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Schools (Selection)

27. Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on her plans to extend selection in education. [33225]

Mrs. Gillan: My right hon. Friend's proposals for extending selection in education were published yesterday in the White Paper "Self-Government for Schools".

26 Jun 1996 : Column: 159

Schools (Streaming)

28. Dr. Twinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she last met with representatives of the Office for Standards in Education to discuss streaming and setting in schools. [33226]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Secretary of State frequently discusses educational issues with Her Majesty's chief inspector. Officials from Ofsted and the Department also hold regular discussion meetings.

Youth Training

29. Mrs. Jane Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals she has to extend training opportunities for unemployed 18 to 25-year-olds. [33227]

Mr. Paice: The Department will continue to offer and support a wide range of opportunities for unemployed 18 to 25-year-olds, including specialist provision for those requiring basic skills training.

Surplus School Places

30. Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will take further measures to ensure that local education authorities take prompt action to remove school places which are surplus to requirement. [33228]

Mrs. Gillan: We look to local education authorities to take action to remove surplus places in the first instance. My right hon. Friend has powers under the Education Act 1993 to direct an authority to bring forward rationalisation proposals where numbers of surplus places appear excessive.

Youth Education Vouchers

32. Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations she has received regarding the introduction of vouchers for 16 to 19-year-olds in education and training. [33230]

Mr. Paice: None. The Government have no plans to introduce vouchers for 16 to 19-year-olds in education and training. We have announced our intention to consult on the introduction from 1997 of a system of learning credits. These will set out for all 16 to 19-year-olds their entitlement to the education and training they choose.

Nursery Education

34. Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what statistics her Department collects in respect of the provision of nursery education nationally. [33232]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Department collects information on pupils under five being taught in maintained nursery schools; nursery classes in maintained primary schools; other classes in maintained primary schools, including reception classes; special schools; and independent schools.

26 Jun 1996 : Column: 160

Ministerial Visits

35. Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she next plans to visit West Yorkshire to discuss employment prospects for young people. [33233]

Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend has no plans to visit West Yorkshire in the near future. However, my hon. Friend the Member for South-East, Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) plans to visit Leeds on 11 July and will be discussing employment and training options for young people with Leeds training and enterprise council.

School Inspections

36. Mr. Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps she is taking to expand the role of the Office for Standards in Education with regard to school inspections. [33234]

Mr. Robin Squire: Ofsted is responsible for the regular inspection of all maintained schools. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced that she plans to introduce legislation in the autumn to give Ofsted powers to inspect LEA monitoring and support services for schools.

Assisted Places

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list (a) the schools which will be offering assisted places from September 1996, (b) the number of places which have been taken up and (c) the average spending per place in each Department of Environment region. [34492]

Mrs. Gillan: A list of the 355 schools in England which will be offering assisted places from September 1996 has been placed in the Library. Information on take-up and average cost of places for the academic year 1996-97 is not yet available. Preliminary indications are that take-up of places will remain high.

Examination Results

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the maintained secondary schools and their respective local education authorities in which the number of pupils who gained five GCSEs was 10 per cent. or less in each year since 1990; if she will list the totals in each case and as a percentage of secondary schools in the maintained sector; how many of these schools have been designated failing schools through Ofsted inspection; and if she will make a statement. [34493]

Mr. Robin Squire: There are no maintained secondary schools, apart from special maintained schools, in which the number of pupils who gained five GCSEs was 10 per cent. or less in each year since 1992.

Compliance Cost Assessment

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals she has to ensure that each legislative measure put forward by her Department contains a compliance cost assessment (a) relating to small firms and (b) in respect of which small firms have been consulted. [34154]

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Mr. Paice: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Contracts

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list (a) the average value of contracts awarded by her Department (b) the value of (i) the smallest and (ii) the largest contract awarded (c) the number of contracts with a value of (1) £0-£999, (2) £1,000-£9,999, (3) £10,000-£49,999, (4) £50,000-£99,999, (5) £100,000-£499,999, (6) £500,000-£999,999 and (7) above £1,000,000 and (d) the total number of contracts awarded in 1995-96. [34155]

Mr. Robin Squire: The information requested is not available without incurring disproportionate cost.

Training and Enterprise Councils

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of the budget of each TEC in England and Wales last year (a) was spent and (b) could be used to support management training for small firms. [34121]

Mr. Paice: Of the main training and enterprise council budgets administered by the Department, those for employer investment in people--EIP--and skills for small businesses--SSB--may be used to support management training for small firms.

Table 1 shows the percentage of each TEC's expenditure on DFEE programmes in 1995-96 which was used for EIP and SSB. Information is not available on how much was spent within these budgets on management training.

In addition, TECs have had the opportunity to put forward proposals for funding under the Department for Trade and Industry's skills challenge--a fund for small businesses and business enterprise support budget.

Funding for TECs in Wales is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

Table 1: Percentage of TEC spend on employer investment in people (EIP) and skills for small businesses (SSB)

TEC spend 1995-96	EIP SSB percentage
South East
Hampshire	4.53
Heart of England	4.66
Isle of Wight	11.79
Kent	2.78
Milton Keynes and North Buckinghamshire	5.18
Surrey	9.39
Sussex	6.45
Thames Valley enterprise	4.71
London
Aztec	7.68
Centec(21)	11.72
Cilntec	9.40
London East	5.75
North London	9.59
Northwest London	6.15
Solotec(21)	4.79
South Thames	3.90
West London	6.95
Eastern
Bedfordshire	5.39
Cambstec	10.64
Essex	3.01
Greater Peterborough	6.66
Hertfordshire	5.43
Norfolk and Waveney	5.47
Suffolk	6.05
South West
Devon and Cornwall	4.04
Dorset	7.17
Gloucestershire	3.95
Somerset	7.58
Westec	4.17
Wiltshire	2.33
West Midlands
Birmingham	5.05
Central England	8.97
Coventry and Warwickshire	5.04
Dudley	4.94
Hawtec	5.32
Sandwell	4.18
Shropshire	4.71
Staffordshire	4.90
Walsall	5.65
Wolverhampton	4.14
East Midlands
Greater Nottingham	5.94
Leicester	5.81
Lincolnshire	3.75
North Derbyshire	6.08
North Nottinghamshire	4.57
Northamptonshire	7.60
Southern Derbyshire	6.52
Yorkshire and Humberside
Barnsley and Doncaster	2.45
Bradford and District	4.09
Calderdale and Kirklees	3.05
Humberside	4.50
Leeds	4.50
North Yorkshire	4.96
Rotherham	6.09
Sheffield	4.75
Wakefield	4.14
Merseyside
Cewtec	4.92
Merseyside	4.04
Qualitec	2.17
North West
Bolton and Bury	5.02
Cumbria	3.35
Eltec (East Lancs)	5.62
Lawtec (Lancs West)	6.41
Manchester	6.03
Metrotec Ltd. (Wigan)	4.99
Normidtec	3.99
Oldham	3.83
Rochdale	4.26
South and East Cheshire	7.28
Stockport/High Peak	6.65
North East
County Durham	3.44
Northumberland	4.94
Sunderland City	2.35
Teesside	3.17
Tyneside	4.95

(21) include payments made to these TECs who took over responsibility for programmes previously run by South Thames TEC.

26 Jun 1996 : Column: 163

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