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Secondary Schools

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of children got their first preference in allocation of secondary school in each local education authority in England in the most recent year for which figures are available. [21313]

Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 20 March 1997]: Data on the number of parents securing their first choice of school is not collected centrally. However surveys commissioned by the Association of Metropolitan Authorities in 1992 and The Times in 1993 showed that some 90 per cent. of parents gained a place at their first choice of secondary school.

Payment of Bills

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of bills to her

21 Mar 1997 : Column: 948

Department for the financial year 1995 to 1996 were paid (a) in accordance with agreed contractual conditions and (b) within 30 days of receiving goods and services or the presentation of a valid invoice where no contractual conditions applied. [21214]

Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 20 March 1997]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 18 July 1996, Official Report, columns 613-14 which answered part (b) of the above question. An answer to part (a) could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Jobseekers

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if a jobseeker's allowance claimant could be referred to a (i) jobplan workshop, (ii) workwise course, (iii) restart course, (iv) 1-2-1 and (v) jobfinder if he (a) is attending a jobclub, (b) will start a full-time education or training course in the near future and (c) will be starting work in the near future. [21373]

Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question 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 Robert Horne to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 21 March 1997:

The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to write to you direct to respond to your question about claimants in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) and referrals to Jobplan, Workwise and Restart Courses 1-2-1 and Jobfinder caseloading.

It may help if I explain that Jobplan, Workwise and Restart Courses are short programmes which help people compete more successfully for jobs and opportunities by allowing them to establish clear job goals and review their strengths and skills and the way they sell themselves to prospective employers. They are delivered on the Employment Service's (ES) behalf by organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors.

In the main, jobseekers are referred to Jobplan and Workwise when they have been unemployed for at least 12 months and to Restart Courses when they have been unemployed for two years or more.

1-2-1 and Jobfinder (from April 1997) offer a series of caseload interviews, with an ES adviser, for jobseekers who have been unemployed for one year or two years or more, respectively. Through the interviews ES advisers are able to offer jobseekers concentrated help to encourage more effective job search; develop self-motivation; and help set clear goals for jobseekers to achieve.

Where a jobseeker is attending a Jobclub, they would still be expected to attend Jobfinder caseload interviews. However arrangements would be made so that the jobseeker could continue to attend the Jobclub, in addition to attending a caseload interview. Indeed, the caseload interviews will complement the activity in Jobclub. However, Jobclub members would not normally be directed to attend 1-2-1, Jobplan, Workwise or a Restart Course, whilst still actively and regularly attending the Jobclub.

If a jobseeker is due to start full-time education, a training course or a job in the near future, it is at the discretion of ES advisers as to whether they refer the individual to any of these programmes. However, where there is a firm offer (usually in writing) and the course or job is due to start shortly, we would not normally expect the jobseeker to be referred to a programme. However, if they do not subsequently take up the course or job they will in most cases be referred to the relevant programme.

I hope this is helpful.

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Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which groups of claimants are given priority access to jobclubs and jobsearch plus.[21374]

Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question 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 Robert Horne to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 21 March 1997:

The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to write to you direct to respond to your question about priority access to Jobclubs and Jobsearch Plus.

To be eligible to join these programmes jobseekers will normally have been registered unemployed for 26 weeks for Jobclub and 13 weeks for Jobsearch Plus. There are however a number of exemptions to the eligibility criteria which allow people in special groups to join the programmes immediately they become unemployed. These include people with disabilities, people with literacy or numeracy difficulties, labour market returners, people needing basic training in English (and Welsh/Gaelic), jobseekers affected by large scale redundancies, ex-offenders and people who have served in HM Forces.

Some jobseekers will have priority status for entry into the two programmes. These include unemployed people with disabilities and 18 to 24 year olds who have been unemployed for a year or more who have never worked since leaving full time education. In addition people who have been directed to and have completed a Jobplan, Workwise or Restart course also enjoy priority consideration.

I hope this is helpful.

School Budgets

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her letter of 17 March on school budget deficits, if she will list the schools running a budget deficit indicating in each case the amount. [21410]

Mr. Robin Squire: I regret that the effort and cost entailed in compiling such a list would be disproportionate.

Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her letter of 17 March on school budget deficits, what estimate she has made of the number of local education authorities which plan to take back delegated budgets from schools in deficit. [21411]

Mr. Squire: My right hon. Friend has made no such estimate.

Advisory Bodies (London)

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the non-elected bodies responsible to her Department which are responsible for providing advice or services in London, indicating in each case the (i) overall budget and (ii) estimated running costs for each year from 1996-97 to 1999-2000. [21387]

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Mr. Paice: The information available is given in the following table.

Non-elected bodies	Overall budget 1996-97 (£)	Running costs 1996-97 (£)
Training and Enterprise Councils:
West London TEC	20,658,317	1,740,682
AZTEC	13,238,824	1,223,209
CENTEC(26)	40,029,172	3,813,735
CILNTEC(26)	20,358,066	1,998,662
London East TEC	34,416,844	3,059,632
North London TEC	22,415,495	1,804,767
North-west London TEC	11,089,213	1,223,121
SOLOTEC	32,644,320	3,108,208
Careers Services:
Capital Careers	2,564,865	2,139,336
Careers Enterprise	1,639,851	1,374,336
CFBT West London Careers	3,295,607	2,734,336
Futures Careers	4,783,974	4,264,336
Lifetime Careers	1,851,033	1,544,336
London South Bank Careers	1,899,373	1,606,690
Prospects Careers	4,105,950	3,414,336
Search Careers	1,956,431	1,629,336
Microdec Careers	500,000	n/a
Greenwich Careers(27)	511,760	346,000
Lewisham Careers(27)	528,784	419,944
Lambeth Careers(27)	445,510	394,528
Southwark Careers(27)	492,689	396,000

(26) As of 1 April 1997 CILNTEC and CENTEC will merge to form Focus Central London TEC.

