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Mr. Jackson : Questions on operational matters in the Employment Service executive agency are the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the agency's chief executive, to whom I have referred this question for reply.
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Lone Parents (Training)
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his best estimate, for Great Britain, for each region and for each TEC or LEC, of the number of employment training trainees who are lone parents and have entered the scheme under the lone parent eligibility route ; how many are receiving child care allowances ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : This information is not held centrally. Training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies are required to deliver programmes that meet the needs of all their client groups. It is for the training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies to determine which trainee groups, such as lone parents, they support with child care.
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the number of (a) men and (b) women in his Department in each of grades (i) 1, (ii) 2, (iii) 3, (iv) 4, (v) 5, (vi) 6, (vii) 7, (viii) SEO, (ix) HEO, (x) administrative trainee, (xi) EO, (xii) CO and (xiii) CA.
Mr. Jackson : The information is set out in the table.
Representation of men and women by grade in the Employment Department group at 1 April 1991 Permanent staff in post by grade band All staff (administrative and specialist) Grade group |Male |Female |Total ------------------------------------------------------------ Grade 1 |2.0 |0.0 |2.0 Grade 2 |4.0 |1.0 |5.0 Grade 3 |26.0 |2.0 |28.0 Grade 4 |18.0 |0.0 |18.0 Grade 5 |142.0 |28.0 |170.0 Grade 6 |253.5 |35.5 |289.0 Grade 7 |955.5 |132.0 |1,087.5 SEO |1,370.5 |386.0 |1,756.5 HEO |2,939.0 |1,886.0 |4,825.0 AT |2.0 |1.0 |3.0 EO |5,510.5 |8,779.5 |14,290.0 AO |5,805.5 |17,214.0 |23,019.5 AA |707.5 |2,106.0 |2,813.5
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of employees in his Department ; and how many are (a) black and (b) disabled.
Mr. Jackson : The total number of employees on 1 April 1991 was 52, 784. At the same date there were 2,564 who classified themselves as of ethnic minority origin and 1,688.5 full-time equivalents who were registered as disabled.
Trade Union Elections
Mr. Gwilym Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received from Mrs. Pamela Wilkins and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers about the result of an election to the executive committee of the former National Union of Seamen ; how many representations he has received about electoral fraud in the trade unions ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : My right hon. and learned Friend, the Secretary of State for Employment has received no representations about that particular election. However, continuing public concern about electoral fraud in trade unions led to the proposals in the Green Paper "Industrial Relations in the 1990s", Cm. 1602, which would help ensure that the basic right of union members to free and fair elections is effectively protected. The Government announced on 28 January that they intend to bring forward legislation to put those proposals into effect.
Low-Energy Lighting
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make it his policy progressively to introduce low-energy lighting in all the buildings operated by his Department.
Mr. Forth : As part of the energy efficiency campaign on teh Government estate, it is already the Department's policy to install energy- efficient lighting.
Earnings
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the earnings, expressed as percentages, of (a) young men under 18 years and (b) young women under 18 years, compared with those aged 18 years and over, in 1979 and at the latest convenient date.
Mr. Forth : Information on the average gross weekly earnings of men and women aged under 18 and aged 18 and over, in April 1979 and April 1991, is published in table 124 of part E of the new earnings survey reports for those years.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many full-time males, part-time males, full-time females and part-time females in employment in the Leeds metropolitan district council earn less than £3.40 per hour.
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Mr. Forth : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave him on 25 November 1991, Official Report, at column 392.
Wages Councils
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the effect the removal of wages council legal protection for young people has had on low pay and youth unemployment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Since 1986 young people have no longer been subject to the minimum rates of pay decided by wages councils. The average earnings of young people have continued to increase in real terms and the greater flexibility resulting from the removal of wage restrictions will have improved their job prospects. However, we have no information which distinguishes between the effects of wages council reforms and other factors in the labour market on young people's pay.
Wages Inspectors
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many establishments since 1979 have been found to be underpaying their workers and how many prosecutions have taken place ; how many wages inspectors are currently in post and how many establishments they cover ; and what was the position in 1979.
Mr. Forth : The information requested is as follows :
Establishments
underpaying
|Number
---------------------
1979 |10,969
1980 |12,154
1981 |10,074
1982 |9,269
1983 |9,842
1984 |9,461
1985 |9,064
1986 |8,205
1987 |4,443
1988 |5,597
1989 |5,528
1990 |5,205
1991 |n/a
n/a=not yet
available.
