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group on school standards to advise the Department on what else can be done to help schools maintain and improve discipline.Access to Work
22. Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what are her plans for the access to work programme once Royal Assent has been given to the Disability Discrimination Bill. [40121]
Mrs. Gillan : The access to work programme is being reviewed following its first year of operation, as we announced would happen when it was launched. We intend to continue providing help under the programme, and the review is therefore taking account of the experience of its operation so far, and of the implications of the Disability Discrimination Bill. We intend to announce details of any changes to the programme before the Act comes into force.
Remploy
23. Mr. McMaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement about the future of Remploy. [40122]
Mrs Gillan: I am not aware of any developments that would warrant a statement.
Unemployment (Teenagers)
24. Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what factors she has assessed as having the greatest impact on the levels of unemployment among (a) teenage women and (b) teenage men. [40123]
Mr. Forth: The acquisition of relevant qualifications and work- related skills, and the creation of a competitive, efficient and flexible labour market, are particularly important in keeping unemployment low among both teenage men and teenage women.
Whithinfields School
25. Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will visit Halifax to inspect working conditions at Withinfields school, Southowram. [40124]
Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend has no plans to visit Withinfields school. I visited the school on 21 April 1995.
Further Education Colleges (Funding)
Mr. Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations she has received regarding the funding of further education colleges. [40125]
Mr. Paice: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received some 20 representations regarding the funding of further education colleges since colleges' 1995 96 allocations were announced by the Further Education Funding Council at the end of May.
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Class Sizes
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her policy on the optimum class size in primary and secondary schools. [40126]
Mr. Robin Squire: It is for the governors and headteachers of individual schools to decide how to organise their classes.
Jobfinder's Grant
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many unemployed people in each region and in Great Britain as a whole have applied for a jobfinder's grant and (a) received a grant and (b) not received a grant since April; what is the means-tested savings limit in each region; what procedures are in place for appeals for people whose grant applications are turned down; if she will provide a breakdown of recipients of the jobfinder's grant by their gross weekly wage level; and if she will make a statement. [41918]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the Jobfinder's Grant.
The attached table (Annex 1) shows the number of Jobfinder's Grants applied for and awarded nationally and by region since the programme was introduced on 18 April (22 May in Yorkshire and Humberside region, where a more flexible variant to the programme is being piloted) up to 6 October, which is the latest date for which figures are available.
The table also shows the gross weekly wage level of grant recipients. To be eligible for the grant, applicants must take jobs paying £150 gross per week or less (£250 per week gross or less in Yorkshire and Humberside region).
The savings limit for the grant is £2,800 in all regions except Yorkshire and Humberside and the South West, where it is £2,600. (In these two regions, pilot variants to the programme allow grants of up to £400, which is double the £200 flat rate grant in the rest of the country.)
The grant has been made available to help jobseekers who have been unemployed for a very long time to overcome the barrier, perceived or otherwise, of the transitional phase from losing benefits to receiving their first wage. It is not a benefit and there is no statutory right to the grant. Therefore, there is no formal appeals procedure for applications which are turned down.
I hope this is helpful.
Annex 1: Jobfinder's grant
|Grants applied for|Grants awarded (up
|(up to 6 October) |to 6 October)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National total |9,128 |5,478
London and South East |1,289 |745
South West |751 |426
Wales |563 |369
West Midlands |1,328 |814
North West |1,252 |826
Scotland |782 |377
Northern |718 |446
Yorkshire and
Humberside |734 |526
East Midlands and
Eastern |1,711 |949
|Number of
Gross weekly wage |grant recipients
level
------------------------------------------------------------------
£200+ gross per week |30
£150-£199 gross per week |320
£100-£149 gross per week |3,691
Less than £100 gross per week |794
Wage not known |18
Note:
This information is from a database held by the company
contracted to evaluate the Jobfinder's Grant, on the basis of 4,
853 grant recipients inputted to the database up to the end of
October.
