| Previous Section | Home Page |
Teacher Training
24. Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a further statement on his proposals for the reform of teacher training.
26. Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the future of teacher training.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke : In my recent speech to the north of England education conference I announced that I would shortly be issuing a consultation document about my proposals for the reform of initial teacher training.
The consultation document has been issued today. It sets out proposed arrangements for partnerships between higher education institutions and schools, draft criteria for the approval of school-based secondary postgraduate courses and new procedures for the approval of courses. Copies have been placed in the Libraries. Secondary schools, higher education institutions, teacher associations, teacher training organisations, Church bodies and others interested in teacher education are being invited to comment. The consultation period will last until the end of March.
School Repairs
27. Mr. Orme : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how far his recent announcement of capital allocation meets the backlog in repairs and maintenance of schools.
Mr. Fallon : Between 1986-87 and 1989-90, local education authorities spent over £2 billion on school buildings. We have provided a further £1.8 billion worth of annual capital guidelines and grant to local education authorities and governors of voluntary-aided schools since 1990-91. This will have done much to remedy the deficiencies noted in the 1986 survey of school buildings.
Column 510
National Curriculum
28. Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what expenditure was incurred by his Department in providing and issuing printed material including binders concerned with the national curriculum and the assessment of children in 1990 and 1991 ; and what is his estimate of the amount which this involved per teacher in the state school system.
Mr. Eggar : Expenditure by the Department on printed material concerned with the national curriculum and assessment amounted to some £2.5 million in the financial year 1990-91 and some £1.3 million in the period April to December 1991, total of £3.8 million. There are about 400,000 teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools in England. The cost of these documents works out at roughly £9 per teacher on average.
138. Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has to ensure that local education authorities remain able to monitor the delivery of the national curriculum within the schools throughout their area.
Mr. Eggar : Under our proposals, local authorities will be sent full inspection reports every four years on every school they maintain. They will have annual information about assessment results across the national curriculum at four key ages. For the first time authorities will have reports and tables of information which apply national standards to their schools and show clearly what they are achieving.
School Building
29. Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when they will be publishing their conclusions on the review of school building programmes.
Mr. Fallon : The results of the review of the Education (School Premises) Regulations 1981, which the Department is currently undertaking with the Welsh Office, are expected to be available towards the end of this year.
Northumberland Schools
Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what visits he has made to schools in Northumberland.
Non-vocational Education
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to ensure that adult non-vocational education will continue at the present level in 1992-93.
Mr. Eggar : The level of provision for the further education of adults is a matter for individual local education authorities. The 1992-93 revenue support grant settlement allows for spending on education by local authorities to rise by 7 per cent.--substantially above inflation.
Column 511
GCSE Passes
Mr. Jopling : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the national average in schools for (a) the number of GCSE passes at A to C level for each child in the fifth form, (b) the percentage of children in the fifth form acquiring five or more GCSE passes at A to C level and (c) the percentage of grade A passes at A-level of the total subject entries.
Mr. Eggar : The average number of GCSE passes at grades A to C for 16-year-old pupils in schools in England in 1989-90 was 3.2. The proportion of 16-year-olds gaining five or more grades A to C at GCSE in the same year was 34.5 per cent. The proportion of attempts at A-level by school leavers in 1989-90, which resulted in grade A passes, was 14 per cent.
Further Education Funding Councils
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, under the Further and Higher Education Bill [Lords], the further education funding councils will be required to provide any educational provisions or facilities without charge to the student ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : There is no such requirement in the Further and Higher Education Bill but the Government have no intention of changing present practice whereby young people aged 16 to 18 attending full-time further education are not charged for the tuition they receive.
Adult Education (Liverpool)
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what funding is available for adult education in Liverpool ; how much is currently spent on adult education classes ; how many courses and classes (a) are currently available and (b) were available in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1985, in Liverpool.
Mr. Eggar : In addition to grants for education support and training, spending on the further education of adults is covered by the education element of Liverpool's standard spending assessment, which is £202.941 million for the financial year 1991-92. It is not possible to identify within this figure a sum specifically for the education of adults.
