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Nursery Inspectors

Mr Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 12 February, Official Report, column 441, (1) what are the chief inspector's general criteria relating to suitability for nursery inspectors; [17422]

(2) if vetting by the police will be included in the general criteria relating to the suitability of funded nursery education inspectors. [17421]

Mr. Robin Squire: Subject to parliamentary approval, schedule 1 to the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Bill sets out general criteria for the registration of nursery education inspectors, including that they be fit and proper persons for this task. I expect the chief inspector will use procedures along the lines of those for registration of inspectors under the Education (Schools) Act 1992.

Training (Expenditure)

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the total Government expenditure on (a) direct training services, (b) local initiative funds, (c) the old job training scheme, (d) youth training including youth credits and (e) the youth training scheme in each year of their existence since 1971-72. [17460]

Mr. Paice: The information requested is contained in the following tables

Direct Training Services(7)

Year(8)	Expenditure £ Million
1971-72	22.7
1972-73	35.5
1973-74	49.7
1974-75	58.2
1975-76	118.6
1976-77	183.5
1977-78	197.1
1978-79	208.9
1979-80	229.4
1980-81	246.3
1981-82	235.1

(7) The figures for direct training services include expenditure for the TOPS programme which cannot now be disaggregated.

(8) Expenditure on training, education and enterprise programmes and administrative cost up to and including 1990-91 is for Great Britain. Expenditure in 1991-92 is for England and Wales and expenditure from 1992-93 is for England only.

Local Initiatives Fund

Year(9)	Expenditure £ million
1990-91	9.9
1991-92	48.2
1992-93	49.7
1993-94	47.7

(9) Expenditure on training, education and enterprise programmes and administrative costs up to and including 1990-91 is for Great Britain. Expenditure in 1991-92 is for England and Wales and expenditure from 1992-93 is for England only.

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Job Training Programme(10)

Year(11)	Expenditure £ million
1982-83	311.1
1983-84	240.7
1984-85	232.9
1985-86	219.4
1986-87	286.2
1987-88	272.3

(10) The figures given are for the job training programme and include expenditure on the old job training scheme which cannot now be disaggregated. The job training programme was the generic name which covered a range of separate programmes include the old job training scheme.

(11) Expenditure on training, education and enterprise programmes and administrative costs up to and including 1990-91 is for Great Britain. Expenditure in 1991-92 is for England and Wales and expenditure from 1992-93 is for England only.

Youth Training (including Youth Credits)

Year(12)	Expenditure £ million
1990-91	823.4
1991-92	746.3
1992-93	617.0
1993-94	640.1
1994-95	647.0

(12) Expenditure on training, education and enterprise programmes and administrative costs up to and including 1990-91 is for Great Britain. Expenditure in 1991-92 is for England and Wales and expenditure from 1992-93 is for England only.

Youth Training Scheme

Year(13)	Expenditure £ Million
1983-84	426.8
1984-85	836.2
1985-86	869.9
1986-87	939.1
1987-88	1,064.9
1988-89	993.2
1989-90	976.0

(13) Expenditure on training, education and enterprise programmes and administrative costs up to and including 1990-91 is for Great Britain. Expenditure in 1991-92 is for England and Wales and expenditure from 1992-93 is for England only.

Schoolchildren (Permanent Exclusions)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schoolchildren were excluded permanently from schools in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in 1995. [17122]

Mr. Robin Squire: This information is not available centrally.

The Department is collecting figures on permanent exclusions in the school year 1994-95, through the annual census returns sent to all schools in January. Data should be available by the early autumn.

Young People (Full-time Education)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people aged between 16 and 18 years in (a) Coventry and (b) the west

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midlands are in full-time education; and if she will give the figure (i) in real terms and (ii) as a percentage of the total number of 16 to 18-year-olds in (a) and (b). [17123]

Mr. Paice: Information is available for young people aged 16 and 17 only, and is shown in the following table. The figures relate to the 1993-94 academic year.

	16-year-olds		17 year-olds
	Number in full-time education	Percentage of population(14)	Number in full-time education	Percentage of population(14)
Coventry	2,400	70	1,900	49
West Midlands	42,000	70	34,400	55

(14) Figures are based on the total population for each relevant age group.

Nene College

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects Nene college to achieve university status. [17132]

Mr. Forth: Nene college does not at present meet the criteria for university status. It is not possible to predict when it will do so.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Stormont (Office Facilities)

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which political parties have office facilities in the Stormont estate; what is the budgeted cost for these facilities; to what extent officers of those parties may work for the Government of the Republic of Ireland; and if he will list those bodies contributing to the cost. [15194]

Mr. Ancram: Conferencing facilities at Castle buildings have been made available to all of the relevant Northern Ireland parties and the Irish Government, solely for the purposes of the preparatory talks process. To date only four parties--the Alliance party, the Workers party, the Progressive Unionist party and the Ulster Democratic party--have availed themselves of the facilities, although other parties have attended meetings in the building.

The accommodation is part of the existing Government estate. The additional costs incurred in providing conferencing facilities average approximately £1,900 per month. The staff costs incurred in January were approximately £1,500. From 1 February 1996 staff costs are expected to amount to a total of approximately £4,000 per month.

These costs are being met entirely by my Department as appropriate expenditure in the search for a comprehensive political settlement.

Linen Industry

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions have been held with the Directorate of the Killyleagh, Rathfriland and Rostrevor spinning mills concerning the future of the linen industry; and what action he plans to take to assist these spinning mills. [15712]

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Mr. Ancram: There has been a sharp downturn in world demand for linen yarn over the last eight months. Killyleagh Yarns, other linen yarn spinners in Northern Ireland and producers in other European countries have found it necessary to curtail production. The Industrial Development Board is in regular contact with spinners in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland spinning businesses have available to them and are using a range of marketing and trade development schemes administered by the Industrial Development Board.

Fair Employment Legislation

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps will be taken to incorporate the policy appraisal and fair treatment guidelines for the public service into the fair employment legislation. [15713]

Mr. Ancram: The policy appraisal and fair treatment guidelines have been issued as administrative guidance for Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office. There are no proposals to incorporate these guidelines in legislation.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many employers with more than 25 workers have not complied with requirements in respect of the submission of reviews for the Fair Employment Act 1976 in each year from 1 April 1990 to 31 March 1995. [15709]

Mr. Ancram: There is no requirement on employers with 25 or more employees to submit to the commission reviews under either the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976 or the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989.

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