| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Nursery Voucher Scheme
20. Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the take-up of nursery vouchers in the designated pilot areas. [37287]
Mr. Robin Squire: Applications for nursery education vouchers have been made in respect of 91 per cent. of the estimated number of eligible four-year-olds in the four areas in the first phase of the scheme.
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 16 July, Official Report, column 736, what research has been commissioned to evaluate the operation of the nursery voucher scheme, by organisations other than her Department, including voluntary organisations and non-governmental agencies; and in each case, what was (a) the objective of the research project, (b) the cost, (c) the time frame and (d) the expected date of the publication of the findings. [38851]
Mr. Squire: I understand that the Audit Commission, the National Children's Bureau, the Pre-school Learning Alliance and the Day Care Trust have plans to evaluate or have already evaluated aspects of the nursery education voucher scheme. Detailed information on their studies is a matter for these bodies.
The scheme comes within the ambit of the Department's internal audit division and will be reviewed by them, working with the National Audit Office, in the usual way.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the total costs of the nursery voucher initiative to her Department, separately identifying (a) staffing costs and (b) consultancy and outside agency fees (i) to date and (ii) projected up to 31 March 1997. [38852]
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 436
Mr. Squire:
The estimated cost of the nursery voucher scheme from April 1995 is £26,950,000 to 31 March 1997. Of this, payments in respect of vouchers account for by far the largest proportion; departmental staffing costs are estimated at £340,000 to date, and £950,000 to March 1997. Figures exclude consultancy and outside agency fees which remain commercially confidential.
Mr. Spearing:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates she has made of the capital programme required for each of the education authorities operating the pre-school voucher scheme for the year 1997-98 that will enable them to provide sufficient accommodation for pupils eligible to receive pre-school education and not able to attend additional settings provided by the voluntary sector. [39684]
Mr. Squire:
I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and place a copy of my reply in the Library.
21. Mr. Nicholas Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she is taking to monitor standards in the grant-maintained sector. [37289]
Mr. Robin Squire:
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Lady Olga Maitland).
Sir Irvine Patnick:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list for each local education authority in England and Wales the number of children aged five to 16 years attending grant-maintained schools as a percentage of all children aged five to 16 years resident in the authority's area. [39560]
Mr. Squire:
I will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and place a copy of my reply in the Library.
22. Mr. Butterfill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she is taking to monitor standards in universities. [37291]
Mr. Forth:
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Cannock and Burntwood (Dr. Wright).
23. Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans her Department has to carry out research into the possibility that behavioural changes in school children may be caused by the viewing of excessive television and video violence. [37292]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The Department has no plans to carry out research in this area.
24. Ms Rachel Squire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she has taken to monitor the impact of the new employer contributions on support for disabled people through the access to work scheme. [37293]
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 437
Mr. Paice:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Woolwich (Mr. Austin-Walker).
25. Sir Irvine Patnick:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the 10 worst performing local authorities with regard to examination results, and place a full list in the Library. [37295]
Mr. Robin Squire:
The 10 local education authority areas with the lowest percentage of 15-year-old pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades at GCSE last year were Islington, Knowsley, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Manchester, Lambeth, Newham, Hackney, Liverpool and Sandwell. A full list has been placed in the Library.
27. Mr. Hanson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her policy with regard to the monitoring of the quality of jobs on offer in jobcentres. [37297]
Mr. Forth:
A wide range of vacancies is notified to jobcentres and there is no single definition of quality which could be used for monitoring purposes. Jobcentres can refuse vacancies only where there are strong reasons for doing so, for example where the vacancy may put jobseekers at risk or there is evidence that the employer is not genuine.
28. Mr. Dykes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she next plans to meet her European Union counterparts to discuss matters of mutual interest in secondary and higher educational structures. [37298]
Mr. Forth:
I hope to meet my European Union counterparts at the next Education Council on 21 November 1996.
29. Mr. Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement about the criteria for funding training and enterprise councils. [37299]
Mr. Paice:
The Department negotiates funding locally with training and enterprise councils for the activities in their business plan, according to the criteria set out in their contract with Government.
32. Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her projection of the number of (a) medical, (b) dental, (c) nursing and (d) veterinary students who will graduate in each of the next five academic years. [37303]
Mr. Forth:
The Department has not published projections in precisely this form. The most recent projections were published in the Department's annual report in 1994 and covered the period to 1996-97. They showed, in figures rounded to the nearest thousand, a projection of 4,000 graduates in medicine and dentistry, combined, and 2,000 graduates in veterinary, agriculture
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 438
and related subjects, combined in Britain for each year. Projections of the number of nurses who will graduate are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health.
Mr. Hunter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement about employment rates for new graduates. [39686]
Mr. Forth:
I will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and place a copy of my reply in the Library.
33. Mr. Berry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the proportion of people with hearing impairments reaching national educational and training targets. [37304]
Mrs Gillan:
The proportion of people in the United Kingdom with a long-term hearing impairment which affects the kind of work that they can do who have reached the lifetime target 1 standard is 38 per cent. For the lifetime target 2 standard it is 16 per cent.
Mr. Thurnham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations she has received about the performance of supported employment schemes for disabled people. [37302]
Mrs. Gillan:
In the last three months representations have been made to the Secretary of State, and to my noble Friend the Minister of State, about the following supported employment programme issues:
the future for the Blindcraft supported workshop in Aberdeen;
the number of Section 1 and Section 2 registered disabled people employed in Remploy factories; and
the level of grant-in-aid allocated to Remploy for 1996-97.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |