmary in Tayside and the Stornoway hospital in the Western Isles. It will also provide the resources for construction to start on new hospital developments, including the hospitals at Oban and Campbeltown, the West Fife district general hospital phase II and the spinal injuries unit at the Southern general hospital, Glasgow.
The allocations to individual health boards are as follows :
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Health Boards |Capital
|allocation
|(£,000)
--------------------------------------------------
Argyll and Clyde |5,000
Ayrshire and Arran |22,000
Borders |1,400
Dumfries and Galloway |1,500
Fife |6,300
Forth Valley |5,730
Grampian |11,250
Greater Glasgow |23,850
Highland |3,800
Lanarkshire |11,195
Lothian |17,500
Orkney |358
Shetland |1,455
Tayside |10,905
Western Isles |8,350
|-------
Total |130,593
Pittenweem Harbour
Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will meet representatives of Fife regional council to discuss the project for the redevelopment of Pittenweem harbour.
Mr. Lang : Not at the present. My officials and those of Fife regional council have still to reconcile their assessments of costs and benefits in establishing whether this project meets the necessary criterion of adequate return on investment. In addition there are still parliamentary procedures to clear before proceeding further.
Speech Therapy
Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what qualifications a teacher is required to hold over and above the basic teaching certificate in order to specialise in work with children with specific language disorder.
Mr. Lang : There is no statutory requirement for teachers to hold a qualification over and above the basic teaching certificate to specialise in work with children with specific language disorder. However, teachers employed wholly or mainly in special classes for pupils suffering from speech defects are normally required to hold a teacher's certificate (primary education) with a special qualification to act as a teacher of physically handicapped children, or an appropriate teacher's certificate (secondary education).
Electricity
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what efficiency factors he intends to set in the licences to be issued to the Scottish electricity industry.
Mr. Rifkind : As indicated in my reply of 22 March 1990, Official Report, column 705, the maximum average distribution, supply and transmission prices to be charged by Scottish Power plc and Hydro-Electric plc will be capped and indexed by an RPI-X formula. I have now decided that the values of X will be as follows :
|Scottish Power|Hydro-Electric
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Transmission |1.0 |0.5
Distribution and Supply |0.5 |0.3
These values allow for capital expenditure on the system significantly in excess of historic levels so that the present high security standards are maintained. They also assume the achievement of increased cost efficiency within these businesses as private sector disciplines are introduced.
Taken together with my decision that the generation element within the overall price charged to Scottish consumers should not be allowed to increase by more than RPI over the next four years, this means that average price increases after vesting to all consumers taking less than 10 MW will be held below the rate of inflation at least until April 1994. Larger customers will benefit from the downward competitive pressure on prices under the new industry structure.
Secondary Education
Mr. Allan Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has to review courses and examinations in the fifth and sixth years of Scottish secondary education.
Mr. Rifkind : I have received advice from the Scottish Examination Board that the current structure of examination for pupils in the fifth and sixth years of secondary education may no longer be adequate, and that a detailed study of arrangements after standard grade should be undertaken. I have considered the board's advice and have decided to establish a committee to review the position and to report to me by the end of 1991.
The remit of the committee will be :
to review the aims and purposes of courses and of assessment and certification in the fifth and sixth years of secondary school education in Scotland ;
to consider what structure of courses and what forms of assessment best satisfy these aims and purposes taking account of the needs of pupils of varying ability and background, the demands of employment and the requirements of and developments in higher and further education ;
to recommend necessary changes.
I am glad to say that Professor John Howie, Regius Professor of Mathematics at the university of St. Andrews, has accepted my invitation to chair the committee. A further announcement about its membership will be made shortly.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of occasions on which poll tax registration officers have had to alter their registers within the last year ; and what was his initial estimate of the number of changes likely to be required.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer21 March 1990] : It is the responsibility of community charges registration officers to compile and maintain the community charges register and the information requested is not held centrally.
