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Channel Tunnel Fire

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are (a) the terms of reference and (b) the membership of the bodies conducting (i) the French formal inquiry into the channel tunnel fire, (ii) the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority inquiry and (iii) the Eurotunnel inquiry; and if the evidence of each will be published in full. [5745]

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 351

Mr. Watts [holding answer 26 November 1996]: The terms of reference and the membership of the bodies conducting the French judicial inquiry and Eurotunnel's inquiry are a matter for these organisations. The membership of the safety authority is Eddy Ryder, Jeremy Beech, Vic Coleman, Sandra Caldwell, Peter Moss, Roger Lejuez, Jean-Pascal Cogez, Pierre Desfray, Mr. Barthelemy, Claude Charmeil; the terms of reference for the safety authority inquiry is a matter for this authority. The safety authority has been asked if it will publish a report on its inquiry into the causes and consequences of the HGV fire on 18 November 1996.

Airfields (Yorkshire)

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of airfields in Yorkshire. [5734]

Mr. Bowis [holding answer 25 November 1996]: The following 26 active civil aerodromes are in the county of North Yorkshire or within Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Doncaster, East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, Kirkless, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wakefield or York unitary authorities:

Aerodromes licensed by the CAA
Beverley (Linley Hill)
Brough
Full Sutton
Leeds Bradford
Sherburn-in-Elmet
Unlicensed aerodromes
Bagby (Thirsk)
Breighton
Burn
Burton Constable (Hull)
Carnaby (Bridlington)
Cottam
Fadmoor
Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Huddersfield (Crosland Moor)
Hull (Humbleton)
Hull (Mount Airey)
Hull (Sproatley)
Kirkbymoorside
Melbourne
Pickering (Wombleton)
Pocklington
Scarborough (Willy Howe)
Thirsk (Sutton Bank)
Walton Wood
York (Ancaster Malbis)

York (Rufforth).

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 352

PRIME MINISTER

Engagements

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 28 November. [5197]

Sir Peter Tapsell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 28 November. [5196]

The Prime Minister: This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

Ministerial Statements

Mr. Allen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the circumstances in which it is acceptable for Ministers to make a statement which they know to be untrue on the Floor of the House; and what changes have been made to that list since March 1994. [6542]

The Prime Minister: There has been no change in the position as I stated it in 1994. It is clearly of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to the House. If they knowingly fail to do this, they should relinquish their positions, except in the quite exceptional circumstances, of which a devaluation or time of war or other danger to national security have been quoted as examples.

Employment Contracts

Mr. Hain: To ask the Prime Minister how many (a) full-time jobs, (b) part-time jobs, (c) full time jobs which are on (i) renewable and (ii) unrenewable fixed-term contracts, (d) part-time jobs which are on (i) renewable and (ii) unrenewable fixed-term contracts, (e) temporary jobs and (f) jobs classified as casual there have been in (1) his Department and (2) executive agencies of his Department for each year since 1992. [5412]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 25 November 1996]: For these purposes, my office is part of the Cabinet Office, Office of Public Service. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 27 November, by my hon. Friend the Paymaster General.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Teaching Posts and Pupil Numbers

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the change in full-time equivalent teaching posts in England between 1995 and 1996 in numbers and as a percentage; and what were the equivalent figures for pupil numbers in the same period. [6016]

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Mr. Forth: Information on teaching posts is not collected centrally. Information on pupils and teachers is shown in the table.

Full-time equivalent numbers of pupils and teachers in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schoolsEngland Position in January each year

			Change
	1995	1996	Number	Percentage
Pupils	7,182,600	7,273,400	90,900	1.3
Teachers(12)	368,920	369,110	190	0.1

(12) Includes both qualified and unqualified teachers.

Computerised Administration

Mrs. Bridget Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what studies her Department has undertaken (a) with and (b) without the assistance of the National Council for Educational Technology, of the benefits to schools of computerised administration systems, with special reference to the advantages of computerised student records and associated paperless data input devices with remote link to the office by radio waves. [5872]

Mr. Robin Squire: No studies on this topic have been undertaken by the Department.