Total prosecutions (
including prosecutions
for underpayment)
|Number
------------------------
1979 |12 (9)
1980 |8 (8)
1981 |10 (8)
1982 |7 (4)
1983 |2 (2)
1984 |2 (2)
1985 |2 (2)
1986 |3 (2)
1987 |8 (4)
1988 |11 (10)
1989 |10 (9)
1990 |9 (5)
1991 |17 (15)
Wages inspectors in post January 1979 |January 1992 --------------------------------------- 158 |65
Establishments covered 1979 |<1>1990 ------------------------ 390,464 |395,181 <1> Latest available.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Short Money
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Lord President of the Council what is the current level of financial support provided via Short money to the Opposition parties.
Mr. MacGregor : Following the resolution of the House on 21 June 1988, payments are made at a scale of £2,550 for every seat won by each party at the preceding general election, plus £5.10 for every 200 votes cast for its candidates. To qualify for such assistance, a party is required either to have won at least two seats at the general election or, if only one seat has been won, to have received at least 150,000 votes.
Special Standing Committees
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Lord President of the Council what is his policy towards an extension of the use of Special Standing Committees to examine legislation prior to Second Reading.
Mr. MacGregor : It would be quite inappropriate for detailed consideration of a Bill to take place before the principle had been agreed at Second Reading.
Select Committees
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Lord President of the Council what is his policy towards the Departmental Selection Committees being allowed to play a consultative role in the regular legislative process.
Mr. MacGregor : In its report on the working of the Select Committee system--second report, Session 1989-90--the Procedure Committee did not favour a legislative function for Select Committees related to Government Departments. Nor do I.
Office Cost Allowance
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Lord President of the Council what is the present level of office cost allowance for Back-Bench Members.
Mr. MacGregor : The maximum office costs allowance payable to a Member of the House of Commons is £28,986 for the year beginning 1 April 1991, with an additional £2,899--10 per cent.--available for employer pension contributions of staff employed.
Members' Offices
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee (1) how many rooms are currently available as hon. Members' offices in the Palace of Westminster and other buildings in the parliamentary estate ;
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(2) when he expects there to be a sufficient number of offices available to enable each hon. Member to have an offices of his/her own.Mr. Ray Powell : There are at present 294 rooms in the Palace available for Members. A further 236 are located elsewhere in the parliamentary estate. It is expected that, once the phase 2 building is commissioned, every Member who wants a room of his or her own will be able to have one. The timetable for the opening of that building is one of the issues addressed in the report of the Accommodation and Works Committee, due to be published on 27 February.
HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION
Library Staff
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, what is (a) the total number of staff in the House of Commons Library, (b) the total number of staff in the research division of the Commons Library and (c) the number of research staff in the defence and foreign affairs section of the Library.
Mr. Beith : The current complement of staff in the Department of the Library, which includes the Vote Office, is 197.5 ; of that number 52 are employed in the research division and a further 12 in the international affairs and defence section. From 5 April, the total for the international affairs and defence section will be increased to 13.
Select Committees
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, as representing the House of Commons Commission, what is the financial level of support available to each of the departmental Select Committees for the recruitment of the services of specialist advisers.
Mr. Beith : A total sum of £257,000 is available in sub-head A.2 (Department of the Clerk of the House) of the vote for House of Commons : administration (class XIX A, vote 1) in the current financial year to meet the fees and other costs of specialist advisers appointed to the Select Committees of the House. The House of Commons Commission does not impose any financial limit on individual Select Committees for the services provided by specialist advisers.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Further Education
11. Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from further education colleges about his policies for further and adult education.
Mr. Eggar : A large number of representations were received from further education colleges on the proposals set out in the White Paper "Education and Training for the 21st Century" (Cm 1536).
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National Curriculum
12. Mr. Harris : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress is being made on the implementation of the national curriculum.
Mr. Eggar : The final subjects in the national curriculum--art, music and physical education--will be introduced on time this September in line with the timetable we set in 1989 and have kept to ever since.
Research Funding
13. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science on what basis future research funding will be assessed for those polytechnics that become universities.
Mr. Alan Howarth : All higher education institutions will be able to compete for funding for basic and strategic research on the basis of assessed quality. The Universities Funding Council has consulted all institutions on the criteria for its forthcoming research assessment exercise.
