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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: On 1 June 1994, three persons appeared on petition at Glasgow sheriff court on charges of wilful fireraising arising out of the fire at Shettleston health centre on 30 May 1994.
Lockerbie
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Lord Advocate will now review the charges against the two Libyan suspects of the Lockerbie bombing; and if he will make a statement.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate sees no reason to review the charges against the two Libyans accused.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Extradition Warrants
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Attorney-General about the delay in the Irish Republic Attorney-General's response to the extradition warrant issued by the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the Garda in April 1993 in respect of Brendan Smyth; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: I have not discussed this matter with my right hon. and learned Friend.
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations his Department made (a) through the Anglo-Irish intergovernmental machinery and (b) directly to the Attorney-General of the Irish Republic about the delay in the Irish Republic Attorney-General's response to the extradition warrant issued by the RUC to the Garda in April 1993 in respect of Brendan Smyth; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: None. This extradition case was a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General and it would, therefore, have been
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inappropriate for me to have made representations in the manner described.Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations his Department received from the Catholic Church in respect of Brendan Smyth; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: My Department has received no representation from the Catholic Church in respect of this matter.
Hualon Corporation
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he intends to take following the statement, details of which have been sent to him, made by a senior executive of the Hualon Corporation relating to its proposed production of high-quality clothing products at facilities in Northern Ireland for which it has been awarded grant aid by the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ancram: The Industrial Development Board has sought and received confirmation from the president of Hualon that the company remains 100 per cent. committed to its agreement with the IDB which relates to the production of large volumes of basic fabrics.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will make available in the Library copies of the minutes of all those meetings of the Northern Ireland Development Board at which the subject of grant aid to the Hualon Corporation was discussed.
Mr. Ancram: No. Minutes of the Industrial Development Board concerned with the provision of grant aid to any client contains commercially confidential and sensitive information.
Industrial Development Board
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which members of the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board have recently resigned; what, in the case of any such resignation, were the reasons given; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ancram: Mrs. Jennifer d'Abo recently, citing concern about the Hualon investment as the reason for her resignation.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the names and summarise the background of the current members of the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board and identity which members of the board are not currently based in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Ancram: The information is as follows:
Name |Occupation
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John B. McGuckian |Chairman, Ulster Television plc
Roy Bailie |Chairman, W and G Baird
|Holdings Ltd.
Trefor Campbell |Managing Director, Moy Park
|Ltd.
John Freeman |Irish Secretary, Amalgamated
|Transport and General Workers
Roger Aldridge<1> |Executive Director, Estates and
|Store Development, Marks and
|Spencer plc
Terry Carlin |Northern Ireland Officer,
|NIC/ICTU
Roy McNulty |President, Short Bros plc
Maria Moloney
|and Business Development,
|Harland and Wolff (Holdings)
|plc
John Spence |Chairman, Richardsons
|Fertilizers Ltd.
Paul McWilliams |Chairman, ACT Business
|Systems (Ireland) Ltd.
<1> Not based in Northern Ireland.
Ministerial Travel
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many overseas visits he and each of his Ministers have made between 1 January and 30 June; during how many he or each of his Ministers have participated in fund-raising activities for the Conservative party; and if he will list the Ministers and the countries in which these activities took place.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: Between 1 January and 30 June 1994, Ministers in my Department made 17 overseas visits in their official capacity. Fund- raising activities for the Conservative party are not part of our official duties.
Hillsborough Castle
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what Government staff were on duty at Hillsborough castle during the period it was made available to the Conservative political centre on 4 November; and at what cost.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: Ten members of staff were on duty at Hillsborough castle for the Conservative political centre conference on 4 November. Their salary costs, which have been charged to the Conservative political centre, amounted to £250.19.
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under what rule Hillsborough castle was made available to the Conservative political centre for an event on 4 November.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: Where a government building is a Secretary of State's residence, it may be used by that Secretary of State for a private function provided there is no charge to public funds.
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what fee has been charged to the Conservative political centre for the use of facilities at Hillsborough castle on 4 November.
Sir Patrick Mayhew: The Conservative political centre has been charged £878.09 full cost recovery for the conference on 4 November at Hillsborough castle.
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy to make available the facility of holding meetings at Hillsborough castle to any of the constitutional political parties.
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EMPLOYMENT
Job Seeker's Allowance
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what provision will be made in the job seeker's allowance legislation to ensure that those who cannot work on a particular day, or in particular types of work, for reasons of religious belief or conscience, will not be disqualified from benefit for failing to accept the first job offered.
Miss Widdecombe: The job seeker's allowance White Paper sets out the Government's intention that job seekers will be allowed to restrict their availability for work on grounds of religious or conscientious convictions. We similarly intend such convictions are to be taken into account in considering whether job seekers have good cause for refusing work which is offered to them.
