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Organ Transplants
Q6. [87751] Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon): What plans he has to increase the number of organ transplants taking place in the United Kingdom.
The Deputy Prime Minister: About 2,800 organs are transplanted each year, but currently more than 5,000
people are awaiting transplants. We are keen to improve donation rates. We are taking steps to increase public awareness, such as through the organ donor campaign, which was launched in October 1998. We want donors to carry their donor cards and, most importantly, to make their wishes known to their families. That is a matter of particular concern. We are developing another important campaign to inform the medical profession about best practice in dealing sensitively with organ donors and their families.
Dr. Harris: Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware that the figures that I have obtained today show that the situation is getting worse? The number of terminally or critically ill people on a waiting list for a transplant has risen significantly, while the number of lifesaving transplants in 1998 dropped by 7 per cent. Is he aware that the current confusion in the law means that those who have given notice of their wish to donate and save a life and whose organs subsequently become available run a 30 per cent. risk of those wishes being vetoed by distraught or bereaved relatives, who should never be placed in that position?
Finally, if the British Medical Association votes next Thursday to support a move to an opt-out system of presumed consent, as has been introduced successfully in Europe, will the Government look seriously at reviewing the situation with a view to implementing such a proposal?
The Deputy Prime Minister:
I am aware that the hon. Gentleman has written to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister today making many of those points. I have seen the correspondence and I am sure that my right hon. Friend will respond. Overruling relatives' wishes is very difficult in practice, however many of us may feel about the issue. However, refusal is almost unknown when relatives know that their loved one wished to donate. That is why our current publicity stresses the need to "let your family know your wishes". I am sure that the hon. Gentleman agrees with that.
I gather that the subject is to be debated at the BMA's annual general meeting. Opinion in the medical profession is divided. Ministers have continually said that we shall consider all suggestions for improving transplant rates, but any proposed measures in that sensitive area will have to command public confidence and support. On a more personal note, when I saw the question I asked myself the same thing. I have always been in support of a donor scheme, but I am not registered and I shall correct that tomorrow.
Q7. [87752] Mr. Keith Simpson (Mid-Norfolk):
Yesterday, the junior Home Office Minister blamed the public for the queues outside the passport office. Does the Deputy Prime Minister support the junior Minister's statement?
The Deputy Prime Minister:
Anyone who attended yesterday's debate or read any of the press reports will be well aware that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary took full responsibility. I know that it was rather unusual under the previous Administration for a Secretary of State to accept responsibility. My right hon. Friend accepts the responsibility and he is getting on with the job to ensure that the problem is settled.
Q8. [87753] Mr. Phil Sawford (Kettering):
Is my hon. Friend aware that bus drivers and former bus drivers in my constituency and throughout the country very much welcome the action that this Government have taken to restore £355 million to their pension fund--money that was taken from them by the previous Government?
The Deputy Prime Minister:
Yes, it is another problem from the previous Administration that I have had to deal with. With all the demands for resources to be invested in transport, finding that I have to foot the bill for an incompetent Government who robbed the pensions of the National Bus Company, and having to repay the £355 million, is an indictment of a Government who were constantly robbing pensioners one way or another. I am pleased that I have been able to settle the matter, find the compensation and bring social justice to the pensioners of the National Bus Company.
Mr. William Ross (East Londonderry):
As the Deputy Prime Minister said earlier that he was in favour of open government, will he take steps to ensure that when General de Chastelain publishes his report--perhaps later today, or tomorrow--we shall also have sight of the copy that he had yesterday?
The Deputy Prime Minister:
Those are indeed matters for negotiation, as the hon. Gentleman knows. I hope to see a peaceful agreement in Northern Ireland, and I hope that all matters of free and open information should be available as much as possible--[Hon. Members: "Yes or no?"] In this case, it is a matter for consideration.
Post-16 Training
3.30 pm
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett): With permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a statement on the Government's proposals for education, skills and lifelong learning in England. I thank my ministerial colleagues and officials for the work that they have done with me on the White Paper.
Earlier this year I announced a review, and consultation resulted in substantial support for radical change. It is clear that a highly skilled work force is essential for prosperity and social cohesion in the next century, that the existing post-16 system is inadequate for that purpose, that staying-on rates remain too low, and that standards are too variable and are unacceptably low in many areas. There is too little clarity, co-ordination and coherence between further education and training, and there is too much duplication and too many layers in the contracting and funding system.
In view of the need to plan for such major change, we have set out an illustrative timetable--subject, of course, to legislation. Today, I commend to the House our new White Paper "Learning to Succeed", the draft transitional plan that accompanies it, our consultation paper on the future of sixth-form funding, and the parallel consultation on the Small Business Service announced today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
We set out proposals which support the tripartite responsibility of employers, learners and Government. We need to ensure that we have high standards in further education and training, effective planning and funding, and the delivery of national targets. I wish to build on what has worked best and improve dramatically what has not.
Those in further education, training and enterprise councils and the careers service have done a good job; many have given their time freely, and I thank them for that. The local learning partnerships that I announced last autumn are developing a powerful role in bringing together providers and broader interests. Those will continue.
Today, we propose a new national learning and skills council to respond to the weaknesses that we have identified. The council will be responsible for the learning provided to more than 5 million students over the age of 16, funded by about £5 billion of public money each year. The council will bring together the role of the training and enterprise councils and the Further Education Funding Council in funding and contracting for training. It will have separate committees focusing on the needs of 16 to 19-year-olds and of adult learners, ensuring that both are addressed thoroughly.
We need greater coherence to meet the needs of students, trainees and employers. Our proposed new local learning and skills councils will take responsibility for all post-16 learning, from developing basic skills through community learning to the funding of high-level training and for promoting work force development. They will work in partnership with both the new regional development agencies and the existing local learning partnerships.
Each local council will cover a travel-to-learn and travel-to-work area. They will work alongside the local arms of the Small Business Service and co-operate with them and with local authorities on economic development and meeting labour market needs. The new arrangements will cut through duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, with a saving of at least £50 million a year to fund the needs of learners.
Employers and the nation need skilled, adaptable men and women in order to stay competitive in the modern economy. It is vital that our new arrangements meet employers' needs and engage them in shaping and influencing the range of post-16 provision. That is why, both nationally and locally, employers will have the largest single input in the new learning and skills councils. Trade unions, local government and the service users will be fully represented. I hope that those from small as well as large businesses will work with us to help to determine a budget five times larger than that administered by TECs. Our goal is a funding system that responds to the needs of learners rather than institutions and that encourages greater participation and achievement.
Individual learning accounts, the university for industry and new incentives through the tax system will make learning more accessible. I also want higher standards and greater choice for over-16s through more co-operation between school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges and further education. Such co-operation already exists in certain areas. Both schools and colleges play a central role in the education of 16 to 19-year-olds.
We intend to promote high standards across all providers, but there are different levels of funding for 16 to 19-year-olds depending on which institution they attend. That is why the Further Education Funding Council announced last week significant improvements in the funding of colleges for those taking three A-levels. Over a period, we want to develop the principle of equivalent funding for equivalent courses. We will guarantee that present levels of funding for any school sixth form are at least maintained in real terms, provided that student numbers do not fall.
Our focus is on improved standards, increased probity and renewed emphasis on quality. Over the past two years, the Further Education Funding Council and training inspectorates have identified and tackled the weaknesses in poorly performing further education and training providers. We want to introduce greater rigour and coherence, so we will create a new adult learning inspectorate to deal with all post-19 education and training, with responsibility for inspection of work-based training for students of any age. Ofsted will be responsible for the inspection of provision for 16 to 19-year-olds in schools and colleges. The two inspectorates will work together on the inspection of colleges for that age group.
The support and guidance that young people receive is vital to their future. In the White Paper we outline a programme called "Connexions", which is designed to address the needs of young people. We propose a new youth support service to modernise and reform the careers service and improve links with the youth service: a new gateway to work and learning. We will publish further details, alongside the report from the social exclusion unit, shortly.
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