City Technology Academy
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much private capital has been promised for a city technology academy ; from whom it is to come ; and under what conditions.
Mr. Lang [holding answer 26 March 1990] : Trusthouse Forte has already announced its decision to sponsor a
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technology academy in Scotland and has made a firm and generous offer of £1.5 million towards its cost. I fully expect that more will be raised when a decision has been taken on the location of the academy.Regional Councils
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland by how much regional councils exceeded Government expenditure guidelines in each of the years since 1979-80.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton [holding answer 26 March 1990] : The information requested is set out in the following table :
|£ million
------------------------------
1979-80 |197.6
1980-81 |388.5
1981-82 |273.1
1982-83 |102.6
1983-84 |10.5
1984-85 |101.1
1985-86 |63.2
1986-87 |151.8
1987-88 |81.3
1988-89 |98.7
Expenditure guidelines have not been issued by my right hon. and learned Friend for the years subsequent to 1988-89.
EMPLOYMENT
Labour Statistics
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons engaged in Government-funded or partially funded training schemes are classified as (a) employed and (b) unemployed.
Mr. Nicholls : There were approximately 595,000 participants on Government schemes in Great Britain in January 1990, the latest date for which information is available. The schemes included are YTS, employment training and community industry.
All these participants are classified as part of the work force in employment except for a small number on YTS whose training does not include work experience with an employer.
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on how the official unemployment count is made.
Mr. Nicholls : The unemployment count is based upon the administrative system for paying unemployment related benefits, that is, unemployment benefit, income support and national insurance credits. It relates to people claiming these benefits who say that on the day of the count they were unemployed and capable of, available for and actively seeking employment. (Students claiming benefit during a vacation and who intend to return to full-time education are excluded.)
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of (a) all mothers with children 16 years or under, (b) mothers with children 16 years and under without working husbands, (c)
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single-parent men with children 16 years or under and (d) single-parent women with children 16 years or under who are (i) in full-time employment and (ii) in part-time employment.Mr. Nicholls : Preliminary estimates from the 1989 labour force survey are shown in the table :
|c|Great Britain, spring 1989|c|
Percentage in employment<1>
Parents with children |Full time<2> |Part time<2> |All<3>
under 16 years
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) All mothers |19 |37 |55
(b) Mothers without working husbands |<4>- |<4>- |24
(c) Single-parent men |57 |5 |64
(d) Single-parent women |17 |21 |38
Source: Preliminary 1989 Labour Force Survey estimates.
<1> Includes employees, the elf-employed and participants in work-related government training programmes.
<2> The full-time/part-time classification is based on respondents' self-assessment.
<3> Includes those in employment who did not specify whether in full-time or part-time work.
<4> Estimate not readily available.
Benefits
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the benefits which a person loses upon entering a Government- sponsored training programme.
Mr. Nicholls : A trainee on YTS or ET would normally stop receiving unemployment benefit, dependency benefit, sickness benefit, invalidity benefit or severe disablement allowance while in training. Other social security benefits will usually continue in payment depending upon the individual's circumstances.
Unemployment
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide an estimate of the total cost of unemployment to the Exchequer, including benefits, redundancy fund payments, administration costs, lost revenue, and so on.
Mr. Eggar : The estimated expenditure in 1988-89 on unemployment and supplementary benefit paid to the unemployed is £5,390 million ; redundancy fund payments totalled £7 million and the administration costs of paying benefits to the unemployed were £332 million.
Workfare
Mr. Ralph Howell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether an analysis of workfare has been made by his Department ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : My Department financed a study of workfare which was initiated and commissioned by the employment research centre of the university of Buckingham. A report of the study was published in 1987 under the title "Would Workfare Work?". Since the study was undertaken, the Government have introduced a number of measures ; most recently in the Social Security Act 1989, to require unemployed people to seek work actively as a condition of receiving unemployment benefits.