Student Unions
14. Mr. Alexander : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received about the closed shop in local student unions.
Mr. Alan Howarth : During the course of the consultations initiated by the Government on student unions, my right hon. and learned Friend has received a variety of representations for and against automatic membership of student unions.
Grant-maintained Schools
15. Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has for the extension of grant-maintained status to all schools.
Mr. Eggar : The current arrangements by which schools may apply for grant-maintained status following a ballot of parents are proving very successful. We have no plans to change them. In time I expect grant- maintained status to become the norm for secondary schools in particular.
17. Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many maintained schools have so far (a) applied for and (b) been granted grant-maintained status ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : As at 18 February 1992, 288 schools had applied for grant-maintained status and 199 had been approved, with 55 awaiting decision.
18. Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many secondary schools have now been approved for grant- maintained status ; and how many applications are still under consideration.
Mr. Eggar : As at 18 February, 174 secondary schools had been approved for grant-maintained status and 35 applications were still under consideration.
Grammar Schools
16. Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many grammar schools, whether local education authority provided or grant maintained, there are in the county of Kent ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Eggar : There are 35 grammar schools in Kent, of which 29 are local authority maintained and six are grant maintained.
Teacher Training
19. Mr. Moss : 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 : I intend to make teacher training, primary and secondary, much more school based. I issued a consultation document on the reform of postgraduate training for secondary school teaching on 28 January. The consultation period will last until the end of March. I have also asked the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education to advise me on the implications for primary teacher training of the recently published discussion paper on curriculum organisation and classroom practice in primary schools.
School Repairs
20. Mr. Rooney : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has to deal with the backlog of outstanding repairs in schools.
21. Mr. Eastham : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has to deal with the backlog of outstanding repairs in schools.
Mr. Fallon : We are already providing huge capital resources. More than £700 million is available for maintained school buildings in 1992 -93, an increase of nearly 15 per cent. on the year before, and 35 per cent. above 1991. In addition local education authorities are free to top up their education annual capital guidelines from the overall capital resources at their disposal. It is for them to set expenditure levels and priorities and to use their resources efficiently.
22. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will provide specific funding for the repair and maintenance of schools in the city of Leicester.
Mr. Fallon : It is not open to the Secretary of State to provide specific funding for such work at county and controlled schools. It is for the local education authority to decide which projects to fund from the capital resources available to it, including education annual capital guidelines made available by my right hon. and learned Friend.
Grant aid for external repairs and for capital work at voluntary-aided schools is available on application in the normal way.
School Budgets
23. Mr. Allen McKay : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from headteachers about the effect of the standard spending assessment on school budgets for the forthcoming year.
Mr. Fallon : My right hon. and learned Friend has received a number of letters from headteachers about education's share of the local authority grant settlement.
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Pupil-Teacher Ratio
24. Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the pupil-teacher ratio in 1991 ; and what was the figure in 1979.
Mr. Fallon : The overall pupil-teacher ratios in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in England in January 1991 and January 1979 were 17.20 and 18.95 respectively.
Education Spending, North Yorkshire
25. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much was spent per pupil in north Yorkshire in 1987 and in the current year.
Mr. Fallon : In 1986-87, school-based spending in north Yorkshire was on average some £1,055 per nursery, primary and secondary school pupil. In 1989-90, the latest year for which information on actual spending is available, the figure was some £1,390. That represents a real terms increase of 9 per cent.
Pupil Placements
26. Mr. Squire : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will estimate how many pupils are expected to be receiving an education next term in grant-maintained schools or city technology colleges or via the assisted places scheme.
Mr. Eggar : Next term, we estimate there will be some 8,000 pupils at CTCs, around 160,000 pupils at grant-maintained schools and 27,400 pupils benefiting from the assisted places scheme.
London Football Clubs
27. Dr. Goodson-Wickes : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what consultations he has had on the effect of the implementation of the Taylor report on first division football clubs in London.
Mr. Atkins : I am aware of the concerns of a number of first division clubs about the implementation of the Taylor report but have had no specific consultations with London clubs.
Teachers
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish the cost in each of the last five years of the campaign to recruit teachers.