Nursery Voucher Scheme
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what is the cash value of the contract awarded to Capita Managed Services Ltd. to administer the nursery voucher scheme in the financial years (a) 1995 96 and (b) 1996 97; [42034] (2) what estimate was given by Capita Managed Services Ltd. for the cost of administering the nursery voucher scheme. [42035]
Mr. Robin Squire: The financial details of the Government's contract with Capita Managed Services Ltd. to administer the nursery voucher scheme are commercially confidential, but the contract was awarded by competitive tender from a short list of 10 companies.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what budget has been allocated for the nursery voucher information campaign in (a) Norfolk, (b) Kensington and Chelsea, (c) Wandsworth and (d) Westminster. [42033]
Mr. Robin Squire: The total budget allocated to inform parents and providers about the first phase of the nursery voucher scheme in voluntary local education authorities, is £750,000. It is not possible to break this down for individual voluntary areas.
European Funds
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what element of European social funds is restricted solely to objective 4; and when the Government intend to draw up an objective 4 programme. [41981]
Mr. Forth: The Government have not allocated any European social fund money to objective 4 and have no plans to draw up a programme for that objective.
Training and Employment, Sheffield
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will encourage the development of a local training and employment plan in the Darnall
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area of Sheffield following the publication of the Darnall review. [40037]Mr. Paice: I know that the local training and enterprise council is taking a keen interest in the Darnall review. I fully support sensible initiatives to revitalise disadvantaged areas.
Nursery Education
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action she is taking to safeguard existing nursery education places for three and four-year-olds under her proposed national voucher scheme for all four-year-olds; and if she will make a statement. [40298]
Mr. Robin Squire: The parents of every four-year-old will receive a nursery education voucher which they can redeem for three terms of good quality nursery education in the state, private or voluntary sector. In exercising the choice which the voucher scheme provides, parents are likely to continue to make use of places which meet the needs of them and their children.
The voucher scheme should not affect existing places for three-year-olds. The proposed funding mechanism will allow local authorities to continue to spend on such places as they judge appropriate.
Student Loans Company
Mr. McFall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what discussions she has had with the Student Loans Company regarding levels of debt experienced by students. [40050]
Mr. Forth: I have had a number of discussions with senior executives at the Student Loans Company. It is entirely right that graduates should contribute towards the cost of their higher education. The loans scheme is fair and generous.
Skills Training Agency Sites
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which of the former sites occupied by the Skills Training Agency have been disposed of and which remain for disposal; who have been appointed to advise on the disposal, what fees they have been paid to date; and what is the amount so far received from the sale of the sites. [40939]
Mr. Robin Squire: The following former Skills Training Agency sites have been disposed of:
Leicester; East Lancashire; Chelmsford; Leeds; Wakefield; Edinburgh; Southampton; Slough; Reading; Twickenham; Portsmouth; St. Helens; Cardiff and Deptford.
The sites remaining for disposal are as follows:
Letchworth; Swindon; Northampton; Ipswich and Skyline House. Chartered surveyors King and Co--now Kings Sturge and Co--were appointed to advise on the disposal. Its fees are determined, under their contract with the Department, using different percentage figures according to the method of disposal--that is, sale of freehold or assignment of leasehold interest.
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The net amount so far received from the sale of sites is £14,731, 372.Disability Discrimination
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if children with learning difficulties who have received a statement of special educational needs under the provisions of the 1981 and 1993 Education Acts will be automatically protected by the Disability Discrimination Bill. [41342]
Mr. Forth: Under the Education Act 1993 local education authorities have a statutory duty to arrange the provision specified in a statement of special educational needs. In view of the existing comprehensive protection under that Act, the House has agreed that education should be excluded from the scope of part III of the Bill. Subject to that, the other relevant provisions of the disability Discrimination Bill will apply equally to children with statements as to all other people.
Access to Work Scheme
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will list the employers contacted by her Department during the last three months in respect of providing voluntary funding for adaptations for disabled employees under the access to work scheme; [41794]
(2) how many employers have been contacted by letter by her Department during the last three months concerning the voluntary payment of adaptations for disabled employees undertaken under the access to work scheme; and if she will indicate the number of employers who (a) offered to pay voluntary contribution in full, (b) offered to part-fund costs and (c) expressed objections to paying any costs in part or in full. [41793]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about employers contacted by letter concerning voluntary contributions towards adaptations for disabled people undertaken under the Access to Work programme.
