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Graduate Unemployment
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her oral answer of 24 January, Official Report, column 337, what are the raw statistics of numbers of employed and unemployed graduates on which she based her statement that unemployment among graduates has halved in the last year. [14828]
Mrs. Gillian Shephard: Pursuant to my oral answer, my statement should have read:
"unemployment among graduates here was half that facing people without degrees last year."
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cent. It is clear from those figures that degree courses are a waste neither of students' time nor of the taxpayers' money invested in them.
School Assemblies
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the quality of (a) school assemblies and (b) religious education in schools; and if she will make a statement. [15173]
Mrs. Gillan: Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools report for 1994-95, based on evidence from school inspections conducted during that academic year and published on 5 February 1996, provides an assessment of the quality of provision of religious education and collective worship in schools. Copies of the report are available in the House of Commons Library.
Employment Service Procedures
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what advice she has given on the procedure that should be adopted by Employment Service officials where a claimant has left an employer within 26 weeks of the claim, in order to obtain better pay and conditions, but is then made redundant by the second, employer, in circumstances where redundancy could not have been foreseen. [16057]
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 Mike Fogden to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 21 February 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the procedures which should be adopted by Employment Service officials where a client has left an employer within 26 weeks of the claim, in order to obtain better pay and conditions but is then made redundant by the second employer, in circumstances where redundancy could not have been foreseen.
Mr. Dykes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will receive a deputation to discuss the problems arising from school budget restrictions in the maintained schools sector in the constituency of the hon. Member for Harrow, East. [15877]
Mr. Robin Squire:
It is for Harrow council to decide how to make best use of the 3.7 per cent. increase in its education standards spending assessment which the Government have provided for 1996-97. My right hon.
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Friend and her ministerial colleagues are always willing to consider requests to see deputations led by hon. Members.
Mr. Burden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the impact of redundancies among college lecturers on the quality of education available in further education colleges. [15998]
Mr. Paice:
The Further Education Funding Council inspectorate has found no evidence that redundancies have adversely affected the quality of education provided by further education colleges.
Mr. Burden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list by college and region the numbers of redundancies of lecturers announced by further education colleges in the last year together with the reason given for the redundancies in each case. [15997]
Mr. Paice:
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
Mr. David Porter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects to publish information about the income and expenditure of training and enterprise councils in England for 1994-95. [16717]
Mr. Paice:
A training and enterprise council income and expenditure account has been published today. This account replaces the information previously shown in the class V, vote 1, appropriation account, under the column headed "Expenditure ultimately disbursed by TECs and others".
Mr. David Porter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will publish a list of all the measures approved by Parliament since 1979 on standards of teaching and delivery of education in schools which were opposed by Her Majesty's Opposition (a) at Second or Third Reading, (b) in Committee and (c) on Report; and if she will make a statement; [13124]
Mrs. Gillan
[holding answer 6 February 1996]: The list of measures which the Opposition have voted against on Second Reading includes:
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The details of votes cast in parliamentary Divisions are a matter of public record, published in the Official Report.
Dr. Strang:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many people were employed in catering in the United Kingdom at the latest available date; [15317]
Mrs. Angela Knight:
I have been asked to reply.
The latest available information showing the number of jobs is provided in the following table:
Current guidance for my people is that where a client makes a claim for Unemployment Benefit (UB), enquiries should be made of all employers that the client has worked for in the last 6 months.
When the replies are received, any doubts identified are referred to the independent adjudicating authorities for a decision. These authorities are, an adjudication officer who makes the decision, a Social Security Appeal Tribunal if the client wishes to appeal against the first decision and a Social Security Commissioner, if a further appeal is made on a point of law. The independence of these authorities prevent me from commenting on their decisions or intervening in the adjudication process.
I hope this is helpful.
(2) if she will publish a list of all the measures on parental choice, powers to school governors and parents on school management, which were approved by Parliament since 1979 but were opposed by Her Majesty's Opposition (a) on Second or Third Reading, (b) in Committee and (c) on Report; and if she will make a statement. [13125]
the Education Act 1980, which gave parents the right to express a preference for their choice of school, and the right of appeal against non-admission; required authorities to publish information on schools and admission arrangements; established the assisted places scheme; and created governors in primary schools;
A full list of all the measures approved by Parliament since 1979 on education, and opposed on Second and Third Reading, in Committee or on Report by Her Majesty's Opposition, is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
the Education (No 2) Act 1986, which reformed school governing bodies and made provision for governors' annual reports to parents and annual parents' meetings;
the Education Reform Act 1988, which introduced the national curriculum, established grant-maintained schools; and introduced the provision of more open enrolment, which requires schools to admit up to their standard number;
the Education (Schools) Act 1992, which made provision for the inspection of schools and for information about schools and their pupils;
the Education Act 1993, which included a wide variety of provisions including the right of parents of children with statements to express a preference for a particular school; and provision to establish new grant-maintained schools;
the Education Act 1994, which established the Teacher Training Agency and made provision for schools to provide courses of initial teacher training.
(2) how many people were employed in the United Kingdom at the latest available date in (a) the manufacturing of food and drinks, (b) the wholesale distribution of food and drink, (c) the retail distribution of food and drink and (d) the food and drinks industry in total. [15316]
| (thousands) (38) | |
|---|---|
| Number | |
| Standard industrial classification 1992 (SIC92) | |
| Manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco | 435 |
| Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco | 190 |
| Retail of food, beverages and tobacco | 861 |
| Restaurants | 338 |
| Bars | 389 |
| Canteens and catering | 187 |
| Total of above | 2,400 |
Note:
(38) Unadjusted.
Source:
Central Statistical Office.