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Earnings
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table providing information about the increase in weekly and hourly earnings for full-time male and female manuals and non-manuals in (i) manufacturing, (ii) the public sector and (iii) the whole economy, less the production industries and the public sector ; and what numbers are represented by each category in each class.
Mr. Nicholls : Estimates of the increases in average gross weekly and hourly earnings in the year to April 1989 (the latest available) are provided in the following table.
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The categories "manufacturing" and "public sector" are not mutually exclusive groupings and the data for them are thus not directly comparable. Similarly, because the categories "production industries" and "public sector" are not mutually exclusive, comparable figures for the whole economy excluding them are not readily available and would involve disproportionate cost to compile.Estimates of the numbers in employment are not available for the categories requested except for manual/non-manual employees in employment in manufacturing ; the latest available estimates, for September 1989, are published in table 1.10 of the December 1989 Employment Gazette.
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|c|Percentage increase in weekly and hourly earnings of full-time adult
employees in the year to April 1989<1>|c|
Weekly earnings Hourly earnings
|Males |Females|All |Males |Females|All
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manuals and non-manuals
(i)Manufacturing |9.2 |10.3 |9.2 |8.8 |10.4 |9.0
(ii)Public sector |8.3 |12.0 |9.1 |9.1 |13.2 |10.2
Non-manuals
(i)Manufacturing |10.3 |11.9 |10.1 |10.3 |11.9 |10.3
(ii)Public sector |8.3 |12.2 |9.9 |8.7 |13.5 |10.7
<1> Average gross weekly and hourly earnings, not affected by absence, for
those on adult rates.
Source: New Earnings Survey.
Labour Force Survey
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give from Labour force survey evidence by region, including Greater London, and for Great Britain, by male, female, full and part-time, and 1980 SIC division the number of self-employed people in June of 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989.
Mr. Nicholls : Estimates from labour force surveys as requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will give, from the 1989 labour force survey by region, including Greater London and by male and female, the number of people not counted as unemployed by the definition using ILO/OECD guidelines on the grounds that they had not looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview, but who stated that they would like a job if one was available, and were not free to start work within two weeks ; (2) if he will give, from the 1989 labour force survey by region, including Greater London and by male and female, the number of people not counted as unemployed by the definition using ILO/OECD guidelines on the grounds that they had not looked for a job in the four weeks prior to interview, but who stated that they would like a job if one was available, and were available to start work within two weeks.
Mr. Nicholls : Preliminary results from the 1989 labour force survey, as requested, are shown in the following table :
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|c|Persons not in employment and not unemployed on ILO definition|c|
|c|who had not looked for work in four weeks prior to interview<1> but|c|
|c|would like a job, by availability to start work|c|
Spring 1989, Thousands
Not available to Available to
start within start within
|two weeks<2>|two weeks
|Males |Females |Males |Females
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Britain |340 |663 |360 |727
Northern |26 |41 |26 |52
Yorkshire and Humberside |35 |50 |32 |68
East Midlands |21 |43 |21 |45
East Anglia |<3>- |17 |10 |18
South East |83 |201 |95 |188
of which
Greater London |40 |98 |43 |87
South West |22 |47 |24 |51
West Midlands |35 |74 |36 |81
North West |52 |91 |56 |96
Wales |28 |41 |24 |40
Scotland |30 |59 |37 |88
<1> Includes those who did not state whether they had looked for work.
<2> Includes those who did not state whether they were available to start work.
<3> Sample size too small for a reliable estimate.
Source: 1989 Labour Force Survey Preliminary Results.
Students
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average length of unemployment for each student who was registered unemployed during the summer of 1989 in each region of the country.
Mr. Nicholls : The information is not available.
Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total value of unemployment benefit paid to students during the summer vacation of 1989 in each region of the country.
Mr. Eggar : This information is not available.
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Pits (Safety Disputes)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many safety disputes have occurred at pits during the last 48 months.
