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Age Limits
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will introduce legislation to eliminate job advertisements specifying age limits, except where reasons are given for them; and if she will make a statement. [3189]
Mrs. Gillan: The Government are convinced that the best way to combat age discrimination is through persuasion and education and they do not intend to introduce legislation to eliminate job advertisements specifying age limits.
Pupils
Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the school population of primary and secondary schools in England and Wales in each academic year since 1978-79. [3170]
Mr. Robin Squire: The information for England is shown in the following table. Pupil numbers in Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
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| Year | Primary | Secondary(18) |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 4.52 | 3.82 |
| 1980 | 4.36 | 3.81 |
| 1981 | 4.18 | 3.78 |
| 1982 | 4.01 | 3.73 |
| 1983 | 3.84 | 3.67 |
| 1984 | 3.77 | 3.58 |
| 1985 | 3.75 | 3.46 |
| 1986 | 3.76 | 3.32 |
| 1987 | 3.79 | 3.18 |
| 1988 | 3.84 | 3.01 |
| 1989 | 3.91 | 2.87 |
| 1990 | 3.98 | 2.79 |
| 1991 | 4.05 | 2.77 |
| 1992 | 4.09 | 2.82 |
| 1993 | 4.17 | 2.87 |
| 1994 | 4.24 | 2.93 |
| 1995 | 4.31 | 2.99 |
| 1996 | 4.39 | 3.01 |
(18) Excludes pupils in sixth form colleges which ceased to be classified as schools in April 1993.
Project Work
Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a progress report on the project work pilot schemes. [3285]
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to extend the project work pilots; and if she will make a statement. [3237]
Mr. Forth: I am very encouraged by the results of the two current pilots of project work, which having been running since April in Hull and Medway and Maidstone. The latest information indicates that around 25 per cent. more people are leaving the unemployment register in the pilot areas than in comparable areas. Based on this encouraging evidence, the Secretary of State announced on 7 November that the project work approach was to be extended early next year to around 100,000 people in a wide range of locations in England, Scotland and Wales. The full list of areas in which the pilot will run is as follows:
Travel-to-work areas to be covered by the further pilots of the project work approach
Bath
Bolton and Bury
Bradford
Brighton
Bristol
Derby
Dudley and Sandwell
Dundee
Dunfermline
Edinburgh
Grimsby
Hertford and Harlow
Huddersfield
Lanarkshire
Leicester
London, East and North-east
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Merthyr and Rhymney
Neath and Port Talbot
Norwich
Nottingham
Peterborough
Portsmouth
Preston
South Tyneside
Stoke
Swansea
Weston Super Mare
Wigan and St. Helens
Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what estimate she has made of the effect of project work by April 1997 on the official count of claimant unemployed with durations of over two years in the (a) Hull travel-to-work area and (b) Medway and Maidstone travel-to-work areas; [3062]
- (2) if people currently counted as having an unemployment duration of more than two years will continue to be classified as such on their return to the register direct from project work. [3063]
Mr. Forth: The treatment of people who claim jobseeker's allowance after a period on project work is consistent with that of people leaving training for work, or other Employment Service programmes which have involved the payment of an allowance. They will be treated as new claims for the purposes of payment of jobseeker's allowance. Those who return will continue to qualify for all ES programmes, including those for people unemployed over two years, and for training for work. The numbers of those entering and leaving project work will be made publicly available.
Collective Worship
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations she has studied from the British Humanist Association regarding collective worship; and if she will make a statement. [3190]
Mrs. Gillan: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received a letter dated 29 October from Mr. Robert Ashby, the executive director of the British Humanist Association. I have placed a copy of my reply in the Library.
Surplus School Places
Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many surplus places there were in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales in each academic year since 1978-79. [3169]
12 Nov 1996 : Column: 139
Mr. Robin Squire: The information requested is only available on a consistent basis for England for 1993-94 and 1994-95. In those years, the number of surplus places was as follows:
| thousand | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Primary | Secondary |
| 1993-94 | 541 | 476 |
| 1994-95 | 478 | 406 |
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales is responsible for monitoring surplus places in Wales.
Office for Standards in Education Research
Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place the recent Ofsted research into (i) the background of excluded pupils and (ii) school library provision in the Library. [3103]
Mr. Robin Squire: This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, who heads the Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Mr. Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member.