The information you ask for is not kept centrally, but it is our policy to ask every employer to consider whether they are able to make a contribution.
The Government launched the Access to Work programme in June 1994 without a requirement by employers to contribute towards the cost of help. However, it has always been our practice to seek voluntary contributions from employers. There are also some cases where the help we provide for individual disabled people clearly gives additional benefits to the employer's business. In those cases, we negotiate what it is reasonable for the taxpayer to pay and we expect the employer to pay the rest.
The number of applications made under Access to Work and the scale and the costs of help are increasing. We therefore decided that all Placing, Assessment and Counselling Teams (PACTs) should adopt a common approach to employers to ensure that the approach was made at the appropriate level within companies. Local PACT managers are responsible for administering the Access to Work programme, including asking employers for contributions toward the cost of help.
I am sorry I cannot be more helpful.
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Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many payments of (a) £100 or less, (b) between £100 and £250, (c) between £250 and £500, (d) between £500 and £1,000 (e) between £1,000 and £5,000 and (f) over £5,000 have been made under the access to work scheme since June 1994. [41798]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the distribution of payments made under the Access to Work programme since June 1994.
We do not regularly gather details of the distribution of the cost of help given under Access to Work and do not therefore have the information you ask for. However, we have recently received sample information of spend during the first 3 months of the current year, and I can say that the cost of providing special aids and equipment, which amounts to around 70% of the total cost of the programme, fell within the following bands:
Cost of providing |Percentage of people special aids |assisted and equipment --------------------------------------------------------------- Under £100 |19 £101 to £259 |14 £251 to £500 |22 £501 to £1,000 |20 £1,001 to £5,000 |23 Over £5,000 |4 In 1994/95, the first year of Access to Work, 10,349 people wer helped and so far this year about 6,000 new people have benefited.
I hope this is helpful.
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects to receive recommendations from her departmental review team regarding the future of the access to work scheme. [41797]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the timing of the departmental review of Access to Work.
I expect the review to be completed and a report and recommendations presented to the Secretary of State by the end of December 1995.
I hope this is helpful.
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will indicate how many applications for assistance under the access to work scheme have exceeded the £21,000 ceiling since June 1994; and what proportion that represents of the total number of applications made for assistance under the scheme. [41791]
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Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of applications for help under the Access to Work programme since June 1994 that have exceeded £21,000. The information you have requested is not available.
While there is a ceiling of £21,000 on Access to Work help for an individual over a 5 year period, Regional Directors have authority to exceed this limit in exceptional circumstances. We do not maintain records on applications for help which exceed this ceiling but information gathered in June this year showed that we had agreed packages of help of over £21,000 for 70 people. This figure is included in the total of 10,023 people helped by Access to Work, in the period from 6 June 1994 to 31 May 1995.
I hope this is helpful.
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will list the research commissioned by her Department during the last six months as part of her Department's review into the access to work scheme; [41795]
(2) if she will make it her policy to publish the results of all research undertaken or commissioned by her Department as part of the departmental review into access to work. [41796]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the research undertaken and commissioned for the review of Access to Work.
We have commissioned Social and Community Planning Research to undertake research to feed into the Access to Work review. As an independent organisation they will be free to publish their research in due course. We expect that a report of the review will be published after it has been presented to the Secretary of State. I hope this is helpful.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list by type of project (a) how many schemes have been approved to date under the private finance initiative, (b) what is the value of those schemes and (c) what public sector contribution will be required both initially and as revenue support during the lifetime of the schemes. [41738]
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has only a limited role in approving projects under the private finance initiative in the education sectors. Individual institutions, and local education authorities in the case of county and voluntary controlled schools, are free to enter into contracts with private sector bodies without recourse to her. She expects them to make full use of the freedoms and opportunities the private finance initiative offers to achieve best value for money.
