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Placing Assessment and Counselling Teams

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the main locations of the placing assessment and counselling teams which provide employment and advisory services for employers and people with disabilities in Scotland. [298]

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. James Wallace, dated 22 November 1995:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the main locations of the Placing Assessment and Counselling Teams (PACT) in Scotland.
A list of PACTs in Scotland is attached (Annex A). Orkney and Shetland are covered by the Highlands, Islands and Grampian PACT, each of which has an identified Employment Service member of staff who offers support to disabled people in Jobcentres in Kirkwall and Lerwick. In addition, full time Disability Employment Advisors based in Aberdeen visit employers and clients on the islands.
I hope this is helpful.

22 Nov 1995 : Column: 187

Annex 1: PACTs--Office for Scotland

Address	Telephone and Fax
Glasgow east, north and Lanarkshire Employment Service Pact 3rd Floor 221 West George Street G2 2ND	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Glasgow west, south, Renfrew and Dumbarton Employment Service PACT 2nd Floor 221 West George Street Glasgow G2 2ND	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Edinburgh and South east Scotland Employment Service PACT 5th Floor Torphichen Street Edinburgh EH3 8JP	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
South west Scotland Employment Service PACT 17 Grange Street Kilmarnock KA1 2DF	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Highlands, Islands and Grampian (outstation in Aberdeen) Employment Service PACT 4th Floor Metropolitan House 31-33 Hight Street Inverness IV1 1J	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Outstation Tel: [phone] Outstation Fax: [phone]
Central and West Lothian Employment Service PACT 8-14 High Street Falkirk FK1 1EY	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Tayside and Fife Employment Service PACT 132 Seagate Dundee DD1 2HB	Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what information she has on the number of people in (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland who have made contact through their local job centre with the placing assessment and counselling teams in each year since the establishment of PACTs in 1992. [299]

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. James Wallace, dated 22 November 1995:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of people in Orkney and Shetland who have made contact through their local Jobcentre with the Placing Assessment and Counselling Teams (PACTs).

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We do not record the number of people referred by Jobcentres to PACTs. However we do record the number of people, who need and may benefit from specialist help, who are assessed by PACTs.
Assessment is the process through which PACTs help disabled job seekers identify potential occupation or training establish whether they are job-ready, or need further preparation for work. Its purpose is to identify employment potential and needs, and to come to agreement about how to meet the individual needs of clients. It is based mainly on Employment Service (ES) provision supplemented by small numbers of external contracts. An individual action plan is agreed between the client and the ES setting out what work or training a client will look for and include any preparatory action they will need to take.
All clients referred to PACTs have an in-depth assessment interview or interviews with a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA). If this does not result in their being able to identify a suitable occupation or training, they may then be offered additional practical methods to help them decide. This can include functional testing, psychometric testing, an interview with an occupational psychologist or provided with enhanced assessment from specialist contractors.
From the first full year after they were introduced, the number of people assessed by PACTs on Orkney and Shetland were 122 for the 12 months to April 1994 and 156 for the same period to April 1995. The number of people assessed for the first six months of the current financial year was 108. As the introduction of PACTs was a gradual process, the numbers of assessments for 1992/93 were not recorded.
I hope this is helpful.

Kirklees Local Education Authority

Mrs. Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much was spent in total on school education in Kirklees in each year since 1974 at constant prices. [1337]

Mr. Robin Squire: The following table shows, at 1993-94 prices, the expenditure on pre-primary, primary and secondary education by Kirklees local education authority from 1974-75 to 1993-94, the latest year for which figures are available. These figures have not been adjusted for any changes of function.

Kirklees: Gross expenditure on school education 1993-94 prices

Year	£ million
1974-75	105.95
1975-76	100.88
1976-77	99.35
1977-78	93.43
1978-79	95.29
1979-80	93.30
1980-81	98.50
1981-82	101.25
1982-83	100.95
1983-84	98.98
1984-85	100.83
1985-86	102.70
1986-87	109.63
1987-88	112.72
1988-89	117.55
1989-90	119.37
1990-91	115.73
1991-92	110.90
1992-93	132.76
1993-94	113.55

Mrs. Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much was spent in total on education in Kirklees in each year since 1974 at constant prices. [1338]

22 Nov 1995 : Column: 189

Mr. Squire: The following table shows, in 1993-94 prices, the expenditure by Kirklees local education authority from 1974-75 to 1993-94, the latest year for which figures are available. These figures have not been adjusted for any changes of function.