Apprenticeships
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many modern apprenticeship places have so far been filled.
Mr. Paice: In this year's small-scale prototype development, training and enterprise councils estimate, as at 8 November, that some 885 modern apprentices have started training. Over 790 of these are employed.
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the employers or employers' organisations that have so far committed themselves to the modern apprenticeship scheme; and how many places each has agreed to provide.
Mr. Paice: A large number of employers--large and small--have expressed support for modern apprenticeships. In this year's small-scale prototype development, training and enterprise councils estimate that nearly 600 employers are involved. A breakdown of places by employer is not available.
Output-related Funding
Mr. Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received on the subject of output-related funding.
Mr. Paice: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received representations from the Training and Enterprise Council National Council and other interested parties.
Prior Options Review
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the terms of reference of the prior options review of the Employment Service executive agency; what is its membership; when it is expected to report; and what consultants have been employed to work with the review.
Miss Widdecombe: The terms of reference of the prior options review of the Employment Service are:
With the aim of ensuring that the functions of the Employment Service are organised so as to offer a high quality, cost-effective service to clients, the review will examine the feasibility of abolition, privatisation, strategic contracting out and, where these are rejected, market testing; or of maintaining current arrangements; and will make recommendations to Ministers.
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The review is being conducted by officials in the Department in consultation with the Office of Public Service and Science and Her Majesty's Treasury and with the co-operation of the Department of Social Security, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Employment Service itself, with the aim of reporting to Ministers by the end of March 1995.As part of the review, and following a competitive tendering process, Ernst and Young was commissioned to carry out a detailed examination of the potential and existing external markets in relation to the delivery of the services under review.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what contingency plans he has in the event of a training and enterprise council becoming insolvent; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Paice: The contractual relationship between Government and a training and enterprise council might be ended in a number of ways. We have contingency plans appropriate to a variety of circumstances. The choice would depend on the appraisal of the circumstances and the need to maintain appropriate services.
EDUCATION
Pupils
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils in each local education authority area are without a school because of parental requests to mainstream schooling not being met; and for what length of time they have been without formal education.
Mr. Robin Squire: This information is not collected centrally.
Grant-maintained Schools
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what is the level of expenditure per pupil in grant-maintained schools in 1994 95; and what is the expected level of expenditure per pupil in grant- maintained schools in 1995 96;
(2) what is the estimated outturn in 1994 95 of local authority expenditure on grant-maintained schools.
Mr. Robin Squire: It is estimated that some £1.4 billion will be recouped from local education authorities in 1994 95 in respect of annual maintenance grant--AGM--paid to grant-maintained schools by the Funding Agency for Schools. Dividing this amount by the most recent information available on numbers of pupils at GM schools contained in the 1994 form 7 census produces a figure of some £2,200 per pupil. However, this should be treated with caution. The final amount of AMG recouped from LEAs will depend on the extent of any redeterminations of AMG for existing GM schools, and calculation of AMG for schools becoming GM, up to the end of the financial year. LEAs will also incur direct expenditure on pupils at GM schools in respect of services for which they retain statutory responsibility. Moreover,
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the form 7 figures do not include pupils in schools which have become GM since the census date.Expenditure on AMG in 1995 96 will depend on the number of GM schools and on decisions by LEAs which have not yet been taken.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if the post for the director of the Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation was advertised.
Mr. Robin Squire: No. The Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation took over from the Grant-Maintained Schools Centre the role of providing factual information to schools considering grant-maintained status, with effect from April 1994. The directors of the centre and the foundation, having taken account of legal advice on the provisions of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 and the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 and what they saw as good employment practice, decided that employees of the centre working on information activities should be offered equivalent posts with the foundation. On this basis the director of information of the centre was offered the post of director of the foundation. The Department was not involved in this decision and has no powers to intervene in such appointments.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the level of grant given to the Grant-Maintained Schools Centre before April 1994.
Mr. Robin Squire: After the establishment of the Grant-Maintained Schools Centre in 1988, the following grant was provided by the Department:
|Grant<1>
|£000s
---------------------------
1988-89 |25
1989-90 |250
1990-91 |425
1991-92 |600
1992-93 |577
1993-94 |782
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the amount of grant aid allocated this year to Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation Ltd.; and who is its finance director.
Mr. Robin Squire: The Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation Ltd. has been given a grant ceiling of £695,000 for the current financial year. The amount of grant paid, within that ceiling, will depend on the foundation's actual expenditure on agreed activities. The foundation's finance officer is Mr. James Curran.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the level of grant given to the Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation; how many existing and proposed offices it has; and how many existing and proposed staff it employs at each of the offices.
