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Electricity Interconnector
Mr. Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the present arrangements for the electricity interconnector between England and Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [25321]
Mr. Michael Forsyth: The arrangements for the operation of the electricity interconnector between Scotland and England are a matter for its owners, those who have contracted to use it and the regulator.
Charities
Mr. Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what restrictions are placed on the activities of registered charities which bring financial benefit to private companies. [25450]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: If a Scottish charity that is a recognised body under the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 were to apply its funds to bring financial benefit to a private company, the Inland Revenue would consider the extent to which its tax exemption would be restricted. In addition, the Scottish Charities Office has power to investigate any alleged misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of a Scottish charity.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many consultants have been engaged by the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department to monitor the implementation and operation of environmentally sensitive area plans; and what is the cost of such monitoring operations; [23013]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the remit of consultants engaged by his Department to evaluate the existing management plans in environmentally sensitive areas; [23014]
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(3) steps have been taken by his Department to identify the extent to which locally based farmers or crofters may be employed by his Department for the purposes of monitoring and evaluating environmentally sensitive area plans. [23015]
Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 1 April 1996]: A 10-year contract for monitoring the environmentally sensitive area scheme was won in competition by a consortium comprising the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland and AOC Scotland Ltd. Their remit is to assess the impact of the scheme on the biological, landscape and archaeological interest within each area. The average annual cost is £300,000.
To complement this work, local agricultural staff undertake an annual review of individual farm and croft conservation plans to ensure that the requirements of the scheme are being met and the conservation objectives achieved. I am satisfied that this co-ordinated approach represents the best value for money.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Youth Training Allowance
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much the present minimum weekly training allowance for youth training would be currently, if it had been uprated in line with inflation since 1990. [25443]
Mr. Paice: The present minimum weekly training allowance for youth training, which may be supplemented by employers, would be £37.93 for 16-year-olds and £45 for 17-year-olds and above if it had been uprated in line with inflation since 1990.
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Mr. Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will give the number and percentage of young people in Sunderland who are participating in youth training and the percentage who are receiving more than the minimum allowance from employers or training provider. [25444]
Mr. Paice: Some 2,100 young people in Sunderland are currently participating in youth training. Of the 16-year-old cohort eligible to leave school in the summer of 1995, 25 per cent. in Sunderland went into youth training. Information on those who are receiving more than the minimum allowance in Sunderland is not available.
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to increase the minimum weekly training allowance for youth training. [25442]
Mr. Paice: There are no plans to increase the minimum weekly training allowance.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which TECs have set (a) higher minimum levels of training allowance for non-employed trainees than the minimum permitted and (b) more than the 19.5 days per annum holiday. [25445]
Mr. Paice: Training and enterprise councils are free to set allowances above the minimum. Information on TEC practice in this connection is not held centrally.
British Steel
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the total value of commercial orders placed by her Department, and by the Education and Employment Departments prior to merger, with British Steel plc in each year from 1988 to 1995. [25813]
Mr. Robin Squire: The information requested is not available without incurring disproportionate cost.
Nursery Voucher Scheme
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of the providers participating in phase 1 of the voucher scheme will be inspected (a) within three months, (b) within six months, (c) within nine months and (d) within 12 months of beginning to operate under the voucher scheme. [25605]
Mr. Robin Squire: Inspections by registered nursery education inspectors cannot begin until after the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Bill has received Royal Assent. The Office for Standards in Education's initial planning estimate is that all voluntary and private providers will be inspected within their first year of operation--that is, by April 1997.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many providers
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who have been given initial validation in respect of phase 1 of the voucher scheme will provide (a) one session a week, (b) two sessions a week, (c) three sessions a week, (d) four sessions a week and (e) five sessions a week; [25601]
- (2) what proportion of vouchers in phase 1 of the voucher scheme have been redeemed in respect of places (a) in the private sector, (b) in the voluntary sector and (c) in the maintained sector. [25598]
Mr. Squire: Information on where parents have chosen to redeem nursery education vouchers, and on the number of sessions provided, will be available once vouchers returned from providers have been analysed.
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will set out the calculation which underlay the ministerial statement that under the scheme of vouchers for pre-school education a local authority will be better off if just one additional four-year-old is able to use its provisions. [25851]
Mr. Squire: In phase 2, the deduction from each local authority's budget will be the voucher value multiplied by the number of four-year-olds in maintained provision in that local education authority area in the 1995-96 academic year, taking into account the number of terms for which each child attends. If the LEA recruits the same number of four-year-olds in the same termly pattern, all this money will be recovered. If the local authority provides for an additional four-year-old, an additional voucher, or a portion of that sum, depending on the number of terms that child is in school, will pass to the LEA. The arrangements in phase 1 are similar, except for an adjustment to allow for four-year-old pupils resident outside the phase 1 areas and who therefore do not hold vouchers.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many institutions in the (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) maintained sectors have applied for initial validation in phase 1 of the voucher scheme; and how many such institutions did not previously provide places for four-year-olds. [25604]
Mr. Squire: Six hundred and twenty-eight private and voluntary sector and 494 maintained sector providers have been initially validated to date. Forty of these did not have any four-year-olds on roll at the time of registration, but had capacity to provide for them.
Implementation Group on Information Technology
Ms Rachel Squire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what were the total preparation and publication costs of the Follett report;[25596]
- (2) what have been the total operational costs of the Follett implementation group on information technology; and to whom that money was awarded. [25597]
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Mr. Forth: These are matters for the higher education funding bodies. I have asked the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England to respond in writing to the hon. Member.
Sight and Sound
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will investigate the award of contracts to Sight and Sound by the former South Thames training and enterprise council. [26285]
Mr. Paice: Training and enterprise councils are private companies. The award of contracts by TECs to providers of training is a matter for the companies concerned.
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will investigate the quality of courses being operated by Sight and Sound through training and enterprise councils. [26284]
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Mr. Paice: This is for the training and enterprise councils to investigate under the "TEC Quality Assurance: Supplier Management" framework.
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