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Overseas Visits
Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place in the Library a list of all overseas visits made by all Ministers of her Department, the Department for Education and the Department of Employment since 1990, including (a) details of the places visited and brief reasons for the visit, (b) details of the size, composition and cost to public funds of the delegation and (c) the names of non-ministerial members of each delegation and the capacity in which each was present. [17489]
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 1 March 1996]: For information relating to the former Education and Employment Departments covering the period April 1992 to July 1995, I refer the hon. Member to the replies given by my hon. Friends to the hon. Member for Knowsley, North (Mr. Howarth) on 5 and 6 July 1995, Official Report, columns 233 and 360 respectively. Information prior to April 1992 is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. I have arranged for details of the information requested since the Department for Education and Employment was created in July 1995 to be placed in the Library. It is not our normal practice to give the names of the delegates who accompany the Minister. However, a delegation would normally include a private secretary and those officials needed to provide advice on policy and technical issues.
Transsexuals (Discrimination)
Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what (a) legislative changes and (b) other measures she plans to eradicate discrimination against transsexuals in the workplace following the European Court of Justice ruling in the case of PVS and Cornwall county council. [19260]
Mrs. Gillan: The opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice was given on 14 December 1995. The court has yet to give its decision.
Assisted Places Scheme
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will remove the duty
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of investigating claims by parents seeking help under the assisted places scheme from participating schools and place such responsibility in the hands of an independent body. [19340]
Mrs. Gillan: Schools participating in the assisted places scheme determine eligibility for places and assess parental contributions towards fees, within the framework of the regulations and detailed guidance from the Department. Their discharge of these tasks is regularly audited. We continually seek ways of improving the administration of the scheme but have no present plans to remove responsibility from schools.
Guidance Notes
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pages of guidance notes have been issued by (a) his Department, (b) regulatory authorities and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last three years. [18641]
Mr. Robin Squire: This information cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
EU Funding
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much European funding has been received under the Socrates programme and predecessor schemes by (a) local education authority maintained schools, (b) grant-maintained schools, (c) city technology colleges and (d) independent schools, over the last available five-year period. [19144]
Mr. Forth: This information is not collected centrally. Available details of the funding allocated by the European Commission to institutions in the United Kingdom under Socrates and its predecessor programmes were given in my answer of 29 January 1996 to the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain), Official Report, column 562.
Nursery Voucher Scheme
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 29 February 1996, Official Report, column 665, what guidance she has given to accepted, or potential, providers of early-years education concerning selection of children, or parents, holding vouchers relating to them, when valid applications for places exceed the capacity of the settings they are authorised, or able, to provide. [19568]
Mr. Robin Squire: Places will be allocated according to providers' admissions criteria which they will be required to publish.
Nursery Education (Inspections)
Mr. Deva: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what arrangements have been made for the inspection of funded nursery education, as proposed in the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Bill. [20023]
Mr. Robin Squire: Subject to its passage through Parliament and royal assent, the Bill will place upon Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England the duty of securing the inspection of funded nursery education, or
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nursery education under consideration for funding, provided at any premises. The chief inspector will also be required to maintain a register of nursery education inspectors for England and ensure that they satisfactorily complete a course of training. In order for inspections to commence from the autumn term of this year, the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England, Ofsted, must begin work immediately on the development of procedures for the recruitment and training of the inspectors.
Parliamentary approval to this new service is subject to the passage of the Bill to Royal Assent. Pending that approval, urgent essential expenditure in 1995-96 estimated at £75,000 will be met by advances from the contingencies fund, to be repaid from the 1996-97 Ofsted vote--class IX, vote 4.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for (a) Mexborough and (b) Doncaster residents within the parliamentary constituency of Don Valley entitled to received cold weather payments the station used as the basis for calculations; in respect of how many days each area has received cold weather payments in winter 1995-96; what has been the total amount paid to date; and if he will make a statement. [17376]
Mr. Roger Evans: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 6 March 1996:
Mrs. Ann Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) the Dewsbury constituency have received (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four cold weather payments in the past three months. [17335]
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will list for (a) Mexborough and (b) Doncaster residents within the Parliamentary constituency of Don Valley entitled to receive Cold Weather Payments (CWPs) the station used as the basis for calculations; in respect of how many days each area has received cold weather payments in winter 1995-96; what has been the total amount paid to date; and if he will make a statement.
The information is not available in the format requested. This is because statistics are not kept which are specific to Parliamentary Constituencies but are kept by Benefit Agency Districts.
Postal codes within the Rother and Dearne and Doncaster Districts are linked to the weather stations at Leeds and Waddington. A copy of the postal codes which are linked to each weather station is available in the Library. Leeds Weather Station has had 7 days of identified cold weather and Waddington has had 21 days.
Rother and Dearne District, which comprises the Benefit offices Goldthrope, Mexborough, Rotherham North, Rotherham South and Wath on Dearne, has made 24,032 CWPs amounting to £204,272 and Doncaster District, which comprises the Benefit offices Doncaster Castle House and Doncaster St. Peters House, has made 46,602 CWPs amounting to £396.117.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
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Mr. Evans: The administration of the social fund is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
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