Mr. Robin Squire: The Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation Ltd. has been awarded grant to a ceiling of £695,000 for the current financial year. It has one head office and three existing local offices and plans to increase the number of local offices in England to five. There are currently 7.7 full-time equivalent staff employed at the head office and four full-time staff are employed in the three existing local offices. The number of staff at the head office is due to increase to 9.7. The number of staff
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in the local offices will increase to six, one at each of four offices and two staff at the fifth.I understand that the Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation will also be opening an office in Wales, with funding provided by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Ministerial Travel
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education during how many of the overseas visits made by Ministers in his Department between 1 January and 30 June 1994 those Ministers participated in fund-raising activities for the Conservative party; and if he will list the Ministers and the countries in which those activities took place.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard: None of the Ministers in my Department participated in fund-raising activities for the Conservative party during official ministerial visits overseas between 1 January and 30 June 1994.
Student Loans Company
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the initial terms of appointment of the chief executive of the Student Loans Company; when he was first appointed; and what proposals there are to extend or renew his contract.
Mr. Boswell: The chief executive was appointed to the company on 10 January 1990, on a fixed-term contract of five years' duration. That contract was extended in December 1993 for a further three years and will now expire on 9 January 1998.
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what investigations are presently being held into the financial affairs of the Student Loans Company; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what inquiries are currently being conducted or planned into the financial and other affairs of the Student Loans Company Ltd.; and what specific matters are under investigation and by what agency.
Mr. Boswell: Some uncorroborated allegations have recently been made about certain executives at the Student Loans Company. These are being investigated by a team from Coopers and Lybrand which will report to my right hon. Friend and to the board of the company. It would not be appropriate to comment on the nature of allegations which have not been proven and are under investigation.
Teachers
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what were the pupil to teacher ratios for (a) 1992 93 and (b) 1993 94 for public sector (i) nursery schools, (ii) primary schools, (iii) secondary schools, (iv) non-maintained schools, (v) special schools and (vi) all schools; and whether these figures include unqualified teachers.
Mr. Robin Squire: Information about pupil-teacher ratios for all types of school for January 1994 and previous years is published in table 2 of "Statistics of Schools in England Press Notice"--ref 204/94. Copies are available in the Library.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time teaching staff, in public
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sector schools, there were for (a) 1992 93 and (b) 1993 94 in (i) primary, (ii) secondary, (iii) all schools, (iv) further and higher education and (v) university.Mr. Robin Squire: Information about full-time equivalent teaching staff in maintained schools and institutions of further and higher education and universities in England for the years required is shown in the table:
Full-time Equivalent Teaching Staff by type of
school and
institution: England
£ thousands
|1992-93|1993-94
---------------------------------------------------
Primary schools<1><2> |179.4 |180.6
Secondary schools<1><2><3> |177.0 |178.9
All schools<1><2><3><4> |373.1 |375.6
FE and HE<5><6> |94.6 |N/A
Universities<7><8> |26.5 |26.9
<1> Including qualified teachers only.
<2> Position at January each year.
<3> Excluding sixth form colleges.
<4> Includes maintained nursery, primary,
secondary and special
schools.
<5> Including sixth form colleges.
<6> Includes a small number of staff who have
research duties only.
<7> Position at December each year.
<8> Full-time teaching staff only.
Expenditure
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the capital expenditure on education by each local authority in England for (a) 1992 93 and (b) 1993 94.
Mr. Robin Squire: The table sets out the gross capital expenditure on education by each local authority in England for 1992 93. Final outturn figures are not yet available for 1993 94.
|Total Capital
|Expenditure on
|Education in 1992-93
|by LEA<1><2>
|(£'000s)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
City of London |25
Camden |1,542
Greenwich |1,122
Hackney |1,397
Hammersmith and Fulham |4,822
Islington |809
Kensington and Chelsea |2,023
Lambeth |2,526
Lewisham |1,057
Southwark |3,586
Tower Hamlets |14,272
Wandsworth |6,076
Westminster |1,298
Barking and Dagenham |6,604
Barnet |2,734
Bexley |3,206
Brent |2,496
Bromley |6,189
Croydon |4,532
Ealing |3,524
Enfield |2,990
Haringey |693
Harrow |5,442
Havering |2,739
Hillingdon |5,513
Hounslow |7,311
Kingston-upon-Thames |1,257
Merton |3,468
Newham |6,775
Redbridge |5,370
Richmond-upon-Thames |2,713
Sutton |3,907
Waltham Forest |5,869
Birmingham |13,361
Coventry |5,388
Dudley |10,935
Sandwell |2,242
Solihull |2,644
Walsall |2,618
Wolverhampton |3,897
Knowsley |2,775
Liverpool |2,786
St. Helens |2,169
Sefton |2,524
Wirral |3,022
Bolton |2,322
Bury |1,047
Manchester |10,421
Oldham |8,629
Rochdale |9,404
Salford |2,305
Stockport |2,033
Tameside |1,910
Trafford |5,572
Wigan |4,032
Barnsley |4,170
Doncaster |833
Rotherham |3,399
Sheffield |7,366
Bradford |12,380
