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Publicity
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much her Department has spent on promotional or public information campaigns in each of the last five years; and how much she estimates will be spent on these campaigns during the (i) current and (ii) next financial years. [7542]
Mr. Robin Squire: Total spending on advertising and publicity for the Department is as follows in financial years. Before the merger in July 1995, the Department operated separately funded programmes of publicity. This continued until the end of the financial year 1995-96.
Department for Education:
1991-92: £9.0 million
1992-93: £8.0 million
1993-94: £10.1 million
1994-95: £9.4 million
1995-96: £5.4 million.
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Department of Employment:
1991-92: £18.3 million
1992-93: £7.2 million
1993-94: £11.1 million
1994-95: £11.1 million
1995-96: £11.0 million.
Personal Services Industry
Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what is her policy in respect of the continuing payment of jobseeker's allowance to people who have refused to take a job in the personal services industry; [7993]
- (2) if she will include in the next set of jobseeker's regulations an explicit provision that no jobseeker should have his or her benefit refused or reduced for refusing to take a job in the personal services industry. [7994]
Mr. Forth: I am satisfied that the legislation on refusal of employment already contains adequate safeguards. First a sanction can be imposed only when the opportunity of employment was notified to the jobseeker by a jobcentre adviser. Advisers will not suggest that people should apply for jobs that are obviously inappropriate, and Employment Service guidance is currently being strengthened to ensure that jobseekers are not submitted to undesirable or inappropriate vacancies. Secondly, no sanction is imposed if a jobseeker had good cause for refusing or failing to apply for an opportunity. Adjudication officers should take any relevant matter into account in deciding whether good cause was shown. Where appropriate, this must include the fact that the jobseeker refused the opportunity because of a sincerely held conscientious objection to the work concerned.
Education and Community Values
Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what criterion was used by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority in determining who should receive the questionnaire with the consultation document in the consultation exercise on values in eduction and the community; and if she will make a statement. [8098]
Mrs. Gillan: The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority--SCAA--issued two separate questionnaires: one to a random sample of schools; the other to some 700 national and local organisations on SCAA's general mailing list. The questionnaires were designed simply to distinguish replies from these two samples. An independent research organisation is analysing the results. The consultation document remains available, although the consultation period ended on 29 November. SCAA will take account of all representations and will publish an analysis.
Local Education Authorities
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much money was raised by local education authorities in each year since
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1992 (a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what was the percentage change from the previous year in each case; [7698]
- (2) how much local education authorities are required to raise themselves for the years 1996 and 1997 (a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what is the percentage change from the previous year in each case. [7699]
Mr. Robin Squire: Local authorities have discretion in setting council taxes. The revenue income of local education authorities between 1993-94 and 1996-97 has come primarily from the following sources: the authority's entitlements to revenue support grant and other special and specific grants; the authority's share of the amounts distributed from the non-domestic rates pool;
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council taxes raised by the authority itself, or by the relevant billing authorities in the case of county councils; and any revenue raised from sales, fees and charges, which in turn depend on the range of functions carried out by the authority. The table shows the council taxes calculated by local education authorities to support their revenue expenditure each year from 1993-94.
| 1993-94 | 1994-95 | Increase on previous year | 1995-96 | Increase on previous year | 1996-97 | Increase on previous year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ million | £ million | Per cent. | £ million | Per cent. | £ million | Per cent. | |
| England | 7,367.0 | 7,709.0 | 4.7 | 7,999.0 | n/a | 8,630.0 | 7.9 |
| West midlands | 401.0 | 401.0 | 0.1 | 432.0 | 7.8 | 471.0 | 8.9 |
| Coventry | 51.1 | 56.8 | 11.2 | 60.1 | 5.8 | 61.7 | 2.6 |
The figure for English local education authorities for 1995-96 is not comparable with 1994-95 because police services were transferred from shire counties to police authorities on 1 April 1995.
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School Funding
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much money her Department provided for schools in each year since 1992 (a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what was the percentage change from the previous year in each case; [7697]
- (2) how much money will be provided to schools for the years 1996 and 1997 (a) nationally, (b) in the west midlands and (c) in Coventry; and what is the percentage change from the previous year in each case; [7700]
Mr. Robin Squire: The great bulk of money is provided by local education authorities. Since central Government support to local authorities is not hypothecated, it is not possible to say how much of this
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support has been deployed for schools. Central Government plan financial provision for local authorities on the basis of standard spending assessments. The table sets out the education standard spending assessments between 1992-93 and 1997-98, but local education authorities are free to decide how much to spend on schools and other services in allocating their overall budgets. Because of changes in local authority functions, such as the loss of responsibility for most further education in 1993-94, the reform of inter-authority recoupment in 1995-96, and the arrangements for nursery vouchers in 1997-98, the cash figures are not comparable year-by-year. The tables therefore show (a) the unadjusted education SSAs for Coventry, the west midlands and England from 1992-93 to 1997-98 and (b) the underlying percentage changes after local authority changes of function have been taken into account.
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| SSA £ million | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98(6) | |
| Coventry | 122.987 | 111.417 | 113.295 | 115.727 | 119.872 | 119.759 |
| West Midlands | 1,132.269 | 1,023.929 | 1,019.255 | 1,024.585 | 1,072.402 | 1,065.994 |
| England | 18,352.700 | 16,530.700 | 16,826.000 | 17,024.100 | 17,764.24 | 17,838.306 |
(6) 1997-98 figures are provisional.
| 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98(7) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage change | Percentage change | Percentage change | Percentage change | Percentage change | ||
| Coventry | 7.4 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| West | 6.2 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 3.0 |
| Midlands England | 7.1 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 4.4 | 3.4 |
(7) 1997-98 figures are provisional.
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Feversham College, Bradford
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when she expects to receive an application by Feversham college in Bradford for voluntary aided status; when she refused an earlier application; what were the main grounds for refusal; what contacts there have been since that refusal between her officials, representatives of the college and representatives of Bradford local education authority about the latest application; when she expects to announce a decision on the latest application; and if she will make a statement.[8005]
Mr. Robin Squire: A previous application from the college was rejected last year, but my right hon. Friend indicated that she was ready to consider a fresh application. For the reasons for rejection, I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him of 23 February 1995, Official Report, column 294. I understand that consultation is under way in Bradford on a possible new application from Feversham college for voluntary aided status. The officials met representatives of the promoters and Bradford LEA on 15 May 1996 and have kept closely in touch since then. We have made it clear that we are willing to offer such advice and help as we can. If the promoters decide to publish fresh proposals, these will come to my right hon. Friend for decision and will be considered on their merits.
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