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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 28 March 2000
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Asylum Seekers (Children)
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make arrangements to ensure that the children of political asylum seekers attend pre-school facilities; and what the cost of that would be to public funds. [116535]
Jacqui Smith: Local education authorities already have a legal duty to ensure that all eligible four-year-olds, including children of asylum seekers, are entitled to a free part-time place in any registered pre-school setting. In addition, from April 2000, all local education authorities will receive funding to provide a free early education place to the most needy three-year-old children in their area. It is up to local education authorities to set their own criteria of social need which may include providing places to children of asylum seekers.
Local education authorities receive funding from this Department for the provision of pre-school places in the form of a nursery education grant which is £1,130 per child per year for each eligible three and four-year-old child.
It is not possible to calculate the overall cost of pre- school education for children of asylum seekers, as separate records are not kept.
Mr. Gray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what provision has been made for the funding of the teachers' threshold pay rise after the first two years. [116528]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Provision for teachers' pay beyond March 2002 falls into the next spending period and will be taken into account along with other factors when deciding future funding levels for education.
Mr. Gray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on funding for schools in respect of post-16 education reforms. [116527]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The £35 million that the Government have identified as the cost to LEAs in 2000-01 of implementing its post-16 curriculum reforms was added to Education Standard Spending (ESS) for that year. It is for local education authorities to decide how much funding to allocate through their individual schools budget to each of their schools to allow them to implement the reforms successfully. In addition, schools will receive £290 million in special grant for 2000-01. Secondary schools will receive between £30,000 and
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£50,000, depending on their size. This funding will be part of their delegated budgets: those with sixth forms will therefore be able to use it if they wish to supplement funding received through their local authority's allocation formula to implement the post-16 reforms.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers have been dismissed under the fast-track provisions. [116091]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Teacher dismissals are not recorded centrally. The National Employers' Organisation for School Teachers have carried out a survey of LEAs in England and Wales on the use of the new capability procedures for teachers which have now been incorporated in most schools. The survey collected responses from 116 LEAs (68 per cent.) for three school terms ending with the spring term 1999 and suggests that for all LEAs over 3,000 teachers had been subject to some form of capability review during the year, with over 600 dismissals under the new procedure. In addition, 194 teachers showed sufficient improvement and a further 439 cases are currently being processed. Work continues on monitoring and reviewing practice in schools and LEAs and the Secretary of State will be issuing further guidance for schools on staff capability after further consultation.
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what actions he will take in connection with the Prime Minister's recent internet initiative to forward the interests of disabled people, with particular reference to (a) access to public buildings housing internet terminals, (b) provision of sufficient large screens for those with reading difficulties, (c) availability of computers on a personal basis for rehabilitation and employment advisers and (d) the creation of a website for disabled jobseekers. [115759]
Ms Hodge
[holding answer 21 March 2000]: We are determined that people with disabilities should benefit fully from the Prime Minister's recent internet initiative, particularly in their working lives.
Access to buildings housing internet terminals and the provision of large screen facilities intended for public use is covered by the goods and services provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The new duties on providers of goods, facilities and services to the public to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people came into force in October last year.
Many of the Department's services used by people with disabilities are provided through the Employment Service. Its services are designed to meet the needs of all its clients, including people with disabilities. We believe that wherever possible help for disabled people should be offered as part of programmes used by a wide range of clients.
The Modernising Employment Service Programme is developing new ways in which all jobseekers can have improved access to services through information and communications technology. People with disabilities will gain from this programme. For example, the specification for the touch screen kiosk technology to be available in
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Jobcentres across the country from autumn 2001 has taken account of the needs of clients with visual impairment. The same programme will also make sure computer workstations are available in sufficient numbers to ensure that every member of ES staff will have access whenever they need it.
The Employment Service will continue to upgrade the information it provides on services used by jobseekers with disabilities on the Employment Service website. This includes information about the Access to Work programme and other specialist measures, as well as links to the DfEE Disability page at www.disability.gov.uk. The Employment Service plans to make improvements which will make their website even more user friendly.
Large screen technologies and other forms of help will continue to be available under the Access to Work programme when needed for employment.
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Mr. Berry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will break down the numbers of people whose level of Access to Work support last year fell into the bands (a) £0 to £1,000, (b) £1,000 to £5,000, (c) £5,001 to £10,000 and (d) more than £10,000. [115519]
Ms Hodge:
The Employment Service does not collect information on Access to Work in the form requested. Access to Work has no upper or lower limit for support and applications fall within all the bands listed, including more than £10,000.
In 1998-99, £19.5 million was spent helping 16,000 disabled people in employment. The average cost of support was £1,200.
The following table gives a breakdown of the spend and numbers helped through the various elements of Access to Work during 1998-99:
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| Type of help | Spend (£) | Number helped | Average cost (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special aids and equipment | 9 million | 10,000 | 900 |
| Travel to work | 5.4 million | 4,500 | 1,200 |
| Support workers | 4.2 million | 3,000 | 1,400 |
| Adaptations to premises or equipment | 0.7 million | 400 | 1,750 |
| Communicator support at interview | 66,000 | 600 | 110 |
| Miscellaneous support (not covered above) | 300,000 | 550 | 545 |
Note:
Some disabled people receive more than one type of support
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Education Action Zones
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for further rounds of education action zones. [116082]
Ms Estelle Morris: There are currently 73 large education action zones already running or in development and another 42 small education action zones will start in Excellence in Cities areas by September. In addition, as part of the expansion of Excellence in Cities announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 23 March, there are likely to be further small education action zones established next year.
Community Action Programme (Discrimination)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of the Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination 2000-06. [115621]
Ms Hodge: The Government fully support the principle of an Action Programme to complement legislative proposals under Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which TECs (a) have and (b) have not published audited accounts for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99. [116306]
Mr. Wicks:
My Department holds copies of the audited statutory accounts for all 72 TECs in England for these years. Copies have also been placed in the House of Commons Library.
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