Unemployment
Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will publish the current unemployment rates in each European Union member state, indicating in each case whether the social chapter is in force; [2919]
- (2) if she will publish the current youth unemployment rates in each European Union member state, indicating in each case whether the social chapter is in force. [2920]
Mr. Paice [holding answer 11 November 1996]: The information is set out in following table. I am pleased to confirm that, both for unemployment overall and for unemployment of people below the age of 25, the UK rate is substantially below the figure in the European Union as a whole. The UK is the only country to which the social chapter does not apply.
| Total | Under 25 years | |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 09.8 | 25.0 |
| Denmark | 06.1 | 07.9 |
| Germany | 08.9 | 09.7 |
| Greece | -- | -- |
| Spain | 21.3 | 39.2 |
| France | 12.4 | 28.7 |
| Ireland | 12.5 | 19.0 |
| Italy | -- | -- |
| Luxembourg | 03.1 | 07.7 |
| Netherlands | -- | -- |
| Austria | 04.1 | 06.1 |
| Portugal | 07.1 | 16.7 |
| Finland | 16.0 | 35.2 |
| Sweden | 09.8 | 22.6 |
| UK | 08.2 | 15.0 |
| EU | 10.8 | 21.1 |
Employment Service
Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) which body established
12 Nov 1996 : Column: 140
the resource baselines quoted by the chief executive of the Employment Service as a factor in the decision to make staffing reductions; [3613]
- (2) what estimate she has made of the likely costs of (a) redundancies and (b) transfers occasioned by the reductions in activity in the headquarters of the Employment Service; [3612]
(3) who announced the decision to reduce activity at the Employment Service headquarters; and in what manner the announcement was made; [3608]
(4) what is (a) the timetable for and (b) the distribution of the staffing reductions at the headquarters of the Employment Service; and how many and what percentage of staff are to be lost at each divisional office; [3611]
(5) what is the staffing budget for the Employment Service in 1996-97, broken down according to grades; and what is the projected staffing budget for (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000; [3609]
(6) what account was taken of public expenditure negotiations in respect of her Department as a whole in the decision to reduce staff activity at the Employment Service headquarters. [3607]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the questions has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. David Blunkett, dated 12 November 1996:
12 Nov 1996 : Column: 141
A breakdown of staff by grade is not available for future years. Unfortunately, the information for 1999-2000 is not yet available as the current public expenditure survey has yet to be concluded. The earlier information is published in the 1996 DfEE Departmental Report.
I hope this is helpful.
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your questions on staffing reduction in the Employment Service Headquarters. For ease of reference I have grouped my replies by subject using the numbers that will appear in Hansard.
Determination of Employment Service resources and relationship with public expenditure negotiations (questions 3613 and 3607).
In common with other Departments and Agencies, the Employment Service's resource provision is determined by Government within the public expenditure framework. As part of that framework Departments and Agencies are required to absorb pay and price increases and to improve the efficiency with which they are run. It is one of my tasks to identify and develop efficiency measures to meet these requirements. Our current work to reduce the Headquarters overhead is one strand in a programme of continuing efficiency measures designed to do that.
Announcement of decision on ES Headquarters Review and timetable/distribution of reductions (questions 3608 and 3611).
The decision concerns Agency management rather than wider policy questions. To help us plan for the future effectively and to minimise uncertainty within ES I wrote to all my colleagues in ES's Head and Regional Offices (our "Headquarters") at the earliest opportunity. As part of that process we wrote to our trade unions and offered them a meeting to discuss the matter. This meeting took place on Monday 11 November.
Detailed plans for implementing the changes are in development, but broadly I see the process as starting now and continuing through to March 2000. Reductions in posts will be spread across this period and I envisage that these could be in the order of 750 by March 1998.
The exercise encompasses my Head Office (mainly Sheffield, but also London) and 9 Regional Offices. The reductions will be spread across these locations. However, as distribution of the reduction will depend on a series of decisions over a range of functions, it is too early to say exactly where they will fall but it seems likely that more will occur in the Regions than in Sheffield. We currently have some 1,400 permanent posts in Sheffield. I should emphasise that these plans are intended to exclude the great majority of ES people who work in Jobcentres delivering services to employers and our clients seeking work.
Cost of consequent redundancies and transfers, and staffing budgets for the Employment Service (questions 3612 and 3609).
I intend to avoid redundancies if at all possible and they do not form part of our current plans. ES has a good record in managing fluctuations in staffing without recourse to compulsory redundancy and we will do everything in our power to manage these reductions in the same way. On transfers, I have said that if a member of staff is required to move they would be entitled to transfer expenses under normal rules. It is, though, too early to predict the numbers of transfers that will take place and therefore their cost. Transfer costs will, of course, be taken into account in reaching decisions on the implementation of the various changes.
The current staffing budgets and forward plans for ES are:
1996-97 1997-98 1998--99 Running costs £910 million £800 million £798 million
Staff years 36,536 32,867 32,586
These include both paybill and general administration expenditure.
The staff numbers for the current year broken down into broad divisions are:
Grade Number Senior management (Grades 3-7) 292
Executive grades (SEO-EO) 13,993
Clerical (including temporary staff) 22,251
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