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Access to Work
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 10 November 1998, Official Report, column 137, if a councillor who is disabled and can prove that his activities as a councillor are his main paid employment will be eligible for Access to Work support. [60300]
Ms Hodge:
Access to Work provides help for disabled people in, or about to start, paid employment. It is designed to encourage employers to take on, or retain,
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disabled people by meeting some or all of the extra costs resulting from disability. The aim is to help disabled people in activities from which they earn their living. Activities as a councillor are not themselves regarded as paid employment, but disabled councillors may be eligible for Access to Work support where they are also in paid employment.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list for each education action zone the financial contribution from business in the form of (a) cash and (b) services or donations in kind. [60268]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Each of the first 25 Education Action Zones must raise £250,000 from the private sector in the first year, whether in cash or kind. They are well on the way to achieving this. I will publish a complete set of information as soon as it is available.
Mr. Sayeed:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what reason underlies the rule that a person who has been in prison has to have been unemployed for two years prior to his or her imprisonment in order to qualify for support under the Welfare to Work Scheme. [59380]
Mr. Andrew Smith:
There is no such rule. Anyone leaving prison and claiming JSA will be able immediately to take advantage of a whole range of help including work-based training, trial periods with employers and help with jobsearch. If, after a year, they are still unemployed and claiming JSA, they can, at ES's discretion, begin on the New Deal advisory process when they will, in addition to the provision mentioned before, qualify for the £75 a week employer subsidy and the opportunity to study or train full-time on JSA. All this is regardless of their previous work history. If, however, they have experienced a number of spells of unemployment-related benefits in the past, interrupted only by short periods, they may qualify for the New Deal as soon as they claim JSA.
Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on progress in developing and publishing a Special Educational Needs Action Programme. [59761]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Consultation on the Green Paper, Excellence for all children: meeting special educational needs, generated many thoughtful ideas and comments. In the light of these, and the advice of the National Advisory Group on Special Educational Needs (SEN), we published Meeting Special Educational Needs: A programme of action on 5 November. The Action Programme sets out the practical steps we will take to support and promote developments in SEN over the next few years. Copies were sent to all MPs and are also available in the Library.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those additional funds that have been made available to (a) local education authorities and (b) schools through a bidding process
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since May 1997 indicating for each aspect of funding the numbers of bids received and the number of recipients of funding. [59832]
Ms Estelle Morris
[holding answer 16 November 1998]: The information requested is currently being collected and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many hits each week were recorded on the National Grid for Learning website between April and October. [59191]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Between the weeks beginning 2 April and ending 4 November, 11,285,679 hits were recorded on the main servers for the prototype National Grid for Learning at BECTA, at an average rate of 364,054 hits per week. This excludes hits on numerous other servers to which the NGfl provides onward direction. A weekly breakdown is provided in the following table.
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European Citizenship
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the teaching of European Citizenship in European Community projects in schools. [59808]
Ms Estelle Morris: Under the EU SOCRATES programme, UK schools are co-operating with schools in other European countries on a wide range of subjects of mutual interest. No current project under this programme involving UK schools has European citizenship as its subject.
Science Teachers
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many science graduates completed teacher training broken down by subject into (a) chemistry, (b) physics and (c) biology, (i) in total and (ii) as a percentage of the total graduates completing teacher training in each year between 1993 and 1997. [57079]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The number of graduates in Chemistry, Physics and Biology and other related sciences who completed a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in England and Wales between 1993 and 1996 and the number expressed as a percentage of all graduates completing a PGCE are given in the table:
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| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degree subject | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
| Chemistry | 470 | 3.1 | 530 | 3.3 | 580 | 3.4 | 520 | 3.1 |
| Physics | 360 | 2.4 | 430 | 2.7 | 430 | 2.5 | 360 | 2.1 |
| Biology | 980 | 6.5 | 1,130 | 7.0 | 1,330 | 7.7 | 1,330 | 7.9 |
| Engineering | 450 | 3.0 | 620 | 3.8 | 690 | 4.0 | 570 | 3.4 |
| Medical sciences | 100 | 0.7 | 110 | 0.7 | 150 | 0.9 | 180 | 1.1 |
| General sciences | 260 | 1.7 | 260 | 1.6 | 490 | 2.8 | 390 | 2.3 |
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Figures for 1997 are not yet available. Graduates qualified in more than one subject are counted against each relevant subject listed above.
The £130 million package of measures announced by my department on 27 October includes measures intended to increase the number of science graduates recruited to initial teacher training courses.
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Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many Employment Service staff have responsibilities which do not include work on the new deal; [59184]
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Mr. Andrew Smith:
New Deal is an integral part of the Employment Service's work. No figures are available which show separately staff working exclusively on new deal.
Mr. Gorrie:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many deaths have been recorded in England and Wales from poisoning by paracetamol in each of the past five years; [59634]
Ms Hewitt:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
(2) how many and what proportion of Employment Service staff are currently working exclusively on the new deal. [59187]
(2) how many deaths have been recorded in England and Wales from aspirin poisoning in each of the past five years; and in how many of these cases aspirin had been taken in (a) soluble and (b) dispersible form. [59635]
| Year | Deaths mentioning paracetamol |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 316 |
| 1994 | 275 |
| 1995 | 324 |
| 1996 | 279 |
| 1997 | 335 |
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Figures relate to the number of deaths in England and Wales where paracetamol was mentioned on the death certificate. They do not include deaths with a mention of a paracetamol-containing compound e.g. co-proxamol.
Year Number of deaths
1993 25
1994 28
1995 19
1996 32
1997 12
It is not possible to determine from the information collected at death registration whether aspirin was taken in soluble or dispersible form.
The deaths were identified as those with an underlying cause of death coded to drug dependence, non-dependent abuse of drugs, accidental poisoning, suicidal poisoning and poisoning of undetermined intent.
The figures for deaths where paracetamol or aspirin was mentioned on the death certificate include deaths attributed to the substance in combination with other drugs. Where two or more substances are listed together, the contribution, if any, of each to the death is unknown. Even where one substance is listed alone there may well be other factors with an important bearing on death.
Moreover, coroners do not always record all specific drugs associated with a death on the death certificate. Therefore, with the information available from death registration, it is only possible to give an approximation of the number of deaths associated with or directly due to any particular substance.
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