Column 512
In 1989-90, the latest year for which actual spending information is available, Liverpool LEA's net recurrent expenditure on the education of adults provided in separate adult institutions was £1.484 million. The cost of education for adults provided within further education colleges is not separately collected.Information is not collected on numbers of courses and classes. The number of enrolments of those aged 19 and over in LEA maintained further education in Liverpool were (i) 23,700 in 1980-81--figures for 1979-80 are not available centrally--(ii) 29,900 in 1985-86 and (iii) 36,800 in 1990-91.
Sixth-Form Education
Sir Michael Neubert : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of sixth form education is provided in single- sex schools.
Mr. Eggar : In January 1991, 15 per cent. of sixth form pupils in maintained schools in England were taught in single-sex schools.
Outside Toilets
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to update the 1977 survey conducted by his Department and the Welsh Office concerning information on the number of schools with outside toilets.
Mr. Fallon : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Knowsley, South (Mr. O'Hara) on 27 January 1992, at column 422.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Coopers and Lybrand
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the projects, the purposes, and the cost of his Department's use of the Coopers and Lybrand group since 1989.
Mr. Jack : The projects, and their purposes, which involved the use of Coopers and Lybrand--Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte since 1989-90 are as follows. We have not supplied information on the cost of this work as to do so could be a breach of commercial confidentiality.
Column 511
Project title |Purpose
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agency Systems Planning-Various |Assistance given to the Department's Agency Systems Planning branch in connection with
| agency planning and implementation.
Agency Systems Planning, Training Seminars |The provision of seminars on project management awareness for leaders of the DSS Agency
for Leaders | Implementation Team.
Senior Management Structure-Organisational |Provision of advice and the analysis of organisational issues pertinent to Social Security
Analysis and Design | benefit delivery.
Procurement Management Information System |To introduce a common purchasing system to cover all expenditure on goods and services.
(PROMIS Project)
Creation of the Purchasing and Supply Manual |The creation of a manual to act as a comprehensive guide to purchasing responsibilities and
| procedures.
Property Consultancy for Headquarters |Feasibility study into various aspects of staff accommodation costs during the period of
Relocation | relocation of DSS headquarters to Leeds.
Development of Project Timetable, Critical |Identification of tasks needed to ensure the effective implementation of the Benefits Agency
Path and Monitoring for Benefit Agency | including their relationships, dependencies and timing.
Implementation Team
Single Terminal Access Project (STAP) |To design a logo which may be affixed by the STAP suppliers to equipment prior to delivery.
-Logo Design
Single Terminal Access (STAP) |The provision of project management, financial and accounting and quality assurance advice
-Consortium Project | as part of the Siemens Nixdorf consortium.
Customer Satisfaction Survey |To determine the level of customer satisfaction with ITSA and its products and services to
| enable ITSA to focus more sharply on customer needs.
Disability Working Allowance
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, when calculating housing benefit, it will be assumed that a claimant eligible for disability working allowance has claimed and is receiving it ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : The determination of a claim for housing benefit is a matter for the local authority concerned. Regulations provide that in making that determination, a claimant shall be treated as possessing certain income which would become available if he applied for it. However, the qualifying conditions for disability working allowance are such that the local authority would not normally be able to anticipate the outcome of a claim for that benefit. We would not therefore expect disability working allowance to be taken into account as income until entitlement has been established and benefit awarded.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what alternatives he is considering to the disability working allowance scheme before it is introduced ; and if he will make a statement.
Occupational Pensions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what monitoring of the levels of employer provision for occupational pension funds takes place by Her Majesty's Government ; and if he will make a statement on the current trends in provision.
Miss Widdecombe : The monitoring of pension funds is a function of the Occupational Pensions Board--OPB--
Column 514
an independent statutory body, and the Inland Revenue. The OPB monitoring is focused on the ability of a fund which is used for contracting out of state earnings-related pensions to meet its liability for guaranteed minimum pensions, and not on the level of the employer's provision. The Inland Revenue monitors occupational pension funds which are tax approved and have 12 or more members by requiring an actuarial valuation every 3.5 years.Earnings-related Supplement
Mr. Lewis : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the estimated current cash value would be of the earnings-related supplement awarded to unemployed people at the time of its abolition in 1981, using the growth in earnings since 1981 as the uprating factor.
