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Higher Education Quality Council

Mr. Bryan Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what information he has on the costs of quality audit procedures conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council ;


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(2) what information he has on the running costs of the Higher Education Quality Council.

Mr. Boswell : The Higher Education Quality Council is a body wholly independent of Government, set up by the universities and colleges and funded by them. I understand that the council's annual expenditure is currently of the


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order of £3.2 million, excluding some self-financing activities. Within this, expenditure on quality audit is of the order of £1.5 million.

Teachers' Pension Agency

Mr. David Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what key performance targets he has set for the Teachers' Pension Agency in 1994 -95.

Mr. Forth : For 1994-95, the key performance targets for the Teachers' Pension Agency are :

a. to achieve an improvement in efficiency of 5 per cent. in the use of running costs resources within the Agency's control ; b. to process 96 per cent. of the applications for retirement awards by the payable date, or if later, then within 30 days of receipt of the application ;

c. to meet agreed accuracy targets for pensions-related calculations ;

d. to provide a substantive answer to 95 per cent. of written enquiries within 15 working days of their receipt ;

e. to manage the programme agreed with the Agency's clients for the collection and processing of service and salary data relating to teachers and to seek timely submission of that data.

Annual Capital Guidelines

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimates there are of the cost of additional demands placed on annual capital guidelines for local education authorities since the introduction of the national curriculum ; what plans there are to alleviate this extra demand ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth : It is for LEAs and schools to make the best use of the resources available so that schools are equipped to deliver the national curriculum effectively. The substantial capital sums made available by Government in recent years will help them to do so, in particular the 33 per cent. real terms increase in total capital support in the five years to 1993-94.

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many representations he has received from local education authorities regarding their ACGs for 1994-95.

Mr. Forth : Twenty-one.

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many representations he has received from local education authorities regarding their provisional indicators for ACG for the year 1995-96 ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth : Three.

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provisions are made in allocating ACG for basic needs provision ; what account is taken of the age of educational establishments and consequent renovation and repairs needed ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth : Cover for basic need in annual capital guidelines is provided through cost-multipliers for each place assessed as required. Such an assessment compares projected demand with the number of local places. Although the age of buildings is not a factor in considering basic need bids, where a surveyor's report indicates that the condition of a building is such that replacement is urgently needed and is cheaper than repair cover will be provided within ACGs in the exceptional basic need category.


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Educational Establishments, Lancashire

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many educational establishments in Lancashire date back to the 19th century ; how many were built pre-1960s ; and how many were built in the 1960s and 70s.

Mr. Forth : This information is not held centrally.

Temporary Classrooms

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what are the latest figures available for primary and secondary schools with temporary classrooms and HORSA--hutting operation for raising of school leaving age-- buildings in each local education authority ; how many have had these for five years or more ; what percentage of teaching space these comprise ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth : The information requested is not held centrally.

Unemployed Graduates

Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list by (a) university of graduation and (b) subject of graduation the number of (i) men and (ii) women who graduated in (1) 1992 and (2) 1993 who are currently registered as unemployed.

Mr. Boswell : The information requested is not available centrally. Tables 9 and 9a of "University Management Statistics and Performance Indicators in the UK" published by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals--a copy of the 1993 edition has been placed in the Library--show the proportion of first-degree graduates from the former Universities Funding Council--funded institutions whose destination on leaving was reported as unemployed or short-term employment, and the proportion from each institution adjusted for the national distributions of graduate subject mix.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Somalia

Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will press for the public release by the United Nations of the full independent investigation chaired by the Chief Justice of Zambia into the conduct of the United Nations operation in Somalia.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : Members of the Security Council are now studying the contents of the report and a decision on its public release is expected shortly. We do not oppose its release but recognise that Security Council members who contributed troops to the operation need time to consider the report carefully before reaching a decision.

Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Somalia peace meeting scheduled for Mogadishu on 15 April between General Aideed, Ali Mahdi and others took place ; and if he will make a statement on the prospects for further such meetings.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We understand that the meeting of the 15 factions scheduled for 15 April in Mogadishu has


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now been postponed until 25 April. A national reconciliation conference is due to take place on 15 May to elect a President, Vice-Presidents and a Prime Minister. We continue to support all efforts by the Somalis to take forward the political reconciliation process.

Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about current military activity in Somalia.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have received reports of recent fighting between Somalia clans in Merca, south of Mogadishu. Reports also indicate that in the last few days there have been serious clashes between the Habr Gedr and Hawadle sub-clans in Mogadishu.

Mozambique

Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the strength and national background of the ONUMOZ--the United Nations Operation in Mozambique--force in Mozambique.

Mr. Douglas Hogg : At 31 March 1994, ONUMOZ had a strength of 6,108 troops, 370 military observers and 274 civilian policemen. The force was made up of the following contingents :

Argentina

40 troops

8 UNMOs

Australia

16 civpol

Bangladesh

25 civpol

1,459 troops

30 UNMOs

Botswana

767 troops

13 UNMOs

Brazil

35 civpol

27 UNMOs

Canada

15 UNMOs

Cape Verde

18 UNMOs

China

10 UNMOs

Czech Republic

19 UNMOs

Egypt

21 civpol

20 UNMOs

Guinea Bissau

25 civpol

43 UNMOs

Hungary

10 civpol

23 UNMOs

India

916 troops

18 UNMOs

Ireland

20 civpol

Italy

971 troops

Japan

53 troops

Jordan

45 civpol

Malaysia

35 civpol

24 UNMOs

Netherlands

11 troops

New Zealand

2 troops

Norway

10 civpol

Portugal

7 civpol

277 troops

1 UNMO

Russian Federation

19 UNMOs

Spain

14 civpol

20 UNMOs

Sweden

10 civpol

20 UNMOs

Switzerland

1 civpol

United States

5 troops


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