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Age Diversity in Employment

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the outcome of his Department's consultation with heads of employment tribunals about the legal status of the Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment. [95951]

Ms Jowell: The consultation confirmed that as the Code is non-statutory it cannot be used as the basis of a legal decision. It may, in time, though, help inform the thinking of Employment Tribunals on what constitutes "reasonable behaviour". That will, however, be a matter for the Tribunals themselves.

Higher Education

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many higher education places remain unfilled at the start of the academic year. [95725]

Mr. Wicks: Student number targets are set by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) each year covering home and EU students (whether fundable by HEFCE or not) who are on full-time or sandwich courses, or on courses of initial teacher training (ITT). For 1998 these targets were broadly met in aggregate at the sector level. Equivalent figures are not yet available for 1999.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students he estimates are entering higher education in the current year; and if he will make a statement on trends relative to the last three years. [95724]

Mr. Wicks: The latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that, as at 13 October, the number of UK domiciled applicants accepted for entry to full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses was 247,318, which represents an increase of 2 per cent. compared to 1998. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which cover both full-time and part-time students, show that undergraduate recruitment has held up over the last three years.

Employment Service

Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the additional number of staff required in the Employment Service if unemployed claimants had to register every day; and what would be the cost in a full year of employing such staff. [95656]

Ms Jowell: 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.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 810

Letter from Richard Foster to Mr. Hilary Benn, dated 25 October 1999:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked Leigh Lewis to reply to your question concerning the additional staff numbers and costs that would be required should daily registration be required from unemployed claimants. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mr. Lewis as Chief Executive of the Agency. I am replying in his absence.

Using the current live headline unemployment level of 1.2m along with staffing assumptions for current registration activities, the total additional staff numbers required to manage the daily registration would be approximately 25,000 at a cost of £400m in a full year.

I hope this is helpful.

TECs

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what discussions he has had with the Chairman of the TECs regarding their contribution to a legal fighting fund to challenge the Governments' proposals on the use of their reserves and assets when they are wound up. [95413]

Mr. Wicks: We are aware that the TEC National Council (TNC) has been taking legal advice on behalf of TECs. Officials and the Department's legal advisers have met the TNC on a without prejudice basis to discuss the legal aspects and implications around the termination of the Licence. We have also made it absolutely clear to TEC Chairmen and Boards that we expect TECs to work with us to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements and that resources are used effectively and efficiently for the benefit of learners, businesses and local communities.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the reserves and assets of each TEC indicating those moneys which came from (a) public and (b) private sources. [95414]

Mr. Wicks: The following table sets out the reserves of each TEC in England based upon information drawn from the companies' audited statutory accounts for 1998-99. The table splits the reserves into those which TECs believe attributable to funds derived from payments made by the Secretaries of State and those attributable to funds from other sources. Reserves include all assets less any liabilities of TECs. We are currently discussing with TECs the basis on which non attributable reserves have been calculated.