Mr. Fallon : The teacher recruitment advertising campaign has run for only two years. The costs are :
|£
------------------------------
1990-91 |2,200,000
1991-92 |2,392,000
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table showing the number of (a) men and (b) women in his Department in each of grades (i) 1, (ii) 2, (iii) 3, (iv) 4, (v) 5, (vi) 6, (vii) 7, (viii) SEO, (ix) HEO, (x) administrative trainee, (xi) EO, (xii) CO and (xiii) CA.
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Mr. Atkins : The number of full-time equivalent men and women in each grade on 1 February 1992 was :
Grade |Male |Female -------------------------------------------- 1-3 |19 |0 4 |6 |3 5 |95 |26 6 |304 |111 7 |138 |49 SEO |51 |31 HEO |154 |134 Administrative Trainee |5 |0 EO |207 |197 AO |132 |335 AA |77 |160
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the total number of employees in his Department ; and how many are (a) black and (b) disabled.
Mr. Atkins : On 1 April 1991 the Department employed a headcount total of 2,838 staff of whom 261 respondents to the ethnic monitoring survey were of ethnic minority origins.
The latest figures provided on registered disabled staff relate to 1 June 1991 at which time there were 70 registered disabled staff out of a total of 2,679 full-time equivalent staff. There are other staff in the Department with disabilities who have chosen not to register and are not included in the above figure.
Reading Standards
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children under seven years of age have not reached a satisfactory standard of reading ; and what is his estimate of the numbers who would benefit from a child-centred recovery scheme.
Mr. Eggar : Pupil's reading abilities are tested under the national curriculum at the end of key stage 1 when most pupils are aged seven. The 1991 national tests revealed that 28 per cent. of seven-year-olds had not yet reached level 2 in reading, the target set for typical seven-year-olds.
It is for individual schools to decide how to tackle pupils' reading needs. However, we are undertaking a national trial of the reading recovery programme to be conducted in some 200 inner-city schools in 21 local authorities, and focusing on children who, at the age of six, are experiencing difficulty in learning to read and write. About £10 million is planned to be supported with specific grant under the grants for education support and training programme over the three years 1992-93 to 1994-95 for this and other reading initiatives for inner-city schools.
Music
Dr. Hampson : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what assessment he has made of the extent to which his draft orders for music in the national curriculum will meet his original intention of achieving a broad and balanced curriculum.
Mr. Eggar : The Government's plans for the music curriculum for children aged five to 14 will ensure that all pupils for the first time receive a rigorous and balanced musical education as an integral part of a broad national curriculum. Our plans for increasing the choice of study
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available for 14 to 16-year-olds will ensure that pupils have the opportunity to follow their own particular inclinations and strengths, while still being required to pursue a broader and more balanced curriculum than hitherto.Institute Laue Langevin
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the future of British participation in the Institute Laue Langevin at Grenoble.
Mr. Alan Howarth : Further to my answer to the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) on 28 November 1991, Official Report, column 590, about the review by the Science and Engineering Research Council of neutron science, formal notice was given on 16 December 1991 of the United Kingdom's intention to terminate the present Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) convention with effect from 1 January 1994, and of our wish to replace it with a new convention from that date. Discussions on this are now in progress with French and German partners in ILL.
NALGO
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he last met members of NALGO to discuss expenditure on education ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Fallon : My right hon. and learned Friend has not had any such meeting.
Low-Energy Lighting
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make it his policy progressively to introduce low- energy lighting in all the buildings operated by his Department.
Mr. Atkins : Practically all the Department's buildings are equipped with low-energy lighting. It is the Department's policy progressively to install energy efficient lighting in premises where such equipment is not already fitted.
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Capital Expenditure, Newham
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will state the capital expenditure on education by Her Majesty's Government in the London borough of Newham since June 1979.
Mr. Eggar : The available data indicate that capital allocations for education within Newham LEA since 1981-82 amount to more than £43 million.
European Community and Sport
Mr. Robert Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about the Government's position in response to the European Commission's communication on the European Community and sport.
Mr. Atkins : The Government's position is set out in an explanatory memorandum which I submitted to Parliament on 14 February.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Fair Employment
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish a table to show the number of vacancies filled in each of the education and library board headquarters, in each of the last available three years, the number of applications received by each board in each of those years, and the number of complaints made under the fair employment legislation in respect of those posts in each year and the number of such complaints which went to a tribunal ; how many went to court ; what amount of compensation was paid ; and how many are still ongoing.
Dr. Mawhinney : The information requested is as follows :
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