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Internal Communications Advisers
Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many internal communications advisers are to be recruited by his Department; what is their (a) minimum and (b) maximum starting salary; and if he will make a statement. [112520]
Mr. Straw: Ten Internal Communication Advisers are to be recruited by the Home Office.
They will be Grade 7 appointments with a minimum starting salary of £29,777 and a maximum starting salary of £46,112.
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Miss Widdecombe:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the functions of his Department's Internal Communications Advisers. [112521]
Mr. Straw:
The functions of the Internal Communication Advisers are to:
(i) support the modernisation programme and business change within individual Directorates and Agencies in the Home Office;
(ii) tailor the Home Office internal communication strategy for a specified Directorate or Agency incorporating best industry practice;
(iii) support the implementation of the Home Office Internal Communication strategy, working as part of a team of Internal Communication Advisers within the Home Office;
(iv) develop the key communication skills of senior managers and managers within Home Office Directorates and Agencies, making full use of in-house and external agency expertise;
(v) ensure local communication activities are co-ordinated with other communication activities across the whole Home Office by working via the Head of Internal Communication; and
(vi) develop and manage mechanisms to gather feedback, such as surveys and focus groups.
General Pinochet
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on the medical condition of General Pinochet since 16 February; and if he will place copies of them in the Library. [112695]
Mr. Straw: I have received various representations which I intend to place in the Library when I have secured the agreement of the requesting states which have provided them.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Departmental Staff
Mr. Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of his Department's staff were (a) registered disabled, (b) women, (c) from ethnic minorities and (d) from (i) independent, (ii) grammar and (iii) other schools in (1) 1970, (2) 1979, (3) 1989 and (4) 1999. [106762]
Mr. Wills: Details of the percentage of the Department's staff who were registered disabled, women and from ethnic minorities in 1999 are given below and comprise staff in DfEE Head Office sites, the Employment Service and DfEE staff working in the Government Office network. The figures for permanent and temporary (casual) staff are shown separately.
- Permanent staff
- There were a total of 36,934 permanent staff employed in DfEE at 1 April 1999 of whom:
- 1,933 had declared a disability, which is equal to 5.4 per cent. of the total number
- 27,296 were women, which is equal to 73.9 per cent. of the total number
- 2,317 were known to be from an ethnic minority background, which is equal to 6.3 per cent. of the total number.
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- Temporary (casual) staff
- There were a total of 3,539 temporary (casual) staff employed in DfEE at 1 April 1999 of whom:
- 52 had declared a disability, which is equal to 1.5 per cent. of the total number
- 2,279 were women, which is equal to 64 per cent of the total number
- 102 were known to be from an ethnic minority background, which is equal to 2.9 per cent. of the total number.
The provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995, replace the former quota scheme, the designated employment scheme and the requirement to register as a disabled person. Instead, individuals may now voluntarily declare a disability under the definitions contained in the Act; this is the basis for the information given.
DfEE (in line with the Commission for Racial Equality guidelines) asks staff to voluntarily declare their ethnicity in order to monitor progress against its Equal Opportunities Action Plan. The figures reflect the position for those who have provided this information. We are unable to supply details of the percentage of the Department's staff who were registered disabled, women and from ethnic minorities in 1970, 1979 or 1989, nor statistical information on the type of school attended by staff. This is for the following two reasons:
The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) came into existence in 1995, following Machinery of Government changes. The records retained for predecessor departments are limited and incomplete and are insufficient to provide the information requested for the three years in question. Neither does DfEE (nor did its predecessor departments) hold information centrally on the type of secondary school attended by its staff. Individual records hold the name, but not the classification, of the school.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in each of the last five years, what proportion of women employees in (i) his Department and (ii) executive agencies under the control of his Department (a) returned to work after childbirth, (b) returned to work after childbirth before the end of maternity leave, indicating the (1) time-range and (2) mean time, (c) returned to work after childbirth on reduced working hours, indicating the average hours worked and (d) returned to work after childbirth full-time and subsequently reduced their hours. [108967]
Mr. Wills:
We are unable to answer all elements of the question because the information needed could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, details of the proportion of women employees in DfEE (which includes DfEE staff in Government Offices) and ES, who returned to work after childbirth in each of the last five years (part (a) of the question), is shown in the following table. The figures for 1995 include, from January to July, women in the former Department for Education and Employment Department Group who transferred to DfEE following Machinery of Government change in July 1995.
The figures are expressed as a percentage of the total number who completed maternity leave in each of the years shown.
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| Total number taking maternity leave | Percentage returning to work | |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,644 | 99.9 |
| 1996 | 1,641 | 98.1 |
| 1997 | 1,338 | 99.3 |
| 1998 | 1,099 | 100.0 |
| 1999 | 970 | 99.8 |
New Deal
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much has been spent to date on the New Deal for the long-term unemployed aged 18 to 24 years. [107437]
Ms Jowell [holding answer 28 January 2000]: Since its start in 1998, to the end of December 1999, £550.8 million has been spent on the New Deal for young people. Expenditure on the New Deal is planned over the lifetime of this Parliament; any unspent resource in one year is therefore available in future years. Independent research published last year indicates that the impact on the economy of the New Deal for young people is likely to be of a sufficient scale to largely offset the cost of the programme.
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment the Government have made of the level of retention in employment of those on the New Deal employment option; and if he will make a statement. [109282]
Ms Jowell: Of the 24,670 young people who joined the employer option before October 1999, 80 per cent. remained on the option for at least 13 weeks.
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact of each New Deal scheme on unemployment in Cumbria. [109286]
Ms Jowell: In the period ending December 1999, 2,245 young people in Cumbria had found employment through the New Deal for Young People. Over the last two years, the numbers of 18 to 24-year-olds unemployed for six months or more has fallen by 74 per cent.
Similarly, in the period ending December 1999, 506 people in Cumbria had found employment through the New Deal for long term unemployed adults aged 25 or over. In the period July 1998 to December 1999, the numbers of adults aged 25 or over unemployed for at least two years fell by 41 per cent.
These results demonstrate the positive impact the New Deal has on long term unemployed people of all ages.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate the Government have made of the cost to businesses of participating in the New Deal in (a) the UK as a whole and (b) Cumbria. [109285]
Ms Jowell:
There is a comprehensive programme of evaluation of New Deal underway, which includes qualitative and quantitative research with employers at a national level. A report on the survey is due to be published around the end of July 2000.
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