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New Deal (Ethnic Minorities)
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the impact of the New Deal on ethnic minorities. [110592]
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Ms Jowell
[holding answer 22 February 2000]: We have set a target that all New Deal partnerships achieve parity of job outcomes between ethnic minority and white clients by the end of this Parliament. We recognise the additional disadvantages which can be faced by ethnic minority jobseekers and that is why the Employment Service is working so closely with key organisations such as the Commission for Racial Equality, Local Race Equality Councils and community groups in this important area of work.
At the end of November 1999, we know that nearly 20,000 young people from ethnic minorities had gone into work from the New Deal for young people. 13,700 had benefited from training and work experience under the New Deal options. At present, the New Deal appears to be doing less well in helping young people from ethnic minorities in obtaining jobs than young white people, although much of the discrepancy may be in part due to less complete destination data for ethnic minority leavers and from variation in performance between delivery areas. They are, however, leaving the Gateway more quickly and are slightly less likely to return to JSA after finding employment. We also assess the performance of different ethnic minority groups and are aware of the variations in outcomes between the groups. For example, we know that those of Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese origin are closer to achieving equality of job outcomes with white participants than are Black-African participants.
The table shows jobs as a percentage of New Deal starts for each ethnic grouping.
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| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| White | 48 |
| Black Caribbean | 36 |
| Black African | 30 |
| Black Other | 38 |
| Indian | 43 |
| Pakistani | 37 |
| Bangladeshi | 40 |
| Chinese | 36 |
| Other | 35 |
There is a feature article on New Deal and ethnic minority participants in the February edition of Labour Market Trends that sets out in more detail the findings of experience so far.
Socrates Programme
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on (a) participation in, (b) the costs to United Kingdom and European funds and (c) the educational benefits of the first Socrates programme; and what his plans are for the second Socrates programme. [116017]
Ms Jowell [holding answer 23 March 2000]: The first phase of the EU Education action programme Socrates ran from 1995 to 1999. During that period some 920 million euros were available for activities across the European Union, many of which will continue until the end of this academic year.
Participation
In the UK, during academic year 1997-98, the latest year for which figures are available, the following were funded:
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Costs
The average annual cost to the UK is 28 million euros. Incoming grants total 25 million euros.
Educational benefits
All participants have built and strengthened links with colleagues in other participating countries. Many institutions have gained access to, and developed, innovative training materials and methods. Individual participants have gained an appreciation of each others' cultures and working practices, have developed communication, new technology and other core skills and have improved their employability and confidence levels.
Plans for the new programme
The total budget for the second phase of the programme is 1.85 million euros for the seven years from 2000 to 2006. Priorities and budget allocations for the new programme for the year 2000 are currently under discussion in the Socrates programme management committee. During the course of these discussions the UK will use its best endeavours to ensure that the priorities set for the programme are compatible with the UK's domestic policy agenda for each of the education sectors the programme serves.
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list for (a) England and (b) each local education authority in Hampshire the number of three-year-olds with free early years education places providing five or more sessions of education per week in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) each year from 1992 to 1999. [115964]
Ms Hodge
[holding answer 23 March 2000]: The latest available January census information on three- year-olds educated in maintained schools is shown in the following table.
Places for 46,000 children have been created in 64 local authorities with the greatest social need, from the £40 million Nursery Education Grant made available during 1999-2000. Expenditure of £390 million is being made available over the three financial years 1999-2000 to 2001-02 to increase by 190,000 the number of new, free, good quality, early education places for three- year-olds. The priority is to reach those three-year-olds in social need who could most benefit from a free nursery place.
Information on three-year-olds educated in maintained schools for January 2000 is currently being collected as are the actual figures for three-year-old places created in the private and voluntary sector from September 1999 onwards. Provisional estimates of both sets of figures are expected to be published in a Statistical First Release in May.
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1,108 school partnership projects; 323 school preparatory visits; 161 teacher training projects; 655 teachers took part in language training abroad; 80 UK teacher trainees took up language assistant posts in other European countries; 166 Higher education institutions took part; 10,592 students studied in another country; 10 Adult Education projects and nine Open and Distance Learning projects were funded; and 159 policy study visits were made to another country.
In the EU, throughout the period of the first phase, the European Commission estimates that nearly half a million students received grants for an integrated period of study in another European country under the Erasmus action; over 50,000 teachers in higher education undertook teaching assignments at higher education institutions in another European country; over 10,000 schools were involved in joint projects (a great many of them involving UK schools); and around 150,000 young people were involved in joint activities.
(5) Ages as at start of academic year (31 August)
(6) Includes maintained nursery, primary and special schools
(7) Local education authority areas created after the Local Government Re-organisation in April 1997
(8) Before the Local Government Re-organisation in April 1997
(9) Not applicable for that year
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