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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
SOLOTEC (Chief Executive)
Mr. Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the reasons for the financial compensation package paid on the resignation of the Chief Executive of SOLOTEC. [83377]
Mr. Mudie: The Board of SOLOTEC is responsible for setting the terms and conditions of SOLOTEC's staff. I understand that the Board decided last summer to vary the then Chief Executive's terms of employment to incorporate the severance payment he has since received. I further understand that the Board at the time believed that the financial compensation package was necessary to retain the services of the Chief Executive. When the Board subsequently decided to part with the Chief Executive, they decide to make the payment in full.
The compensation package was agreed and paid without the knowledge of the Department. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made clear our view that there are no circumstances in which a payment of this size could be justified for any TEC employee.
Latin American Students
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the (a) number of and (b) origin of students studying at British universities from the countries of Latin America. [83369]
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Mr. Mudie:
The latest available data are given in the following table:
| Country | Number of students (4) |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 365 |
| Bolivia | 35 |
| Brazil | 1,046 |
| Chile | 202 |
| Colombia | 475 |
| Costa Rica | 25 |
| Cuba | 10 |
| Ecuador | 50 |
| El Salvador | 15 |
| Guatemala | 12 |
| Honduras | 6 |
| Mexico | 1,056 |
| Nicaragua | 8 |
| Panama | 27 |
| Paraguay | 15 |
| Peru | 120 |
| Uruguay | 43 |
| Venezuela | 279 |
| Total | 3,789 |
(4) Full-time, part-time, undergraduates and postgraduates
Mature Students
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will publish figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency showing the numbers of part-time and full-time mature students who entered higher education in (i) 1996, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 1998. [83590]
Mr. Mudie: Information for the three years requested is given in the table.
| Year | Full-time | Part-time | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 172,100 | 226,000 | 398,100 |
| 1997-98 | 170,400 | 230,800 | 401,200 |
| 1998-99 | 168,700 | 250,100 | 418,700 |
(5) Mature entrants are defined as students in their first year of study aged 25 and over on postgraduate courses and aged 21 and over on undergraduate courses. The numbers cover home and overseas domiciled students and are taken from HESA December Student Record datasets.
Note:
Comparisons between 1997-98 and 1998-99 are affected by a change in the basis for identifying first year students used by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Adjusting for this change gives a growth rate of -4 per cent. in full-time entrants (rather than -1 per cent. suggested by the unadjusted numbers) and +5 per cent. in part-time (rather than +8 per cent. suggested by the unadjusted numbers).
The figures show that the numbers of mature students have increased since the introduction of tuition fees. The tendency for more mature students to opt for part-time rather than full-time study began before tuition fees were introduced for all categories of student and has continued since.
Brain Drain
Mr. Opik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK citizens with post-graduate degrees
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obtained at British universities who have subsequently taken up employment abroad; and if he will make a statement. [83356]
Mr. Mudie:
The available information relates only to the destinations of individual cohorts of postgraduate qualifiers six months after qualification.
The latest figures relating to 1996-97 show that of the 17,367 UK domiciled full-time postgraduate qualifiers from GB higher education institutions for whom we have destination information, 1,100 (or 6 per cent.) are reported to have taken up employment overseas.
Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will call for a report from the FEFC on the decision of the previous directors of Wirral Metropolitan College to award an enhancement of eligible service to the recently retired Principal of Wirral Metropolitan College; [83689]
Mr. Mudie:
The retirement package was a decision made by the previous governors of Wirral Metropolitan College. The decision was made in line with guidance provided by the FEFC in its financial memorandum to colleges. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked the FEFC to review the advice it gives to colleges to ensure that careful consideration is given to the guidance so that it is appropriate in different circumstances.
(2) what external advice he (a) sought and (b) received about the appropriateness of the retirement package of the recently retired principal of Wirral Metropolitan College. [83691]
Romania
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will set out her Department's planned financial assistance towards orphanages in Romania in the financial year 1999-2000. [83965]
Clare Short: We have no plans to provide financial assistance for orphanages in Romania for the financial year 1999-2000. We are considering a request from the Romanian Department for Child Protection which may include support for orphanages.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Macpherson Report
Mr. Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has received the findings of the independent investigation into the leak of material relating to the report by Sir William Macpherson into the death of Stephen Lawrence. [84332]
Mr. Straw:
I have now received from my Permanent Secretary the report of the independent investigation into the leak, carried out following longstanding practice by a member of the panel maintained by the Cabinet Office. The summary findings of the report are as follows:
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Information deriving from the draft report of the Judicial Inquiry was leaked to the Sunday Telegraph on 21 February. The most likely route for the leak was not the draft Report itself but a summary of its findings and associated commentary which were internal to Government. The leak is not, therefore, thought to have come from the Inquiry team or from the printers.
Appropriate security arrangements were instituted by the Home Office to control tightly the handling of the draft Report and related papers. They excluded advance briefing of the media. The handling procedures and the restriction on briefing of the media were observed. All copies of the relevant papers were accounted for. No-one was found who had had unauthorised access to the material. Despite intensive investigation, it has not been possible to establish who deliberately leaked the story to the Sunday Telegraph.
I regret that it has not been possible to trace the originator of this deplorable leak. I had access myself to the papers, and I have already given in my Statement to the House on 22 February 1999, Official Report, columns 21-34, my personal word that I was not responsible. The only other Minister with relevant access was my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Home Office, the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) who has asked me to relay to the House a similar absolute assurance which he has given me and which I fully accept. The number of officials and advisers who also had access to the relevant papers is small, and I do not intend therefore, to publish their names which would only serve to throw suspicion unfairly on them as a group when there is no evidence that identifies any individual as responsible.
Mrs. Gordon:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of house fires which are caused each year by faulty cigarette lighters; and if he will make a statement. [83813]
Mr. George Howarth:
In 1997, there were 527 fires caused by cigarette lighters which resulted in 10 fatal and 265 non-fatal casualties. The statistics do not specify whether or not the cigarette lighter in question was faulty.
Mr. Gardiner:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the financial costs to the Metropolitan Police of the additional security arrangements in London in response to the recent nail bomb attacks; and what additional financial provision he proposes to make to cover these costs. [83888]
Kate Hoey:
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis tells me that the estimated cost of the enhanced high visibility policing provided to reassure the public, in particular, in policing in areas populated or frequented by all known minority groups, as part of the measures to combat the recent nail bombings, is £1,435,144. The figures do not include policing of the bomb scenes themselves.
These policing operations were of the character for which the funding of the Metropolitan Police already provides.
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