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WALES
Aerospace Industry
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the prospects for the aerospace industry in Wales. [126280]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I acknowledge the significant contribution that a strong aerospace industry has made to the economic life of Wales in recent years, particularly the British Aerospace Systems Airbus facility at Broughton. I hope the Government's announcement of £530 million for the A3XX project will consolidate and enhance this position.
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Industrial Development
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the First Secretary concerning requirements in Deeside for land for industrial development; and if he will make a statement. [126520]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I have regular discussions with the First Secretary about a range of topics including the availability of land for industrial development.
Through its strategic sites programme, the Welsh Development Agency seeks to identify and bring forward sites for development across the whole of Wales. The Agency has reviewed the need for additional land in North Wales, jointly with the North Wales Economic Forum, and concluded that new strategic sites are required to allow for future industrial development.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
New Deal
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what statistics about the New Deal he collects on the participation of, and outcomes for, (a) ethnic minorities, (b) men, (c) women and (d) the disabled by (i) unit of delivery and (ii) parliamentary constituency. [126811]
Ms Jowell: Information is collected separately for men and women, people with disabilities and those from ethnic minority groups, on their participation through the New Deal and outcomes from the programme. However, some of the outcome information is limited by what participants are prepared to tell us.
Unit of Delivery tables are placed monthly in the House of Commons Library and give key information by the client's characteristics. Parliamentary constituency tables are placed in the House of Commons Library quarterly. These are intended as summary documents and information is not shown separately by the client's characteristics.
School Repairs
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by local education authority, for the latest date for which figures are available, the total value of the estimates that schools have made of the sums needed for the repair of school buildings. [126847]
Jacqui Smith: The Department does not have these data. However, local education authorities are currently preparing Asset Management Plans covering all the maintained schools in their areas.
ICT Access
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps his Department is taking to increase access to ICT in deprived communities. [126114]
Mr. Wills [holding answer 20 June 2000]: We are taking forward a range of measures so that everyone can benefit from the advantages of new technologies. We are providing £252 million to fund the ICT Learning Centres
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initiative which will give people living in disadvantaged communities in England the opportunity to access the internet and ICT facilities. There will be around 700 Learning Centres which are targeted within the 2,000 most deprived local authority wards and rural areas with significant transport and deprivation problems. They will support disadvantaged client groups with low or no ICT skills.
We are also introducing a £10 million pilot project which will "wire-up" deprived communities around England. The project will provide a window into the future, assessing how home access to the internet and e-mail can transform lives in the most disadvantaged communities.
In addition, the Government are making £15 million available for a pilot scheme--"Computers Within Reach"--to enable those who cannot afford new computers to acquire reconditioned computers for use in the home for the purpose of improving their employment prospects, for lifelong learning, or for their children's homework.
The recently published report of Policy Action Team 15 looked specifically at issues relating to the role of ICT in community renewal. We will continue to work with partners and the private sector to address the issue of closing the digital divide.
Dyslexia
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people suffering from dyslexia are currently receiving (a) full-time and (b) part-time support worker time under the Access to Work Scheme. [126579]
Ms Jowell [holding answer 20 June 2000]: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. James Paice, dated 21 June 2000:
- As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding how many people with dyslexia are currently receiving (a) full time or (b) part time support worker time under the Access to Work programme. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
- I am afraid we do not collect the specific information you have asked for. However, we do collect information on the total number of disabled people needing the help of a support worker, and the total amount spent in providing this support. In 1999-2000 Access to Work helped 4,133 disabled people needing support workers in their jobs at a cost of £5.6 million. Independent research conducted for the ES and published in 1998 indicated that around 3% of people receiving Access to Work help had a specific learning disability, a category which includes people with dyslexia.
- I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful.
School Exclusions (Coventry)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils were excluded from schools in Coventry in the years 1995 to 2000; and what alternatives to exclusion his Department is developing. [126113]
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Jacqui Smith [holding answer 20 June 2000]: The available information on exclusions in maintained schools in Coventry local education authority area is shown in the table.
Exclusions data were collected in the January 2000 Annual Schools Census for the 1998-99 academic year and were published in the Department's Statistical First Release SFR20/2000 "Permanent Exclusions from Schools and Exclusion Appeals, England 1998-99 (provisional)" on 10 May 2000.
We are providing more than £500 million over three years, backed up by new guidance on 'Social Inclusion: Pupil Support', to help tackle behaviour problems in classrooms. This includes increasing the number of on-site Learning Support Units to more than 1,000 within two years to help schools better manage disruptive pupils. The 'Social Inclusion: Pupil Support' (Circular 10-99) also recommended multi-agency Pastoral Support Programmes (PSPs) for pupils at serious risk of permanent exclusion. The Department has provided funding for PSPs.
We announced at the NASUWT Conference (27 April) that there would be a new £2 million innovation fund with the voluntary sector and employers to provide innovative programmes for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. In addition, there would be a new £9 million pupil allowance scheme for secondary schools in Excellence in Cities areas which accept difficult pupils outside the normal admissions round.
| 1998-99(6) | 1997-98 | 1996-97 | 1995-96 | 1994-95(7) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coventry LEA | ||||||
| Primary | 5 | 20 | 9 | 16 | (8)-- | |
| Secondary | 105 | 101 | 94 | 69 | (8)-- | |
| Special | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | (8)-- | |
| Total | 114 | 122 | 107 | 86 | (8)-- | |
| England | ||||||
| Primary | 1,343 | 1,5391 | 1,573 | 1,608 | 1,365 | |
| Secondary | 8,622 | 10,187 | 10,463 | 10,344 | 9,197 | |
| Special | 439 | 572 | 632 | 524 | 522 | |
| Total | 10,404 | 12,298 | 12,668 | 12,476 | 11,084 | |
(5) Includes maintained and non-maintained Special schools.
(6) Provisional
(7) The number of permanent exclusions was estimated to take account of a small number of schools that did not provide any information on their permanent exclusions.
(8) Not available
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