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New Deal (Statistics)
31. Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many young people have obtained employment through the new deal to date. [75606]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The latest Government Statistical Service figure to the end of December 1998, and provisional Management Information to the end of January 1999, show that 58,500 young people have already found employment through or with the help of the New Deal initiative.
New Deal (Disabled People)
33. Dr. Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what support and advice is given by new deal advisers to disabled people seeking employment. [75608]
Ms Hodge:
People with disabilities who are eligible for New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds and those over the age of 25 receive the same range of support as other participants in these age groups. Those who would benefit from more specialist help and advice receive support from an Employment Service Disability Employment Adviser, who can offer access to the full range of disability programmes. In addition, New Deal for Disabled People
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offers those claiming Incapacity Benefit a client-focused service based on individual requirements and access to an extensive range of specialist disabled programmes.
The latest Government Statistical Service figures to the end of December 1998 show that 13 per cent. of those who joined New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds and 19 per cent. of those who joined the New Deal for the 25-plus age group are recorded by the Employment Service as having a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
34. Mrs. Anne Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what progress has been made on the development of child care information services. [75609]
Ms Hodge:
Good progress is being made to develop Children's Information Services that meet local needs. Partnerships in every area are developing information services, which will be supported by a joint project between the Department and the Department of Social Security to set up local internet-linked databases.
35. Mr. Swayne:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement about the extent of hardship among students. [75610]
Mr. Mudie:
The most recent Student Income and Expenditure Survey for the academic year 1995-96 found no evidence of widespread student hardship. The next survey is now under way for the 1998-99 academic year.
We have uprated students' total resources for 1999-2000 in line with forecast inflation, thus protecting their value in real terms. We have almost doubled the Access Funds to £44 million and have made hardship loans available for new students.
36. Mr. Sawford:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) school costs and (b) school administration of the new provisions for additional parent representatives on school governing bodies. [75611]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Most schools will have to recruit only one more parent governor, and the value of additional parent representation should more than outweigh the cost of recruitment.
37. Mr. Edwards:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement about the implementation of the Government's policy to reduce class sizes to below 30 for five, six and seven-year-olds. [75612]
Ms Estelle Morris:
We are providing a total of £620 million to enable the limit to be met ahead of schedule. The £150 million allocation we have announced for 1999-2000, which will provide an extra 2,500 teachers and build over 1,000 extra classrooms next year, will reduce the number of pupils in infant classes from
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485,000 in January 1998 to fewer than 200,000 pupils in September 1999. The limit will be achieved in full in September 2001, ahead of our pledge to the electorate.
38. Mr. Amess:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations he has received on classroom sizes. [75613]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The Department has received just one representation as part of our autumn 1998 review of The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1996.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many extra staff have been taken on by the Employment Service to administer the new deal and at what cost; and how many of those were taken on under the new deal scheme itself. [77182]
Mr. Andrew Smith
[holding answer 16 March 1999]: Responsibility for the subject of this 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 Maclean, dated 18 March 1999:
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will name the Ministers in his Department who are regular users of electronic Red Boxes. [76174]
Mr. Mudie:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 16 March 1999, Official Report, column 651.
Mr. Stevenson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much funding has been provided per pupil in each type of school in Stoke-on-Trent over the last two years; and what is the planned allocation for each of the next three years. [76279]
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Ms Estelle Morris:
Funding per pupil at different types of school ultimately depends on decisions taken by Stoke-on-Trent local education authority in allocating its budget under fair funding. The following table sets out the education SSA per pupil allowances for Stoke-on-Trent over the last two years and the amount the authority will receive in 1999-2000. It is too soon to say what the amounts might be in 2000-01 and beyond. In addition, pupils in Stoke-on-Trent in 1999-2000 have benefited from £5,486,000 in the Standards Fund and £1,530,000 for capital.
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about how many extra staff have been taken on by the Employment Service to administer the New Deal and at what cost; and how many of those were taken under the New Deal scheme itself. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
Currently, there are some 3,500 Personal Advisers in the Employment Service working on the New Deals for young and older unemployed people, for Lone Parents and for people with disabilities, the great majority of whom have been recruited from within the Service. In addition many other staff are involved to some degree as part of their normal jobs in the support or management of New Deal programmes. Over the past year total staffing in the Employment Service has risen from around 34,000 to 36,000 reflecting the increasing demands on the Service as a whole, having reduced from a peak of over 50,000 in 1993-94.
As part of the overall increase in staffing over the past year, the Employment Service has so far recruited 289 young people through the New Deal, of whom a number are involved in New Deal support functions.
I hope this is helpful.
| Year | Primary | Year-on-year increase | Secondary | Year-on-year increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-98 | 2,043 | -- | 2,692 | -- |
| 1998-99 | 2,155 | 112 (5.5%) | 2,818 | 125 (4.6%) |
| 1999-2000 | 2,281 | 125 (5.8%) | 2,940 | 123 (4.4%) |
School Inspectors
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will provide a breakdown of the ethnic origins of inspectors carrying out Ofsted inspections of schools in each of the last three years; [77207]
- (2) what training is provided by Ofsted for inspectors carrying out inspections of schools; [77208]
(3) what procedures Ofsted uses to monitor how many of its inspectors have experience of work in areas with significant ethnic minority communities. [77209]
Ms Estelle Morris: These are matters for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools and I have therefore asked Chris Woodhead to write to my hon. Friend and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.
Employment Zones
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many employment zones have been established to date; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness. [76434]
Mr. Andrew Smith: To date, five prototype Employment Zones have been established in Glasgow, Liverpool and Sefton, North-West Wales, Plymouth and South Tees. Three smaller projects are also underway in Birmingham and Solihull, Wembley and Doncaster and Wakefield.
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