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Connexions
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the spending total for the Connexions programme in the year 1999-2000; what are the planned spending totals for each to 2004; how much of these totals is further spending following the Comprehensive Spending Review; and if he will give a breakdown of the costs of the programme, including administrative costs. [132408]
Mr. Wicks: The Connexions Service will be progressively introduced from April 2001. Following the Year 2000 Spending Review settlement, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment will make an announcement in due course about the outcome for individual programmes in 2001-02 and beyond, including the new resources for the Connexions Service.
Standards Fund
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the spending totals are of each of the grants administered under the Standards
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Fund for 2000-01; what are the planned totals for each year to 2004; and how much of the total in each case is further spending allocated under the Comprehensive Spending Review. [132409]
Ms Estelle Morris: Total expenditure allocated, and taken up by local education authorities, for each of the grants administered under the Standards Fund for 2000-01 are shown in the following table. Figures include both Government and local authority contributions to the Standards Fund. Planned totals for future years will be determined as part of detailed decisions to be made following the outcome of the Spending Review.
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Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is his estimate of the cost of administering Standards Fund grants in (a) his Department and (b) local education authorities over the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review. [132410]
Ms Estelle Morris: No figures are available of the administrative costs of the Standards Fund. The Government have recognised the need to restrict the burden on schools as the size of the Fund has grown. The Department is reviewing the arrangements for the Standards Fund in consultation with schools, Local Education Authorities and other interested parties. As a result of the review changes will be made to simplify the operation of the Standards Fund from April 2001, details of which will be announced in the Autumn. The main changes resulting from the review will involve reducing the paperwork by simplifying the mechanics of payment and accounting; encouraging an approach focused on outcomes; giving schools and local authorities greater spending freedom; sharing timely management information, and spreading best practice.
Education Policy
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for each year since 1979, how much his Department, and the previous Department of Education, spent in real terms on (a) focus groups, (b) opinion polls, (c) press releases and (d) television and radio advertising relating to education policy. [132411]
Mr. Wills: The Department for Education and Employment does not undertake focus groups or opinion polls of the public. However it has sampled and consulted on views of teachers, Heads and other groups affected by the Department's policies on specific issues; for example literacy and numeracy strategies.
Expenditure on press releases is not available in a form which would enable comparable figures for each year (1979 to 2000) to be compiled without disproportionate cost.
Expenditure on television and radio advertising relating to education policy from 1979-80 to 1999-2000, was as follows:
(1) Cash terms
(1) Real terms 1999-2000 prices
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The expenditure in 1998 onwards is largely accounted for by the Department's campaigns on literacy and numeracy.
Employment Service
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the total of Departmental HQ and the Employment Service, gross running costs in 1997-98; what are the planned totals for gross running costs for the years up to 2004; and if he will give the total of administration costs referred to in Table 7.1 on Page 48 of the Spending Review 2000. [132412]
Mr. Blunkett: The gross running costs of the Department and the Employment Service since 1997-98 are as follows:
| 1997-98(1) | 1998-99(1) | 1999-2000(1) | 2000-01(1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DfEE | 255,175 | 269,309 | 267,927 | 269,403 |
| ES | 823,986 | 795,326 | 830,704 | 841,672 |
| Total gross | 1,079,161 | 1,064,788 | 1,099,474 | 1,111,075 |
(1) Outturn figures
(1) Estimated outturn
The planned totals for gross running costs for the years up to 2004, and the total of administration costs within the Year 2000 Spending Review settlement have not yet been finalised.
Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when the Employment Service Annual report and Accounts for 1999-2000 will be laid before Parliament. [133690]
Mr. Blunkett: I have today laid before the House the Employment Service's Annual Report and Accounts for 1999-2000 which gives full details of the Agency's performance and expenditure for that year.
The Annual Report records an excellent year's work by the Employment Service. For the first time since 1994-95 it has achieved and in many cases significantly exceeded all its targets for helping unemployed people into jobs. Jobcentres have also been giving record levels of customer service to jobseekers.
During the course of an extremely challenging year, the Employment Service:
- placed directly into work more than 1.33 million unemployed people, including over 220,000 who had been unemployed for six months and just under 97,000 people with disabilities;
- handled 2.7 million job vacancies; and
- helped 191,000 young people through the New Deal for Young People and directly placed over 111,000 into jobs.
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- built on the continuing success of the New Deals, including the national implementation of the New Deal for Partners of Unemployed People and the launch of pilots for New Deal 50plus;
- worked with partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to launch 12 pilots of the ONE service to provide a work-focused, one-stop entry into the welfare system and, as part of the Working Links partnership, to bid for, and run, nine of the 15 Employment Zones;
- introduced a programme to improve the service it gives to its employer customers, including a set of explicit service delivery standards; and
- prepared the ground for its ambitious Modernisation programme which will see touch-screen kiosks in every Jobcentre, place all vacancies handled by ES on the Internet and introduce a single, national telephone number for employers to register job vacancies.
1999-2000 was a very good year for the Employment Service. Its success was down to the effort and enthusiasm of everyone working in it. I am very grateful to them for that effort, commitment and determination to succeed. I look forward to building on this success in the year ahead and in setting up the new agency to deliver work-focused services to people of working age. I know that people in the Employment Service will rise to the new opportunities and challenges involved in making it a success.
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