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Aid Procurement
Miss Lestor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make available the recent review undertaken by his Department on aid procurement tied to the purchase of British goods and services. [10421]
Mr. Hanley:
The review on aid procurement tied to the purchase of British goods and services was undertaken by ODA and other interested Whitehall
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Departments. ODA is currently producing a summary version of the review which will be made available as soon as possible.
Labour Statistics (Manchester)
Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many persons aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 years are currently available for work in the Greater Manchester area and not in receipt of benefit. [10304]
Mr. Forth: There is no requirement for 16 and 17-year-olds to hold themselves available for work. No information is held on the number of 16 and 17-year-olds who are not in receipt of benefit.
Access to Work
Mr. Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what are the principal types of disabilities of people who have received assistance under the access to work scheme in each of the years 1994-95 and 1995-96 to date. [10129]
Mr. Forth [holding answer 19 January 1996]: Responsibilities 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 Mike Fogden to Mr. Keith Bradley, dated 23 January 1996:
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The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the types of disability of people who have received support through Access to Work.
I attach a table that shows all the help provided through Access to Work from 6 June 1994 (the first day of the programme) to 31 March 1995. The table shows the elements of help and the number of people in disability categories. Some people get more than one element of help and therefore the totals do not show the total number of people supported.
In 1994/95, 10,394 people were helped, including a number receiving help under the previous special schemes that replaced Access to Work on 6 June 1994.
The principal types of disability of those receiving help were disabilities of the spine (around 21%); organic nervous diseases (10%); hearing difficulties (18%) and visual impairments (26%).
I am sorry that we do not have interim figures for 1995/96. Analysis by disability type is done annually and figures will be available after the end of the operating year in March.
I hope this is helpful.
Medical code letters
A, B, C, D, E : Amputations
F : Arthritis and rheumatism
H : Diseases of the digestive system
I : Diseases of the genito-urinary system
J : Diseases of the heart and circulatory system
K1A, K1B, K2 : Diseases of the respiratory system (except TB)
L : Diseases of the skin
M1, M2, N : Hearing impairments
O, P : Visual impairments
Q1, Q2 : Injuries of head, face, neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, trunk
R, S : Disabilities of the limbs
T1, T2 : Disabilities of the spine
U1, U2, U3 : Mental disabilities
V1, V2 : Organic nervous disorders
X, Y : TB
Z : Other disabilities.
EU Universities (UK Students)
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many United Kingdom students are currently studying at other European Union university institutions as (a) undergraduates and (b) postgraduates. [10902]
Mr. Forth:
Information is not available in the detail requested. Figures published by the European Union show that in 1991-92--the latest year for which full information is available--nearly 9,000 United Kingdom higher education students were studying in other member states, of which over 6,500 were participating in the Erasmus and Lingua programmes. In 1994-95, there were nearly 12,000 UK students studying in other member states under the Erasmus and Lingua programmes as well as an unknown number of other UK higher education students.
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Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many universities in the United Kingdom have established (a) a business school and (b) a science park. [10898]
Mr. Forth:
This information is not collected by the Government. However, I understand that there are currently 71 United Kingdom universities with business schools and 49 science parks in the UK with UK Science Park Association membership.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many universities in the United Kingdom have developed joint programmes with their local training and enterprise councils. [10894]
Mr. Paice:
This information is not held centrally, but officials have requested Government offices to make inquiries of the training and enterprise councils in their regions and I will write to the hon. Member in due course.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what powers she has to provide exceptional funding to universities which have particular areas of expertise. [10899]
Mr. Forth:
Under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, responsibility for determining the allocation to universities of grant funds provided by the Department for Education and Employment rests with the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The allocation to universities of grant funds relating to initial teacher training is, under the Education Act 1994, the responsibility of the Teacher Training Agency. The Secretary of State for Education and Employment has no powers to provide exceptional funding to universities which have particular areas of expertise.
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Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has for the careers service in Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, following the decision of the Grand Met Trust to withdraw its plans to take over the contract to run the service. [10530]
Mr. Forth
[holding answer 22 January 1996]: The Department is discussing options with the four local authorities. The Department's priority is to ensure a high-quality careers service for the young people of the area.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many expressions of interest were received by each of the boroughs of Greenwich, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham with regard to the contract to run these authorities' careers services; and which consortiums bid for the contract. [10532]
Mr. Forth
[holding answer 22 January 1996]: There were four bids submitted for the combined area of Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark. Bids were submitted on a commercial in confidence basis and the Department must respect the confidence of the other organisations involved.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on what criteria the Grand Met Trust was given preferred bidder status in respect of the contract to run the careers service in the boroughs of Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; what experience Grand Met has had in providing a careers service; and how many people were employed by the subsidiary of Grand Met bidding to run the careers service when the Department awarded it preferred bidder status. [10531]
Mr. Forth
[holding answer 22 January 1996]: Grand Met Trust submitted the best bid as measured against the criteria that were published in the "Prospectus for the Provision of London Careers Services from April 1996". Grand Met Trust has not previously provided a careers service. The Department recognised that bids might come from organisations entering this area of work for the first time. The prospectus stated, therefore, that such bidders must provide clear and realistic plans for meeting our requirements before the contract began. Grand Met Trust did so. The bid was submitted by Grand Met Trust, not a subsidiary. However, the trust stated its intention to form a subsidiary company to contract with the Department if preferred bidder status was awarded.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on what occasions and on what date Grand Met Trust expressed an interest in partnerships to run local authority careers services; and on what dates it notified her Department of withdrawals of interest. [10533]
Mr. Forth
[holding answer 22 January 1996]: Grand Met Trust submitted its bid to run the careers service in London's area 5 the boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark by the closing date of 10 April 1995. It confirmed its intention to withdraw from contract negotiations on 10 January 1996.
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