Calderdale |2,227
Kirklees |7,663
Leeds |26,207
Wakefield |5,609
Gateshead |4,551
Newcastle-upon-Tyne |3,123
North Tyneside |2,426
South Tyneside |2,538
Sunderland |6,033
Isles of Scilly |117
Avon |14,077
Bedfordshire |5,880
Berkshire |16,234
Buckinghamshire |11,931
Cambridgeshire |23,230
Cheshire |21,908
Cleveland |5,130
Cornwall |14,611
Cumbria |12,325
Derbyshire |15,921
Devon |26,643
Dorset |14,622
Durham |8,218
East Sussex |18,156
Essex |19,844
Gloucestershire |7,331
Hampshire |23,715
Hereford and Worcester |5,493
Hertfordshire |13,432
Humberside |9,416
Isle of Wight |2,184
Kent |25,898
Lancashire |24,352
Leicestershire |12,644
Lincolnshire |19,485
Norfolk |5,707
North Yorkshire |8,170
Northamptonshire |3,250
Northumberland |5,338
Nottinghamshire |8,164
Oxfordshire |10,784
Shropshire |4,256
Somerset |11,132
Staffordshire |10,792
Suffolk |12,328
Surrey |15,917
Warwickshire |4,200
West Sussex |13,845
Wiltshire |9,949
Total England |811,097
Notes:
<1> The figures cover expenditure on nursery and primary
education, secondary education, polytechnics, higher and further
education, the youth service and other education services. It
includes the education element of the urban programme.
<2> The figures include both expenditure financed by central
Government, in the form of basic and supplementary credit
approvals, and expenditure financed by local authorities from
other resources, such as capital receipts and revenue
expenditure.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the spending per pupil on (a) books and equipment and (b) repairs and maintenance in (i) 1992 93 and (ii) 1993 94.
Mr. Robin Squire: Local education authorities' spending per pupil in 1992 93 on books and equipment and on repairs and maintenance was £75 and £82 respectively. These figures are for LEA-maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools. Equivalent information for 1993 94 is not yet available.
Similar information is not available for grant-maintained or independent schools.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the estimated outturn in 1994 95 for local authority expenditure on discretionary student awards and support.
Mr. Boswell: Details of local authorities' expenditure on discretionary awards in 1994 95 are not yet available. In 1992 93, the latest year for which outturn data are available, spending on discretionary awards by English LEAs was £267 million.
Youth Service
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the estimated outturn for local authority expenditure on the youth service in 1994 95.
Mr. Boswell: Local education authorities' net recurrent spending in cash terms on the youth service was £274 million in 1992 93, the latest year for which figures are available.
Nursery Education
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much she has estimated it will cost to introduce nursery education for all four- year-olds; and what timetable she has set on such plans.
Column 49
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has established an official task force to draw up proposals to implement my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's commitment to provide a pre-school place for all four-year-olds whose parents wish to take it up. The cost will be determined as part of this work. There is no set timetable, but the first new places will be provided during the lifetime of this Parliament.
Ethnic Minorities
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils in each local education authority area from black and ethnic minority backgrounds (a) are currently in special schools and (b) are without a mainstream school place.
Mr. Robin Squire: Information on the ethnic origin of pupils in certain age cohorts in special schools was collected for the first time in 1994. The data are currently being analysed.
Information on the number of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds without a mainstream school place is not collected centrally.
Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment she has made of the impact of changes to the standard spending assessment formula on the funding given to local education authorities to meet the needs of children with origins outside predominantly English-speaking countries.
Mr. Robin Squire: The changes made to the education standard spending assessment formula for 1994 95 reflect the latest available information about the relative costs of educating children in different circumstances, including those with origins outside predominantly English- speaking countries, so as to make the distribution of grant between authorities fairer. But SSAs are not prescriptive and LEAs are responsible for funding schools according to their own priorities between and within services.
Student Loans
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to charge students a commercial rate of interest on student loans.
Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to transfer the student loans scheme to the private sector; and what options for such a transfer she has considered.
Mr. Boswell: The Government have no current plans to transfer the student loans scheme to the private sector. The loans scheme is kept under review, and a range of options for introducing private finance has been examined.
City Technology Colleges
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much private sector sponsorship has been received for city technology colleges in (a) 1993 94 and (b) 1994 95.
Mr. Robin Squire: Private sector sponsorship towards capital expenditure on city technology colleges in 1993 94 amounted to some £2.5 million. A figure for 1994 95 is not yet available.
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Local Education Authority-Maintained Schools
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is the level of expenditure per pupil in local education
authority-maintained schools in 1994 95; and what is the expected level of expenditure per pupil in local education
authority-maintained schools in 1995 96.
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