Mrs. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the reports and other publications published by her Department working with the National Council for Educational Technology that treat microcomputer-based school administration systems as their main topic. [5870]

Mr. Squire: No reports of this nature have been produced by the Department in conjunction with the National Council for Educational Technology.

University Lecturers (Pay)

Sir David Steel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will urge the Universities and Colleges Employers Association to seek arbitration for future pay disputes; and if she will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's reason for not referring university lecturers' pay to a standing pay review body. [6399]

Mr. Forth: Given the level of financial and academic autonomy that universities and colleges enjoy, the Government believe that these issues are currently best settled by higher education institutions.

Nuclear Engineers

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what research she has commissioned into problems in obtaining sufficient highly qualified graduates to become (a) nuclear engineers and (b) nuclear safety engineers. [4849]

Mr. Forth: No research has been commissioned specifically into the supply of nuclear engineers or nuclear safety engineers.

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Employment Service (Publicity)

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much has been spent by the Employment Service agency in producing promotional items during (a) the 1994-95 financial year, (b) in the 1995-96 financial year and (c) in the current financial year to date; what promotional items have been produced; how many of them have been produced; and what assessment he has made of the benefit of producing each of these promotional items. [6388]

Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from R. D. Horne to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 28 November 1996:

The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to write to you about your question of 28 November concerning the production of promotional items by the Employment Service.
The Employment Service undertakes a wide range of promotional activity to inform employers and jobseekers about the services it offers. These activities have included jobseeker and employer advertising campaigns, production of leaflets and posters, stands at exhibitions and conferences--where employers are informed of the benefits of using jobcentres, and the organisation of Jobfairs where employers have the opportunity to recruit unemployed jobseekers in one place and at one time.
The total marketing and promotional spend during the last three years is as follows:

	£
1994-95	3,556,921
1995-96	5,854,079
1996-97(13)	1,854,411




(13)spend to end of October 1996.

As there is such a diverse range of activity I am unable to give you this information in the form you have requested. I hope however that the following examples will give you an understanding of our promotional activity.

During the last three years we have undertaken a number of national advertising campaigns to promote to employers and unemployed jobseekers the services offered by our Jobcentres. The total cost of these campaigns in 1994-95 was £2.45m in 1995-96 £3.62m and our spend to date for 1996-97 is £1.3m.

Each of these national campaigns has involved a mix of television, radio and/or press advertising, with supporting information literature. The campaigns have been fully evaluated using independent tracking research. The research has indicated that the campaigns have been very effective in informing both employers and jobseekers of the services available.
In addition to the national campaigns, a range of national, regional and local activity is undertaken to promote specific events or services. The aim is to encourage local employers to use Jobcentres and for unemployed jobseekers to be aware of the wide range of help available to them. I have enclosed two examples of leaflets that we have produced for this purpose. I have arranged for copies of these leaflets to be available in the Library. We produce each year

28 Nov 1996 : Column: 355

about half a million copies of the 'Just the Job' booklet which is available in Jobcentres and other advice locations. It explains the range of back to work services available to unemployed jobseekers.
We also this year produced four million copies of the 'Jobseeker's Allowance--Helping you Back to Work' guide. This is available to jobseekers through Jobcentres Post Offices, Citizen Advice Bureaux and Benefit Agency Offices. The booklet tells jobseekers about the help available when looking for work and in particular the entitlement conditions for receiving the Jobseeker's Allowance.
At a local level Jobcentre managers have used a variety of promotional methods, including direct mail shots to employers and adverts on the sides of buses. We also obtain a great deal of free editorial coverage in local press.
We recently exhibited this year at the annual conferences of the Institute of Personnel and Development and the Confederation of British Industry. This provided us with the opportunity to explain to employers and their recruitment specialists the benefits of using Jobcentres to meet their recruitment needs.
I hope that this information is helpful.

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