(27) These Careers Services operated from 1 April 1996 to 30 September 1996, after which (from 1 October 1996) London South Bank Careers took over.

n/a = information not available.

TEC and Careers Service total budget and running costs for 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 have not yet been determined.

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

BSE

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what are the criteria for deciding whether BSE-infected and suspected BSE-infected bovine offal is (a) disposed of in landfill sites and (b) incinerated;[20219]

(2) if BSE-infected or suspected BSE-infected bovine offal has been dumped in landfill sites in Warrington;[20220]

(3) if it is Government policy to continue to dump BSE-infected offal in landfill sites. [20221]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 17 March 1997]: The Animal By-Products Order 1992, which implements EC animal waste directive 90/667 in Great Britain, requires animal waste to be rendered, incinerated or buried.

There is no legal requirement for the carcases of cattle slaughtered as affected with, or suspected of being infected with, BSE to be destroyed specifically by incineration. However, it has been the Ministry's practice to use incineration whenever feasible. No BSE suspects have been disposed of other than by incineration since 1995.

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In the case of specified bovine material removed on a precautionary basis from non-BSE suspects, the SBM order of 1996, as amended, requires that it be processed in dedicated rendering lines or incinerated. Where the SBM is rendered, the order provides for the resultant meat and bone meal to be incinerated, disposed of at a landfill site for which there exists a current waste management licence granted under section 35 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, or disposal as specified by the Minister in the plant's approval. At present, however, SBM removed from cattle aged under 30 months and sheep and goats is rendered with over-30-months scheme material and is, therefore, all destined for destruction.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, which advises Ministers on BSE, has considered the current and proposed methods of dealing with waste material from the slaughter of cattle and concluded that these are safe. A press release reporting its conclusions was issued by MAFF on 7 June 1996 and a copy is available in the Library of the House.

The Department's records indicate that BSE suspect cattle were disposed of by landfill in Warrington during 1990 and 1991. The sites were licensed under part I of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.

The Department's records also indicate that approximately 15 tonnes of unrendered SBM were consigned, contrary to SBM rules, to a landfill site in Warrington just prior to Christmas 1995. The matter was drawn to the attention of Tameside metropolitan borough council, as the appropriate local authority with enforcement responsibility under the order. Whilst the incident is regrettable, investigation revealed that the site is a "total containment site" and of the highest standard. In the unlikely event that the SBM contained any infectivity, it is thought that the resultant risk should be very small.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) for what reasons the Rowley landfill site was selected for the burial of BSE-infected cows; [20419]

(2) how many BSE-infected cows are buried at the Rowley landfill site near Burnley. [20420]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 17 March 1997]: In the early years of the BSE epidemic, incineration capacity was insufficient to deal with all the cattle involved. Therefore, in July 1988 this Department approached Lancashire county council seeking licensed landfill facilities for disposal of BSE suspect cattle. At that time, the county council was responsible as a waste disposal authority for the granting and supervision of licences under part I of the Control of Pollution Act 1974. Following an assessment by the authority of the landfill sites then in its ownership, Rowley was identified by the authority as suitable for the disposal of waste of this kind.

The Ministry's records, cross checked with those available to the Environment Agency, indicate that the carcases of just over 30 cattle affected, or suspected of being affected with, BSE--their heads having been removed for incineration--were disposed of at the Rowley landfill site.

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Mr. Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he intends to remove the remains of the cattle buried at Rowley for disposal by incineration;[20417]

(2) what steps he is taking to ensure the BSE-infected cows buried at Rowley do not contaminate the water supply. [20418]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 17 March 1997]: In May last year a sub-group of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, which advises Ministers on BSE, considered the issue of BSE and the environment, including the question of disposal to landfill sites. It considered that, although the spongiform encephalopathy agent was not yet fully characterised, there was good evidence to believe that individual molecules were not infectious and that infectivity was associated with macro molecular agglomerations, indeed possibly with tissue fragments, albeit small ones. On this basis, it concluded

"it was unlikely that leachate from landfill sites would present a significant risk and there was certainly no justification for taking heroic measures to excavate sites, even those which had previously been used for material such as BSE-confirmed cattle".

The Environment Agency as the regulatory body responsible for supervising the operation of landfill sites, is in possession of SEAC's advice. The agency monitors groundwater quality in the vicinity of licensed landfill sites as a check for any leachate contamination.

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which landfill sites in the United Kingdom were used for the disposal of cattle reported as having BSE. [18134]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 10 March 1997]: I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Mr. Pike: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what representations his Department has received from the Environment Agency in respect of the disposal of BSE-infected carcases to landfill sites; and if he will make a statement; [20471]

(2) if he will instigate an inquiry into the safety of all sites where BSE-infected carcases have been disposed of during the past eight years; and if he will make a statement. [20472]

Mrs. Browning: Prior to the formation of the Environment Agency in April 1996, regulatory responsibility for the operation of landfill sites rested with waste regulation authorities. The Environment Agency inherited the responsibility for the safe regulation of landfill sites in England and Wales under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and for this purpose monitors ground water quality in the vicinity of licensed landfill sites as a check for any leachate contamination.

This Department is in regular contact with the Environment Agency in view of its responsibility for supervising the waste management licensing system in respect of landfill sites.

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