Mr. Nicholls : Estimates for the past four years of the number of stoppages and working days lost in the coal industry over safety issues are detailed in the table below :
Year |Stoppages |Working days lost ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1986 |15 |2,419 1987 |12 |5,855 1988 |5 |3,442 <1>1989 |5 |724 <1>Provisional.
National Speak Week
Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, if he will ensure that (a) all jobcentres include in the staff training programmes and (b) all those involved in employment training programmes are given a showing of the National Speak Week video "Show You Care".
Mr. Eggar : I should like to thank the right hon. Member for Stoke- on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) for drawing the video to my attention. My officials are arranging to see it. A decision on how far it should be disseminated to employment service personnel and to those involved in delivering the employment training programme, and if so through what means, will be taken when they have done so.
Skill Centres
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many civil servants were involved in the management buy-out team in the Skills Training Agency ; whether time, during working hours, was provided to draw up their proposals ; and over how many months preparation work had been undertaken to form the proposal from Astra Training Services Ltd.
Mr. Eggar : Three civil servants formed the management buy-out team in the skills training agency. No other staff were involved in the planning or preparation of the buy-out proposals.
Given their special position as a management buy-out team, in early April 1989 my Department removed the three officers concerned from direct responsibility for decisions affecting both personnel matters and the expenditure of public money. This was done to ensure that bias could not enter into decisions.
The majority of the time spent on the preparation of the management buy-out proposals was beyond normal hours of duty though departmental management agreed to provide time during working hours on the understanding that the buy-out team's official duties were always accorded priority. Detailed planning by the management buy-out team started after my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir N. Fowler) announced on 13 March 1989 the intention to move STA into the private sector. I understand that a small amount of preliminary work, purely on a contingency basis, took place before that announcement and that the team were in
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contact with professional advisers as from the autumn of 1988. This was not done at the expense of the team members' official duties.Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the powers under which civil servants were permitted to form and operate a private limited company ; and which provide the authority for the sale of 47 skill centres to Astra Training Services Ltd.
Mr. Eggar : No powers are needed for civil servants to form and operate a private limited company. Such activity must not have an adverse effect on their official work or bring any conflict of loyalty to their position as civil servants.
The Secretary of State maintained skill centres under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 which empowers him to make such arrangements as he considers appropriate for the purpose of assisting persons to train for employment. No specific powers are required to discontinue arangements which he no longer considers appropriate. In the case of the skills training agency, the Government believe that a successful move to the private sector will provide a more effective contribution to the national training effort.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Bradford, South of Tuesday, 20 March, what is the price which has been negotiated for the sale of 10 skill centre sites ; how many other sites are under consideration for sale ; and who are the purchasers of the 10 so far arranged.
Mr. Eggar : As indicated in the earlier reply, Official Report, 20 March 1990, column 577, I propose to sell the Government's interests in the 10 skill centre sites where a training business purchaser is to be granted a lease, later this year. I propose to sell the Government's interest at nine further sites currently held by units of the Skills Training Agency which are not included in the terms of sale agreed with purchasers of training businesses. None of these 19 property interests has yet been offered for sale, so it is too early to say what price will be negotiated or who the purchasers will be.
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what expenses have been charged by Deloitte Corporation Finance and Deloitte Haskins and Sells in connection with their work on the sale of the 47 skill centres ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : Total expenses in connection with the sale of the skills training agency in 1989-90, including professional fees and expenses paid to Deloittes and other advisers, will be available in the Appropriation Accounts (class VI, vote 5) to be published in the summer.
Restart
Mr. Loyden : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people (a) were referred to each menu option at the restart interview, (b) failed to attend for interview and (c) were referred to the unemployment benefit office from their interview and for what reasons, for the quarters ended September 1989 and December 1989.