Mr. Jack : Using the latest average weekly rate of earnings-related supplement--November 1980--and uprating by the growth in earnings between April 1981 and April 1991, the value would be £9.80 a week. Source :
The earnings index used is the New Series Index (Whole Economy) Seasonally Adjusted.
Asbestos-related Diseases
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the numbers of disablement benefit claims for asbestos- related diseases referred to special medical boards, and the number in which the disease were diagnosed, for all available years commencing with 1988 in the same format as the tables given in reply to the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Ms. Ruddock) 30 June 1988, Official Report, columns 343 -48.
Mr. Scott : The information requested is in the tables.
Column 513
Asbestos related diseases
References Positive diagnosis
Medical BoardinPrescribed disease Prescribed disease
|D1 |D3 |D8 |D9 |Total |D1 |D3 |D8 |D9 |Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988
Cardiff |65 |35 |32 |42 |174 |22 |32 |7 |17 |78
Glasgow |154 |77 |26 |13 |270 |42 |73 |11 |5 |131
London |118 |178 |41 |63 |400 |46 |162 |10 |20 |238
Manchester |131 |71 |32 |27 |261 |30 |61 |9 |10 |110
Newcastle |121 |77 |49 |31 |278 |17 |74 |13 |22 |126
Sheffield |62 |51 |15 |41 |169 |25 |49 |4 |32 |110
Stoke |29 |19 |12 |9 |69 |17 |19 |4 |4 |44
Swansea |8 |10 |7 |8 |33 |3 |9 |1 |4 |17
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
All centres |688 |518 |214 |234 |1,654 |202 |479 |59 |114 |854
1989
Cardiff |67 |55 |24 |39 |185 |36 |51 |8 |20 |115
Glasgow |167 |57 |26 |30 |280 |75 |55 |11 |21 |162
London |114 |148 |34 |43 |339 |48 |134 |7 |17 |206
Manchester |132 |53 |37 |33 |255 |35 |46 |13 |6 |100
Newcastle |131 |52 |16 |44 |243 |25 |47 |6 |28 |106
Sheffield |98 |80 |22 |55 |255 |35 |76 |5 |27 |143
Stoke |25 |29 |9 |11 |74 |11 |26 |4 |1 |42
Swansea |7 |6 |3 |6 |22 |3 |6 |- |5 |14
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
All centres |741 |480 |171 |261 |1,653 |268 |441 |54 |125 |888
1990
Cardiff |62 |57 |32 |50 |201 |27 |53 |11 |14 |105
Glasgow |216 |54 |33 |39 |342 |90 |53 |9 |21 |173
London |113 |171 |51 |60 |395 |59 |160 |7 |20 |246
Manchester |161 |64 |63 |48 |336 |59 |48 |13 |14 |134
Newcastle |250 |62 |55 |81 |448 |18 |57 |5 |40 |120
Sheffield |103 |79 |30 |61 |273 |36 |69 |4 |26 |135
Stoke |26 |24 |17 |14 |81 |11 |19 |4 |9 |43
Swansea |12 |5 |12 |7 |36 |6 |3 |5 |2 |16
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
All centres |943 |516 |293 |360 |2,112 |306 |462 |58 |146 |972
MINIS
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what developments have taken place in his Department's use of the management information system for Ministers during his tenure as Secretary of State ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : MINIS is not a part of the Department's planning system.
Pensioners' Incomes
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of pensioners are in the top half of income distribution ; and what was the comparable figure for 1979.
Miss Widdecombe : In 1987, 28 per cent. of pensioners were in the top half of the total income distribution, compared with only 24 per cent. in 1979.
Benefits Agency
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what arrangements are currently undertaken by his Department to monitor the time taken to reply to a Member's letter passed on by his Department for attention of the Benefits Agency.
