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National Curriculum
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to reduce
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the compulsory elements of the national curriculum in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [3029]
Ms Estelle Morris:
My right hon. Friend does not plan to make any statutory changes to key stages 1, 2 and 3 of the national curriculum before the year 2000 and is keeping the situation at key stage 4 under review.
Mr. David Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to restore reductions in hours of operation of job clubs imposed during the current year, with particular reference the reduction applied to Frome job club. [2241]
Mr. Alan Howarth:
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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. David Heath, dated 10 June 1997:
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is his time scale for producing the planned video on education for travellers. [2760]
Ms Estelle Morris:
This is one of a number of matters that are currently under consideration and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as a decision is reached.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of travellers' children currently of school age but not attending any school. [2761]
Ms Morris:
Accurate data on Traveller children are difficult to collect. Through the work of the Traveller Education Services funded under section 488 of the Education Act 1996, significant progress has been made in improving school registration of traveller children. At primary level, in particular, about 80 per cent. of the total number are now registered at school, although an estimated 3-4,000 children are not. The picture at
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secondary level, while also improving, remains a matter of particular concern: an estimated 10,000 children are not registered at school.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children who are currently of school age are not attending any school. [2762]
Ms Estelle Morris:
As of January 1996, local education authorities in England were arranging education otherwise than at school for 19,133 children of compulsory school age. Included in this total were 1,011 non-statemented children in hospital and 11,055 children attending Pupil Referral Units. Data for January 1997 are not yet available. The Department does not collect information on the number of children whose parents arrange education outside of the school system, as is permitted in law: but it has been estimated that some 10,000 children are educated in this manner.
I am replying separately on the question of Traveller children not attending school.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if non-teaching head teachers are included when calculating (a) class sizes and (b) pupil-teacher ratios. [2764]
Mr. Byers:
Non-teaching head teachers are included when calculating pupil-teacher ratios but not class sizes.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to take forward the 10 point plan on education for the ethnic minorities. [2759]
Ms Estelle Morris:
We are currently considering ways of raising the achievement of ethnic minority pupils, and among these the future of the previous Government's 10 point action plan. We hope to make an announcement shortly.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for changes to the way in which pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes are calculated. [2763]
Mr. Byers:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) on 5 June, Official Report, column 244.
Mr. John Cryer:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he plans to take to implement full, enforceable civil rights for disabled people. [2502]
Mr. Alan Howarth:
Our manifesto commits us to establishing "comprehensive, enforceable civil rights" for disabled people. We are consulting interested parties on the best way to achieve this and we shall develop proposals in the light of our discussions.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if the revised figures for the number of students in the further education sector as a result of the recent agreement between his Department and the Further Education Funding Council will be the baseline for the next PES round. [2871]
Dr. Howells:
The student numbers implied by the Further Education Funding Council for England's allocations to colleges for the academic year 1997-98 will be taken into account in future decisions about public expenditure.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list (a) the name, (b) the salary, (c) the previous occupation and salary and (d) the terms and conditions of each political and special adviser in his Department; and what was the selection process used to appoint these persons. [2420]
Mr. Blunkett
[holding answer 6 June 1997]: I have, with the approval of the Prime Minister, appointed two Special Advisers; Conor Ryan and Sophie Linden, who works part-time.
I have, in addition, appointed Professor Michael Barber as an expert adviser on Standards and Effectiveness.
The terms and conditions of these appointments are set out in the draft model contract, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Special Advisers are paid within a range of £24,349 to £73,484. Their salaries are negotiated individually and are confidential within this range. Details of this and of previous salary are not provided in order to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned. I have already announced that I will provide information on the total costs to the Department of a number of appointments as soon as agreement has been reached.
These are personal appointments by myself, following consultation with the Permanent Head of the Department and the Prime Minister.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what share of the costs of the CBDE Porton Down are devoted to research and programmes related to the detection of contraventions of chemical and biological weapons treaties and conventions, and the creation of verification systems; which agencies and departments have commissioned such research and programmes; and what plans he has to review this matter. [1338]
Mr. Spellar:
Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) operates as a Trading Fund and all work carried out by the CBD Sector at Porton Down is commissioned and paid for by customers. Income for the 1996-97 financial year relating to the detection of contraventions
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of chemical and biological weapons treaties and conventions, and the creation of a verification system was:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the reduction in hours of Jobclubs, with particular reference to Frome Jobclub. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
It may help if I explain that we have needed to reduce our overall provision of Jobclubs as a result of the fall in unemployment over the past year and a consequent reduction in funding. In the South West we reduced our Jobclub network at the end of the 1996/97 operational year by 14 from 121 to 107, and a further 4 reduced their hours of operation.
A number of factors led to the decision to reduce the hours at Frome Jobclub. During the 1996/7 operational year, because of falling unemployment registers, it became clear that there were no longer sufficient numbers of unemployed people to support a Jobclub presence in Frome for four mornings a week. Between April 1996 and April 1997 registered unemployment at Frome Jobcentre fell by 30% from 1,081 to 757 with a consequential impact on our ability to fill all the places at the Jobclub.
I hope this helps to explain the background to our decision. While we have no plans at present to restore Frome JobClub's previous hours of operation, we will review the position very carefully if circumstances were to change.
I hope this is helpful.
| Customer | Amount £000 | Percentage of total income 1996-97 |
|---|---|---|
| MOD | 1,982 | 4.5 |
| FCO | 100 | 0.3 |
| DTI | 150 | 0.3 |
| OPCW (2) Inspector Training | ||
| FCO | 17 | 0.04 |
| Other Governments | 43.5 | 0.1 |
| 2,292.5 | 5.24 |
(2) Organisation for the Production of Chemical Weapons.
MOD provides advice and research and development work on a range of Chemical and Biological arms control and export control matters. Other Government departments provide support to UN Special Commission, tutors for an OPCW inspectors training course and technical support to the DTI which is the UK National Authority for Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Plans for expenditure in this area are regularly reviewed by Departments during their annual costing cycles. The MOD's expenditure will also be reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence Review announced by the Secretary of State for Defence on 28 May.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps have been taken to decontaminate each of the sites (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) abroad where the British Armed Forces have (i) tested and (ii) stored chemical weapons or chemical agents used in chemical weapons; when he expects this work to be completed; and what estimate he has made of the cost to date of those measures. [2438]
Mr. Spellar:
Within the United Kingdom, former chemical warfare (CW) sites were decontaminated in accordance with the guidance prevalent at the time my Department vacated the site. Those sites which continue to form part of the Defence Estate are being assessed as part of the Department's Land Quality Assessment programme. This programme is designed to establish the condition of individual sites on the Defence Estate and, where appropriate, make recommendations for remediation. Given the extent of the Defence Estate I am not able to estimate when this work will be completed. As to the costs involved, no central records are maintained. Indeed, as remediation work on former CW sites has been spread over some 50 years it is not possible to quantify the costs involved.
Mr. Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the sites abroad where the United Kingdom has conducted trials or tests of chemical weapons or their components in the last 30 years, indicating the types and quantities of chemical agents used in each case. [2437]
Dr. John Reid:
The United Kingdom relinquished its offensive chemical weapons programme in the late 1950s. Since then, no trials of chemical weapons or their components have been carried out, either in the UK or overseas.
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