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The Employment Service has procured a personnel administration system under the private finance initiative. The value of the project, over seven years, is £3.2 million. This represents the contract costs over the life of the project which will be met by the Employment Service.Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to consult with (a) disability organisations, (b) the Employers Forum on Disability, (c) the Confederation of British Industry, (d) the Institute of Directors and (e) the Federation of Small Businesses prior to the publication of recommendations concerning the departmental review of the access to work scheme. [41792]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 7 November 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about plans to consult certain organisations about the review of Access to Work.
The review is a Departmental study of the operation of Access to Work after its first year. We have no plans to request formal contributions from external bodies prior to publication although some organisations and individuals have given their views.
I hope this is helpful.
Pupil Costs
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the percentage change in real terms in expenditure per child in (a) primary an (b) secondary education between 1979 and the current year. [41875]
Mr. Robin Squire: I will write my right hon. Friend as soon as possible and place a copy of the reply in the Library.
Employment Schemes
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many unemployed people have been referred to restart courses by Employment Service counsellors since April in each region and in Great Britain as a whole; how many of them were unemployed for over two years; how many attended and completed the course; what were the outcomes of the participants; how many had their income support reduced for not attending or failing to complete their attendance at the restart course; if she will break down this information by (a) ethnicity, (b) disability and (c) gender; and if she will make a statement; [41912]
(2) how many unemployed people have been referred to jobplan workshops by Employment Service counsellors since April in each region and in Great Britain as a whole; how many of them were unemployed for over one year; how many attended and completed the workshop; what were the outcomes of the participants; how many had their income support reduced for not attending or failing to complete their attendance at the jobplan workshop; if she will break down this information by (a) ethnicity, (b) disability and (c) gender; and if she will make a statement; [41913]
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(3) how many unemployed people have been referred to workwise and worklink by Employment Service counsellors since April in each region and in Great Britain as a whole; how many were referred direct from restart interviews and how many were referred from the 1-2-1 programme; how many attended and completed the courses; what were the outcomes of the participants; how many had their income support reduced for not attending or failing to complete their attendance at the workwise and worklink course; if she will break down this information by (a) ethnicity (b) disability and (c) gender; and if she will make a statement; [41914](4) how many people have joined (a) jobclubs, (b) jobsearch seminars and (c) job review workshops in each region and in Great Britain as a whole since April; how many have left each programme during this period; what were the outcomes of the participants; if she will break down this information by (i) ethnicity, (ii) disability and (iii) gender; and if she will make a statement. [41916]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the questions has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 7 November 1995:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions to him about Workwise/Worklink and 1 2 1, Jobclubs, job search seminars, Job Review Workshops, Restart Courses and Jobplan Workshops. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
The attached tables show for each region and nationally programme performance information and participant characteristics from April 1995 to September 1995 as follows:
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Table 1 -- Workwise and WorklinkTable 2 -- Jobclubs
Table 3 -- Job search seminars
Table 4 -- Job Review Workshops
Table 5 -- Restart Courses
Table 6 -- Jobplan Workshops
Information is not routinely collected in respect of outcomes by individual characteristics of leavers. However information on characteristics is collected when participants join a programme, except for job search seminars, and this data has been included in the tables.
For job search seminars information about the numbers joining the programme is provided, but details about those not completing the programme are not routinely collected. In addition details about client characteristics and numbers entering non-job outcomes is not routinely collected.
Job Review Workshops are targeted mainly at unemployed professional and executive people and help individuals identify transferable skills so that they are able to consider a wider range of occupations. Information about outcomes which participants may enter during or following the two day workshop is not routinely collected.
Information about the number of attenders who have had their Income Support reduced for failing to attend or complete a programme is not routinely collected. The Benefits Agency (BA) provide the Employment Service with the number of decisions made on referrals to them for benefit sanctions. These decisions include both the numbers having their income support reduced and the numbers referred to them who do not have any sanction imposed. I have therefore provided information about the number of BA decisions made in respect of Workwise, Restart Courses and Jobplan Workshops.
The number of people helped by attending the programmes mentioned have been 318,737 so far this year. Over 116,000 people have taken up positive outcomes as a result of their attendance, including over 64,000 unemployed people who have entered jobs. I hope this is helpful.
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