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Jobcentres
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the estimated capital value of jobcentre sites in the United Kingdom. [129087]
Ms Jowell: 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. John Bercow, dated 10 July 2000:
- As the Employment Service is an executive agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning the estimated value of the Jobcentre sites in the United Kingdom. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
- The network of roughly 1000 Employment Service Jobcentres operates in a mixture of freehold and leasehold premises. All Jobcentres in freehold and long leasehold property are subject to a rolling programme of professional valuation. The results of this are collated annually and shown as 'Land and Buildings' in the Employment Service Annual Report and Accounts. The latest audited accounts are for the year 1998-99. These show the total value of Employment Service Land and Buildings as at 31 March 1999 to be just under £122m.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what guidance he issues to Jobcentres about preventing persons not lawfully entitled to work in the United Kingdom having access to their services; and if he will make a statement; [128921]
- (2) what checks Jobcentres are required to undertake (a) generally and (b) prior to reference to an employment agency in order to ensure that persons seeking employment are allowed to work in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [128924]
Ms Jowell [holding answer 4 July 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. David Lidington, dated 10 July 2000:
- As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about ensuring that persons seeking employment in the United Kingdom are entitled to do so.
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- Permission to work in the United Kingdom is a matter for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office. While Jobcentres do have advice available to them on which groups of jobseekers from outside the UK are entitled to work in the UK, it would not be practical for them to undertake nationality checks given the fact that they make some 20 million job submissions annually. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure that jobseekers have permission to work.
- Employment Service guidance to Jobcentres states that non-EEA (European Economic Area) jobseekers are not entitled to obtain work in the UK without a work permit. It advises staff to pass inquiries to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Similarly, vacancies advertised via the Employment Service website carry a statement which makes clear that the vacancies are not open to non-EEA jobseekers.
- I hope this is helpful.
Examination Scheduling
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has made to awarding bodies concerning the scheduling of GCSE and A level examinations after the summer half-term break. [128633]
Mr. Wicks: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the awarding bodies have recently reviewed the arrangements for GCSE and AS/A level examination timetables. We have agreed their proposals which take effect from 2001, re-scheduling some of the major entry GCSE subjects, English literature and geography, to after the summer half-term, maximising study and preparation time. The timetable for the new AS/A level examinations caters for an increased number of papers and although slightly longer than its predecessor has approximately the same number of written papers scheduled in May.
Medical Schools
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what resources and money are being made available to widen access to medical schools to ensure that students from all economic groups can enter the profession. [128803]
Mr. Wicks: Medical students, in common with other students, benefit from a range of government policies to widen access to higher education: £74.6 million for Access Funds in the academic year 1999-2000; a further £42 million a year from 2000-01 to broaden the social profile of entry into higher education; and from 2001-02, non-repayable Opportunity Bursaries of up to £1,000 for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, some medical schools have special schemes to encourage a wide range of potential students to study medicine.
Folklore
Mr. Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the universities which teach (a) an undergraduate and (b) a postgraduate course in folklore; and how many students were on each course for the last year for which figures are easily available. [128878]
Mr. Wicks: The information is not available centrally.
Child Care
Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many net child care places were
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created in the financial year 1999-2000 in (a) the parliamentary constituency of Birkenhead and (b) the parliamentary constituencies in the Wirral. [128911]
Ms Hodge [holding answer 4 July 2000]: The number of child care places created are as follows:
- (a) Constituency of Birkenhead: 49 net places 1
- (b) Constituencies of the Wirral: 368 net places
- 1 The figure for Birkenhead does not include child minder places as these are not broken to constituency level. A proportion of the 120 net child minder places in the Wirral area may be in the constituency of Birkenhead.
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list new children places created in each early years development and child care partnership in 1999-2000. [129991]
Ms Hodge: Early years development and child care partnerships have reported that by end March 2000 they had created some 140,000 new child care places. These 140,000 new places have not only replaced those closed due to turnover during the year, but have added more than 74,000 to the stock of child care places across England, providing child care for over 141,000 extra children. Attached is a breakdown of the number of new child care places created by early years development and child care partnerships in 1999-2000.
(8) End year figures for Gateshead, Gloucestershire and Sandwell are to be confirmed.
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