Miss Widdecombe : A computer record is maintained of all such letters, and any overdue replies pursued. Ministers receive a copy of all replies. It is the agency's aim to reply to all letters as quickly as possible once the facts of the case have been established. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind perhaps he would write to me.
Special Medical Boards
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the names of all the medical practitioners appointed to serve on special medical boards at each medical boarding centre, respiratory diseases ; and whether they are full time or part time.
Mr. Scott : The doctors appointed to serve on special medical boards at medical boarding centres (respiratory diseases), are either full-time employees of the Benefits
Column 516
Agency, or work for the agency on a part- time sessional basis. Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, will write to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.Financial Management Initiative
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what use he makes of the Department's financial management initiative programme.
Miss Widdecombe : The main objectives of the financial management initiative--FMI--which was launched in May 1982, were to promote organisations and systems which enabled managers at all levels to have a clear view of their objectives, measure performance in relation to those objectives and make best use of resources including securing value for money. The FMI has since largely become an all-embracing term for improvement in management in the civil service. The "next steps" initiative has been a logical development of the FMI.
The organisation and management systems which now exist and continue to be developed enable Ministers to give clear strategic direction, firmly related to government policy objectives, which informs the setting of planning objectives ; determine the financial resources to be made available ; select suitably robust and meaningful targets covering quality of service, financial performance and efficiency ; and call chief executives to account.
Expenditure Statistics
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was spending on (a) the disabled and (b) the retired in real terms in (i) 1979, (ii) 1983, (iii) 1987 and (iv) 1990-91.
Mr. Scott : Social Security spending on long-term sick and disabled people and elderly people is given in the table. All figures are at 1990-91 prices.
(
|Disabled |Elderly
|people |people
|£ million|£ million
----------------------------------------
1978-79 |4,469 |22,097
1982-83 |5,468 |25,123
1986-87 |8,014 |28,454
1990-91 |10,118 |28,590
Note:
1990-91 figures are estimated outturn.
Arachnoiditis
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what benefits are available to sufferers from arachnoiditis ; and whether such sufferers can claim mobility allowance.
Mr. Scott : A wide range of benefits, including mobility allowance, is available to sufferers of arachnoiditis, provided they meet the conditions of entitlement.
Invalidity Benefit
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether an employment training participant who was previously receiving invalidity benefit continues to be eligible for the therapeutic allowance of £39 per week ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Scott : Anyone receiving invalidity benefit who is also doing therapeutic work may continue with this work after transferring to employment training, provided that he fulfills the conditions of his employment training plan.
Earnings Disregard
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether an employment training participant who was previously receiving the income support disability premium continues to be eligible for the earnings disregard of £15 a week ; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe : Eligibility to the £15 a week earnings disregard will continue as long as the disability premium remains in payment. People who have been receiving the disability premium will normally retain entitlement to it while undertaking employment training. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind, perhaps she would like to write to me.
Disability Living Allowance Forms
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make available a stock of disability living allowance forms to recognised advice agencies such as welfare rights units and citizens advice bureaux.
Mr. Scott : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 13 January, at column 516 .
Housing Benefits
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide for each district and islands council in Scotland for each available year starting from 1985-86 (a) a breakdown of the numbers of housing benefit claimants split into rent rebate and rent allowance categories and the total amounts paid under each heading, (b) the numbers and amounts of housing benefit backdated payments--regulation 72(15)--and the amount paid as a percentage of each local authority's housing benefit expenditure, (c) the numbers, amounts and percentage of amount in relation to total housing benefit expenditure in relation to discretionary payments- -regulations 69(8)--and (d) a breakdown of the categories
Column 518
of housing benefit over-payments and details of the numbers in each category, giving the amounts in each category and the amount as a percentage of housing benefit expenditure.Miss Widdecombe : Such information as is available has been placed in the Library.
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the performance of local authorities in relation to the incentive areas in housing benefit.
Miss Widdecombe : The incentive arrangements are designed to encourage prudent behaviour by local authorities in the administration of housing benefit and community charge benefit. A lower subsidy is paid to local authorities if they incur benefit expenditure in circumstances in which they have most scope to control costs.
Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the rule under which housing benefit to single people is reduced because of the housing benefit downrating rule after they have been in hospital for six weeks.
Miss Widdecombe : The majority of people are discharged from hospital within six weeks, and consequently housing benefit is not affected. For single people remaining in hospital beyond six weeks, housing benefit is calculated on the basis of a lower personal allowance. However, where someone continues to receive income support their housing benefit entitlement is unchanged and, overall, the system helps to ensure that claimants have sufficient income over and above the amount of their personal allowance to meet their eligible rent. These rules recognise the principle that the national health service provides free maintenance as well as free treatment for hospital in-patients, and that public funds should not make double provision for the same needs.
Family Credit
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families employed in farming were receiving family credit on 30 April 1991 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : Information is not available in precisely the form requested. The number of families receiving family credit on 30 April 1991 in farming, fishing, and related occupations was 9,000. Source : 5 per cent. sample of the Family Credit caseload.
Social Fund
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of state for Social Security (1) how many applications for review by a social fund inspector were outstanding for more than one month on 30 November ;
(2) how many social fund inspectors were employed on 30 November.
Mr. Scott : I am informed by the Social Fund Commissioner that on 30 November 1991, there were 66 social fund inspectors employed, and 3,167 review applications were outstanding for more than one month.
Column 519
Care Homes
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the projected amount to be transferred in April 1993 in the care element of the social security budget for residential and nursing home care ; and at what stage the balance between the housing and care elements will be determined.
Miss Widdecombe : The amount of the transfer has yet to be determined. We expect to be able to make an announcement shortly about the housing element for people entering residential care and nursing homes from April 1993.
Benefit Deductions
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the cost to public funds of employing staff in 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 respectively, in the posts allocated to making poll tax deductions from benefits.
Miss Widdecombe : The resourcing of Benefits Agency offices is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the agency. He will write to the hon. Member and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
Income-related Benefits
Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will itemise the elements used to calculate the entitlements for income-related benefits such as income support, housing benefit and community charge benefit.
Miss Widdecombe : The applicable amounts used to calculate income- related benefits are intended to cover all normal day-to-day living expenses and do not include separate amounts for specific items.
Attendance Allowance
Dr. Kumar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy to distribute claim forms for attendance allowance for terminally ill people (DS 1500) to social workers employed by local authorities.
Mr. Scott : Claim forms for attendance allowance are available to social workers. The DS1500 is not a claim form ; it is a medical report form.
Dr. Kumar : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what evidence he has on the efficiency of general practitioners in administering the DS 1500 claim form for attendance allowance for terminally ill people.
Mr. Scott : The DS1500 is not a claim form ; it is a medical report which supports an attendance allowance claim made on the grounds of terminal illness. There is no evidence to suggest that general practitioners are failing to provide these reports.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Industrial Development
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans the Industrial Development Board and the Local Enterprise Development Unit has to
Column 520
implement the Government's new economic strategy of growing competitive industries ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Needham : The Industrial Development Board's plans are set out in its forward strategy published in December 1990 and in the document "Competitiveness and Growth" published in June 1991. The Local Enterprise Development Unit's plans are detailed in "Forward Thinking" published in May 1991. Copies of these documents are available in the Library.
Tobacco Industry
Mr. A. Cecil Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the number of people employed in the tobacco industry in Northern Ireland (a) at the last date and (b) five years ago.
Mr. Needham : I shall write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as possible.
Exports
Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the level of exports from Northern Ireland in 1991.
Mr. Needham : The information is not available. Figures for the export of goods from the United Kingdom are available only by point of exit, not by point of origin.
Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when Mr. Eddie Friel ceased to be chief executive of the Northern Ireland tourist board ; what financial provision has been made him arising from this cessation of his employment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Needham : I understand from the chairman of the Northern Ireland tourist board that Mr. E. J. Friel resigned as chief executive on 11 December 1991 and that, following his resignation, financial provision was made in accordance with the terms of Mr. Friel's appointment to the staff of the board.
| Next Section
| Home Page |