You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Written Answers
Previous Section Index Home Page

Press Officers

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many Press Officers were in post in his Department in (a) May 1997 and (b) May 2000. [121954]

Mr. Wills [holding answer 12 May 2000]: At the beginning of May 1997 there were 20 Press Officers in post at the Department for Education and Employment, serving six Ministers. There are currently 27 Press Officers in post, serving eight Ministers.

School Inspections

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what assessment was made of the ability of Salter Baker Associates (Education) Ltd. to meet Ofsted's quality assurance standards following an audit of the company in summer 1999; and what was the date of the assessment; [121791]

Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 15 May 2000]: These are matters for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, Chris Woodhead. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.

Connexions Service

Ms Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the locations of the pilot projects for the Connexions Service; and if he will make a statement. [120848]

Mr. Wicks: I am pleased to announce the extension of the Connexions Service pilots. New pilots are to be established in Durham, Hertfordshire, Central London, Oldham, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, and at the

16 May 2000 : Column: 103W

Huntercombe Young Offenders Institution in Oxfordshire. These are additional to the pilots announced by the Secretary of State on 3 February.

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 19 April 2000, Official Report, column 563W, on Connexions, how many persons are employed in the National Unit of the Connexions Service in (a) London, (b) Sheffield and (c) elsewhere; how many of them are from (i) Government Departments, (ii) youth and voluntary work and (iii) the private sector; and what is the timetable for employing more persons in the National Unit. [122473]

Mr. Wicks: The structure of the Connexions National Unit will be for the new Chief Executive to determine. We expect a new Chief Executive to take up post and make decisions on the staffing complement of the National Unit by late summer.

Youth Services (Wandsworth)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much money was spent by his Department on youth services in the London Borough of Wandsworth in the last year for which figures are available. [122388]

Mr. Wicks: My Department does not fund Wandsworth's youth service. Youth service funding is provided centrally from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to each local authority. In 1997-98, the latest confirmed figures taken from the local authority returns (RO1), Wandsworth spent £2,958,000 on its youth service.

Learning Gateway

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of the 16 and 17-year-olds in the Learning Gateway have entered learning and training. [122349]

Mr. Wicks: The Learning Gateway provides a client-centred approach, based on one-to-one support from a Personal Adviser, for 16 and 17-year-olds who have drifted away from learning and need additional help to enter mainstream learning opportunities. The Learning Gateway was introduced in September 1999. At the end of March 2000, some 17,500 young people had joined and over 11,000 were still on it. Around 3,500 (60 per cent. of leavers) were known to have progressed to a mainstream education or training opportunity or found a job--an encouraging start for a new initiative dealing with a particularly disadvantaged client group. The Learning Gateway has a key role to play in the development of the Connexions Service--the new youth support service for 13 to 19-year-olds, which will be phased in from April 2001.

TREASURY

Tobacco Taxation

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money he expects the increased tobacco taxation to raise for expenditure on the NHS in the next three

16 May 2000 : Column: 104W

financial years; and if his expenditure projections for the NHS will be sustained irrespective of the yield from tobacco taxation. [120609]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 2 May 2000]: Table A.13 in the Financial Statement and Budget Report gives the projected Exchequer yields from the 5 per cent. real increase in tobacco duty announced in Budget 2000. The Budget 2000 expenditure projections for the NHS are from plans which the Government will deliver.

Funding (Wales)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what representations he has received from the National Assembly for Wales in relation to Objective 1 match funding and the Comprehensive Spending Review; [121736]

Mr. Andrew Smith: There have been a number of representations on the 2000 spending review and Objective 1 funding. The implications for the Welsh block arising from Objective 1 funding are currently being considered as part of the Government's Spending Review which is now under way.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he received from the National Assembly for Wales in relation to this year's Comprehensive Spending Review. [121735]

Mr. Andrew Smith: A number of representations have been received in relation to the 2000 spending review. The outcome of the review will be announced in due course.

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make available to the National Assembly for Wales, for capital expenditure projects in the industrial and social infrastructure, a population-based share of the sum the Treasury receives as a result of the sale of mobile telephone franchises. [121924]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The receipts from the sale of mobile phone licenses are a UK resource which will be used to reduce net debt. The resulting reduction in the burden of public debt will benefit all parts of the UK for many years to come.

Debt Relief

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Government are taking to ensure that the cancellation of third world debt is on the agenda at the G8 Summit in Okinawa. [121766]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have informed the Japanese Presidency of the G7/8 that we would like to use the opportunity of the Okinawa summit, and the meetings of G7 Finance Ministers running up to the summit, to review and encourage progress on the debt relief initiatives.

16 May 2000 : Column: 105W

Penalty Clauses

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the contracts entered into with private sector companies for the provision of goods or services since May 1997 where penalty clauses were triggered for non-performance; and if he will make a statement. [122018]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Since May 1997, the Treasury has not had a contract that has triggered liquidated damages/penalty clauses.

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how he intends to ensure that the climate change levy is revenue neutral in the long term for those industries and individual companies to which it is to be applied; and if he will make a statement. [122126]

Mr. Timms: As the Chancellor stated when the climate change levy was first proposed, the levy package is designed to be revenue neutral for the private sector. Moreover, the levy package is expected to be broadly neutral between services and manufacturing, in that the Government expect manufacturing and services each to pay broadly as much in the levy as they get back via the 0.3 per cent. NICs reduction and the additional support for energy efficiency measures. The Government do not intend to make the levy revenue neutral for each firm or sector, however. As Lord Marshall stated in his report "Economic Instruments and the Business Use of Energy", the design of the levy should ensure


As with excise duties, the Government expect that the rates of the levy will keep pace with inflation over time. The value of the NIC reductions to business is also expected to increase over time.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to make an early announcement of financial incentives for the emissions trading scheme for firms taking on binding emissions targets as part of the climate change levy; and if he will make a statement. [122125]

Mr. Timms: Emissions trading will provide a flexible way in which sectors involved in negotiated agreements as part of the climate change levy can meet their individual energy efficiency targets.

In addition, the Government are working closely with the business-led UK Emissions Trading Group (ETG) on the development of a wider emissions trading scheme, and have said that they see merit in the case put forward by the ETG that some form of financial incentive will be required for companies to take on binding emission targets that generate additional emission reductions. Issues being addressed include the links between the wider trading scheme and the negotiated agreements; and the form a financial incentive might take. Further announcements will depend on the progress the ETG and the Government can make in dealing with these outstanding issues.

16 May 2000 : Column: 106W

Next Section Index Home Page