Mr. Eggar : The information requested is provided in the table :
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|Quarter ending|Quarter ending
|September 1989|December 1989
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Referred to:
Job |68,900 |64,100
Jobclub |46,200 |45,200
EAS |18,200 |15,500
Restart course |15,800 |16,600
Employment training |88,900 |77,800
Other referrals<1> |58,800 |48,200
Referred to the unemployment benefit office
For failure to attend an
interview |81,600 |62,500
Non-availability/refusal of
employment/actively
seeking<2> |14,700 |12,000
<1> Referrals to claimant advisers, disablement resettlement officers.
<2> Actively seeking statistics have been collected since October 1989
only.
Accidents (Coal Mines)
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many employees were killed in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990 in accidents (a) in opencast coal mines operated directly on behalf of British Coal and (b) in licensed opencast coal mines ; and how many men, in total, were employed in those divisions of mining during those years ;
(2) what was the rate of reportable accidents per man shift worked (a) in opencast coal mines operated directly on behalf of British Coal and (b) in licensed opencast coal mines, for each year 1987 to 1990.
Mr. Nicholls : At opencast coal sites operated by the British Coal opencast executive one fatal accident occurred in 1987-88 and one in 1988- 89. There were no fatal accidents at licensed opencast sites during this period. Figures for 1989-90 are not available. The Health and Safety Executive keeps records of the number of accidents at opencast coal sites but not of the numbers of persons employed at such sites.
It is not possible to calculate accident rates as information regarding the number of man shifts worked is not available.
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the rate of reportable accidents per man shift worked (a) in British Coal deep mines and (b) in licensed underground coal mines in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990.
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Mr. Nicholls : Accident statistics are recorded by fiscal year and those for 1989-90 are not available. Statistics for 1987-88 and 1988-89 are as follows :
(a) in British Coal deep mines the rate of reportable injuries per 100,000 manshifts worked was 38.62 in 1987-88 and 32.25 in 1988-89. (
(b) it is not possible to calculate the rate of reportable injuries at licensed underground coal mines as manshift figures are not available.
Mines (Inspections)
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many licensed mines were visited by Her Majesty's mines inspectors in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990, by county (a) in England, (b) in Wales and (c) in Scotland.
Mr. Nicholls : The information can be supplied in the form requested only at disproportionate cost.
Training and Enterprise Council (Bradford)
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what resources will be available to the training and enterprise council in Bradford ; what level of support has been secured from the private sector ; what level of grant he is making ; how many training places will be available through the training and enterprise council in Bradford ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : The amount of development funding which will be made available to the Bradford and district training and enterprise council (TEC) is currently being finalised.
I have been very encouraged by the high level of support and commitment from the private sector in establishing the Bradford and district TEC. Its corporate and business plan will set out their proposals to develop training and enterprise activities in the area.
Work Permits (Dependent Territories)
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether a decision has yet been made on a special annual quota for the current year of work permits for workers from the dependent territories whose level of skill is below that required by the general work permit scheme.
Mr. Eggar : The arrangements for a special annual quota are kept under review. I can confirm, however, that it has been decided that there should be a quota for 1990 of 200--the same as last year. Within that figure of 200 no more than 150 permits will be allowed for any one territory.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Pensioners
Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if, on the basis of data in the 1987 family expenditure survey, he will list the cash and percentage changes in real equivalised incomes of each decile group of pensioner households for each year since 1979 ;
(2) if he will give the overall increase in pensioner incomes in real terms by quintile group for each year from 1979-80 to 1986-87 ; (3) what proportion of all pensioners have no income from any source other than from state benefits.
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Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The latest available information shows that in 1987, 15.9 per cent. of pensioner tax units received all their income from state benefits. This compares favourably with the figures for 1979 when 22.5 per cent. of pensioner tax units received all their income from the state benefits.
The information requested on
1. the overall increase in pensioner incomes by quintile group ; and
2. the cash and percentage changes in real equivalised incomes of each decile group of pensioner households ;
is set out in the tables.
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