Kirklees: Gross Expenditure 1993-94 Prices

Year	£ million
1974-75	190.40
1975-76	185.80
1976-77	186.25
1977-78	182.23
1978-79	184.58
1979-80	186.43
1980-81	187.96
1981-82	192.16
1982-83	192.53
1983-84	190.61
1984-85	191.22
1985-86	196.31
1986-87	210.86
1987-88	219.34
1988-89	223.28
1989-90	196.38
1990-91	194.70
1991-92	195.07
1992-93	201.43
1993-94	174.98

Mrs. Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will set out the changes in real terms for education spending for each sector in Kirklees since 1980. [1339]

Mr. Squire: The increase in expenditure by Kirklees local education authority on pre-primary and primary education and secondary education, between 1979-80 and 1993-94, the latest year for which outturn figures are available, is as follows.

Kirklees LEA: Net recurrent expenditure, real terms

Year	Pre-Primary and Primary Education £000	Secondary Education £000
1979-80	37,756	46,029
1993-94	63,921	62,046
Increase	26,165 (40.9 per cent.)	16,017 (25.8 per cent.)

Unemployment, Durham

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people under the age of 25 years in the City of Durham constituency are unemployed and are in receipt of benefit; and how many of these are long-term unemployed. [156]

Mrs. Angela Knight: I have been asked to reply.

In October 1995, there were 937 people aged under 25-year-old claiming unemployment-related benefits-- unemployment benefit, income support or national insurance credits. Of these, 168 had been unemployed for over one year.

Labour Statistics

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what were the (a) median, (b) highest

22 Nov 1995 : Column: 190

and (c) lowest decile earnings of full-time workers on adult rates, distinguishing between male and female and manual and non-manual, in (i) Yorkshire and Humberside, (ii) the north of England and (iii) the United Kingdom in each year since 1993. [1459]

Mrs. Angela Knight: I have been asked to reply.

Information on the median, quartiles and deciles of weekly and hourly earnings of full-time workers in the regions of Great Britain is shown in table 116 of part E of the new earnings survey reports. Copies of these reports are available in the Library.

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what were the current average earnings of part-time workers on adult rates, distinguishing between manual and non-manual in (a) Yorkshire and Humberside, (b) West Yorkshire, (c) South Yorkshire, (d) North Yorkshire, (e) Humberside, (f) the north of England and (g) the United Kingdom. [1457]

Mrs. Knight: I have been asked to reply.

Information available from the new earnings survey is provided in the following table.

Average Weekly Earnings for part-time workers on adult rates, pay not affected by absence

	Non manual	Manual
Region	£	£
Yorkshire and Humberside	112.50	78.70
West Yorkshire	117.80	79.90
South Yorkshire	112.50	74.60
North Yorkshire	(10)--	(10)--
Humberside	105.10	(10)--
North of England	109.50	74.80
Great Britain	118.80	80.80

(10) Not available because sample size too small to give a reliable

estimate.

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is (a) the number and (b) the proportion of (i) manual part-time workers and (ii) non-manual part-time workers broken down into men and women working less than eight hours a week and 16 hours a week. [1487]

Mrs. Knight: I have been asked to reply.

Estimates from the labour force survey are shown in the table.

Part-time manual and non-manual workers by the total number of hours they usually work--Great Britain, spring 1995

		Working less than 8 hours a week			Working less than 16 hours a week
	Thousand	Per cent.	Thousand	Per cent.
Men
Manual part-time	107	20	253	47
Non manual part-time	104	19	292	54
Women
Manual part-time	319	16	953	48
Non manual part-time	353	12	1,093	36

22 Nov 1995 : Column: 191

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