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Further Education

Mrs. Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average length of a post vacancy for a further education college lecturer in England; and how many posts are vacant in further education colleges in England. [124176]

Mr. Wicks: Each college in the further education sector is responsible for the recruitment of its staff. Information on vacancies and the duration of posts for further education lecturers in England is not held centrally.

Mrs. Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the reasons why the further education sector has been excluded from the South-West transition group for the local learning and skills councils; and if this is the case in other regions. [124174]

Mr. Wicks: The role of the South West task groups is to collect information from current funding bodies (such as TECs, FEFC, and local education authorities) on the range and volume of provision currently being funded in each Learning and Skills Council area. The aim is to ensure that sufficient funds will be available in each area to at least maintain current levels of provision and to avoid any disruption to learners from the introduction of the new arrangements.

There is no requirement for further education colleges to be represented on task groups since they are not funding bodies. However, a representative of the Association of Colleges is a member of the Regional Transition Steering Group, which oversees the transition to the new arrangements in the South West. Similar arrangements apply in other regions.

National Curriculum (History)

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if the textbook entitled Minds and Machines--Britain 1750-1900, published by Longman, is an approved text for Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum. [122348]

Jacqui Smith: It has always been for governing bodies and teachers to decide which books best meet the requirements of the National Curriculum in their school. In history at Key Stage 3, the curriculum requires the study of Britain 1750-1900 including how worldwide expansion, industrialisation and political developments combined to shape modern Britain.

Child Care

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what has been the annual cost of the National Child Care Strategy to date; and what his estimate is of the annual impact of this policy on the provision of child care places in each year since its establishment and in 2000-01. [122530]

Ms Hodge [holding answer 16 May 2000]: The annual costs of the National Child Care Strategy in England and related new child care places are as follows:

In 1998-99 £46 million was spent and 66,000 new child care places were created; this includes £5 million to the Further Education Funding Council who created 11,000 places for students in Further Education.

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In 1999-2000 a total of £58.25 million was spent, £17 million of which was from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) on out of school hours care, and £5 million was through the Further Education Funding Council on places for 0-4 year olds. Forecasts indicate that at the end of March 2000, 120,000 new places will have been created; this includes 5,000 through the FEFC.

In 2000-2001 £63 million has been allocated to provide 135,000 new child care places; this includes £5 million for FEFC to provide 5,000 new places for 0-4 year olds. NOF do not allocate resources on an annual basis as this is a rolling programme, but £170 million is available from 1999-2003 to support the creation of new out of school places.

Unemployment Benefit

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many claimants were refused unemployment benefit because they declined to take an available job in 1997, 1998 and 1999. [122389]

Ms Jowell [holding answer 16 May 2000]: Unemployment Benefit was replaced by Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in October 1996. The following figures, which we collect on a quarterly basis within operational years, include JSA sanctions imposed as a result of jobseekers refusing offers of employment, and a small number of Unemployment Benefit disqualifications relating to refusal of employment doubts arising before JSA was introduced.

Operational year	Refusal of employment disqualifications/sanctions
1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998	22,738
1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999	11,442
1 April 1999 to 31 December 1999	13,530

Figures for the final quarter of the 1999-2000 operational year, from 1 January 2000 to 31 March 2000, have not yet been published. Information on the numbers and types of decisions given by Employment Service Decision Makers on JSA labour market questions are published in the "Analysis of Sector Decision Making" (formerly known as the "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions"), copies of which are held in the House of Commons Library. The figures for the quarter ending March 2000 will be published by the end of May and placed in the Library.

PGCE Courses

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to the oral statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment of 16 May 2000, Official Report, columns 252-53, how many applications for PGCE courses in secondary teaching in (a) maths, (b) modern foreign languages, (c) science and (d) technology have been received since 30 March; and how many were received in the corresponding period in the previous year. [123037]

Ms Estelle Morris: The Government announced on 30 March that training salaries would be introduced for postgraduate trainees starting initial teacher training courses from September 2000. Applications for PGCE courses in England and Wales for secondary teaching in

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maths, modern foreign languages, science and technology received since 30 March together with comparative figures for the previous year are given in the table.

	Applications from 1 April 2000 to 13 May 2000	Applications from 3 April 1999 to 15 May 1999
Mathematics	208	209
Science	467	460
Modern Languages	385	268
Technology	202	175

Note:

The above figures are for applications as entered on the GTTR computer system.

Source:

Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR).

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many applications have been received for PGCE courses in (a) primary teaching and (b) secondary teaching, broken down by subject, commencing in September 2000 according to the most recent figures available; and how many were received at the same stage the previous year for commencement in September 1999. [123052]

Ms Estelle Morris: Numbers of applications for postgraduate initial teacher training courses in England and Wales at primary level and secondary level by subject, together with comparative figures for last year are given in the following table.

	13 May 2000	15 May 1999
Primary	11,953	12,912
Mathematics	822	966
English and Drama	2,033	2,285
Science	1,838	2,060
Modern Languages	1,529	1,529
Technology	694	822
History	1,290	1,425
Geography	707	796
PE	1,392	1,313
Art	842	906
Music	416	462
RE	491	589
Other	362	452
Total Secondary	12,416	13,605
Total	24,369	26,517

Notes:

1. For the first time, applications for PGCE primary courses in 1999-2000 had a deadline of 15 December 1998 for guaranteed consideration by their first choice institution. The 15 December deadline has continued for 2000-01.

2. The above figures are for applications as entered on the GTTR computer system.

3. Primary includes Middle (Key Stage 2/3).

Source:

Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR).

The Government announced on 30 March that training salaries would be introduced for postgraduate trainees starting initial teacher training courses from September 2000. Since that date 502 (22 per cent.) more applications

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have been input on the Graduate Teacher Training Registry computer system than for the equivalent period last year.

Public Bodies (Relocation)

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and local public spending bodies for which his Department is responsible that (a) have been transferred since 1992 and (b) are planned to be transferred (i) to and (ii) from the Northern Region. [123409]

Mr. Wills: There has not been any transfer of executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies or local public spending bodies for which the Department is responsible to, or from, the Northern Region since 1992. Similarly, there are no plans for any transfer.

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