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Schools (Money Reserves)
Mr. Porter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much money local education authority schools in Suffolk and Norfolk had in reserve, deposit and holding accounts (a) as a total amount and (b) as a percentage of the total available to be spent on schools in each of the last three years. [2048]
Mr. Robin Squire: The following table shows in column 1 for Norfolk and column 3 for Suffolk, the total financial balances, net of any deficits, held at the end of each year by the schools covered by each local education authority's scheme for the local management of schools. The figures have been derived from the LMS outturn statements produced by the LEAs for the relevant years. Columns 2 and 4 show, for each LEA respectively, the balances expressed as a percentage of the general schools budget--less capital expenditure and capital finance costs--shown at the beginning of each year in the LMS budget statement.
| Norfolk | Suffolk | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| year | £000 | Per cent. | £000 | Per cent. |
| 1993-94 | 9,199 | 4.7 | 13,500 | 7.1 |
| 1994-95(1) | 9,262 | 4.4 | 11,487 | 5.7 |
| 1995-96(1) | 7,929 | 3.9 | 10,916 | 5.2 |
(1) Includes special schools.
5 Nov 1996 : Column: 429
Millennium Date Change
Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the cost effects of the millennium date change on the computer systems operated by her Department. [2617]
Mr. Robin Squire: The Department has made an initial assessment of 5,000 days effort for the 1997-98 financial year. A project has been set up to identify all the Department's computer systems which will be impacted by the millennium date change. This projet will provide detailed costings covering all the work needed up to the millennium and take forward those changes where they are cost justified.
Youth Unemployment (Cambridgeshire)
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of 18 to 24-year-olds in the constituency of South-East Cambridgeshire are unemployed; and if he will make a statement. [980]
Mr. Paice [holding answer 29 October 1996]: The Office for National Statistics does not provide claimant unemployment rates by age below national level, and considers that sample sizes in an area as small as a parliamentary constituency would be too small for reliable estimates of unemployment to be made from the quarterly labour force survey. However, data from the 1991 census show an unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent. for 18 to 24-year-olds in the constituency of South-East Cambridgeshire.
I am grateful to the hon. Member for acknowledging his error in stating--Official Report, 22 May 1996, column 274--that one in four 18 to 24-year-olds in South-East Cambridgeshire are unemployed. I am happy to accept that his misleading remark was made accidentally.
Child Care
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proportion of the (a) women who are mothers and (b) men who are fathers who are employed by her Department have received assistance from the Department with child care. [1288]
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 4 November 1996]: Although the civil service collects statistical information on staff employed in Government Departments and executive agencies, we do not collect information on the parental status of individual staff. It would be inappropriate for us to request this information from staff and difficult to justify the collection of such data.
The Department is, however, able to give information on the number of staff who have received child care assistance.
Subsidised places are provided at four playschemes and two nurseries at the DFEE head office sites. Two hundred and twenty-one female and 101 male staff have used the play schemes or nurseries in the past 12 months.
Staff can claim additional child care expenses arising from attendance at a residential training course or from disruption to normal work routine. Thirty-five women and nine men have claimed additional child care expenses from the Department in the past 12 months.
5 Nov 1996 : Column: 430
The Department also offers a range of provisions which can help staff balance home and home and work responsibilities:
Career breaks enable staff to take up to five years off work to cope with domestic responsibilities.
Mrs. Roche:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many women are currently employed by her Department; and what proportion this is of the total. [1255]
Mr. Robin Squire
[holding answer 4 November 1996]: The DFEE excluding executive agencies currently employs 2,662 women. This is 53 per cent. of the Department's total employees.
Mr. George Howarth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the overall cost to the Prison Service of introducing mandatory drug testing including capital investment involved in building appropriate facilities and (b) the cost to the Prison Service per drug test, indicating (a) Prison Service expenditure and (b) costs billed to non-Prison Service contractors, excluding capital investment involved in building appropriate facilities. [1500]
Miss Widdecombe:
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. George Howarth, dated 5 November 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the costs of introducing mandatory drug testing and of the tests themselves.
(2)This represents centrally allocated funds. In a few cases where only minor alterations were necessary or the work was done as part of a larger building project, the costs were borne by individual establishments. These costs could only be calculated at disproportionate expense.
5 Nov 1996 : Column: 431
(3)This is for the initial screen test which all samples undergo. 8.6 per cent. of samples undergo a further, confirmatory test at a cost of £28.82.
Miss Widdecombe:
We expect to do so soon.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the specific training period for (a) a probation officer, (b) a fireman and (c) a prison officer.[1953]
Mr. Sackville:
Under the new arrangements for the recruitment and qualifying training of probation officers, there will not be a specific training period. A flexible training programme is being devised which will allow training to be geared to the needs of individual recruits, taking into account their skills and experience. This will make it easier for a broad range of applicants to apply for appointment as a probation officer as they will not have to undertake the two-year social work diploma course required under the previous arrangements.
Home Office guidance recommends a minimum of 14 weeks' training for recruit firefighters.
Newly recruited prison officers undertake 13 weeks' initial training, including a nine-week residential course.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigrants and returnees from South Africa entered the United Kingdom in (a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1985 and (d) each year from 1990 to 1995, broken down by ethnic origin where available. [1948]
Mr. Kirkhope:
Information on migrants, including temporary migrants, from South Africa is given in table A, and information on South African citizens who have been accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom is given in table B. Information on their ethnic origin is not available.
Staff can apply to have a flexible work pattern such as part time, job sharing and home working.
Paid and unpaid special leave is available to allow carers to deal with emergency child care cover.
The total cost of introducing mandatory drug testing was £940,840. The cost of a mandatory drug test is £45.32. More detail is given in the attached tables.
£ Building work and equipment(2) 266,000
First phase staffing costs 36,000
Staff training 551,000
Headquarters project staffing and expenses 87,840
Total 940,840
Mr. Howarth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will respond to the recommendations in the report of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on "Drug Misusers and the Prison System--An Integrated Approach". [1755]
£ Equipment 1.02
Courier 0.99
Laboratory Analysis(3) 2.37
Staff costs 40.94
Total 45.32
| Country of birth | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year(5) | Total | United Kingdom | Rest of the world | |
| 1970 | 6.8 | (6)4.5 | (6)2.3 | |
| 1980 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 1.4 | |
| 1985 | 17.8 | 10.1 | 7.7 | |
| 1990 | 6.4 | 4.4 | 2.0 | |
| 1991 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | |
| 1992 | 6.9 | 4.8 | 2.1 | |
| 1993 | 9.4 | 5.7 | 3.7 | |
| 1994 | 8.1 | 2.6 | 5.5 | |
Source:
Office for National Statistics.
Notes:
(4) Persons who have resided for a year or longer in South Africa and who state on arrival the intention to stay in the United Kingdom for a year or longer.
(5) Data for 1995 onwards are not yet available.
(6) Data relate to nationality not country of birth.
5 Nov 1996 : Column: 432
| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1970 | (7)-- |
| 1980 | 920 |
| 1985 | 790 |
| 1990 | 850 |
| 1991 | 1,050 |
| 1992 | 890 |
| 1993 | 1,100 |
| 1994 | 1,260 |
| 1995 | 1,300 |
(7) Not available.
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