Split of TEC reserves 1998-99

			£
TECs	Attributable to SoS	Attributable to other	Total reserves
Hampshire	6,156,000	--	6,156,000
Wight	1,040,094	--	1,040,094
Kent	4,364,691	1,079	4,363,612
Milton Keynes	1,372,558	303,262	1,675,820
Heart of England	1,902,407	361,068	2,263,475
Surrey	2,022,318	740,914	2,763,232
Sussex	4,578,000	199,000	4,777,000
Thames Valley	6,808,754	265,010	7,073,764
South East Total	28,244,822	1,868,175	30,112,997
AZTEC	3,299,489	--	3,299,489
FOCUS	3,830,000	1,316,000	5,146,000
LeTEC	5,215,737	795,472	6,011,209
North London	1,786,468	804,977	2,591,445
North West London	2,691,411	137,608	2,829,019
SOLOTEC(5)	3,971,000	886,000	4,857,000
West London	3,085,429	207,000	3,292,429
London Total	23,879,534	4,147,057	28,026,591
WESTEC(5)	4,213,000	10,000	4,223,000
Prosper	6,298,000	--	6,298,000
Dorset	3,141,418	--	3,141,418
Gloucester	1,806,252	1,092,191	2,898,443
Somerset	2,877,938	76,965	2,954,903
Wiltshire	2,650,552	--	2,650,552
South West Total	20,987,160	1,179,156	22,166,316
Birmingham	6,440,000	2,548,000	8,988,000
Cov/War	1,545,060	2,029,898	3,574,958
Dudley	2,159,637	84,000	2,243,637
HAWTEC	1,334,449	1,478,014	2,812,463
Sandwell	1,872,568	276,500	2,149,068
Shropshire	2,910,359	1,161,773	4,072,132
Staffordshire	4,773,000	224,000	4,997,000
Walsall	1,075,097	200,000	1,275,097
Wolverhampton	1,611,000	124,000	1,735,000
West Midlands Total	23,721,170	8,126,185	31,847,355
Greater Nottingham	3,573,000	788,000	4,361,000
Leicester	2,509,113	638,834	3,147,947
Lincoln	1,083,140	2,281,073	3,364,213
Northamptonshire	4,736,401	--	4,736,401
North Derby	1,157,063	420,001	1,577,064
North Nottingham	2,228,163	--	2,228,163
South Derby	3,322,000	861,000	4,183,000
East Midlands Total	18,608,880	4,988,908	23,597,788
Bedford	790,696	527,536	1,318,232
Cambs TEC	1,285,874	--	1,285,874
Essex	8,090,000	355,000	8,445,000
Greater Peterborough	1,993,335	47,000	2,040,335
Hertfordshire	5,695,000	421,000	6,116,000
Nor/Wav	3,524,000	181,000	3,705,000
Suffolk	3,890,815	--	3,890,815
Eastern Total	25,269,720	1,531,536	26,801,256
Barnsley/Doncaster	6,653,000	102,000	6,755,000
Bradford	2,148,861	--	2,148,861
Cardles/Kirkles	1,395,743	--	1,395,743
Humber	6,069,427	--	6,069,427
Leeds	4,513,167	--	4,513,167
North Yorkshire	6,207,000	--	6,207,000
Rotherham	2,457,875	322,386	2,780,261
Sheffield	2,874,000	168,000	3,042,000
Wakefield	889,830	106,542	996,372
Yorkshire and Humberside Total	33,208,903	698,928	33,907,831
Bolton/Bury(5)	2,802,363	580,132	3,382,495
Manchester	6,891,000	2,540,132	9,431,132
Wigan	1,103,385	489,988	1,593,373
Oldham	1,364,670	214,927	1,579,597
Rochdale	1,713,582	378,740	2,092,322
South and East Cheshire	3,418,445	1,371,785	4,790,230
Stockport	2,592,458	--	2,592,458
Cumbria	1,582,954	780,752	2,309,706
ELTEC	2,349,000	673,000	3,022,000
LAWTEC	6,292,364	--	6,292,364
North and Mid Cheshire	2,727,169	--	2,727,169
CEWTEC	2,257,557	162,686	2,420,243
Mersey	5,973,222	592,745	6,565,967
St. Helens	1,299,384	82,291	1,381,675
North West Total	42,313,553	7,867,178	50,180,731
County Durham	4,956,661	--	4,956,661
Northumberland	4,423,000	1,644,000	6,067,000
Tees Valley	8,427,000	--	8,427,000
Tyneside	3,940,000	330,000	4,270,000
Sunderland	6,101,434	66,445	6,167,879
North East Total	27,848,095	2,040,445	29,888,540
Grand Total	244,081,837	32,447,568	276,529,405

(5) Audited accounts are unavailable for 1998-99 and therefore we have used consolidated 1998-99 draft statutory accounts.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 812

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps his Department is taking to monitor the use of reserves and assets of TECs in the period leading to their being wound up. [95415]

Mr. Wicks: All TECs were sent a formal notification on 13 July 1999 that their Licences would terminate on 25 March 2001. Since then, in accordance with the terms of the Licence, TECs have been required to inform Government Offices of any proposed new commitments or expenditure and must comply with all reasonable requests either to provide information or to limit expenditure. In addition, Government Offices receive regular information from TECs on their financial position and continue to monitor their financial and audit systems.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will ensure that funds commercially generated by TECs from money originally from public sources returns to the public sector. [95416]

Mr. Wicks: Under the terms of the Licence, any funds derived from payments made by the Secretaries of State for Education and Employment, for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and for Trade and Industry will return to the relevant Secretaries of State on termination of the Licence. The Secretaries of State will determine their use to ensure that Government priorities and commitments are met.

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