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Trade Partners UK
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the costs of defence related business for (a) Trade Partners UK and (b) the Trade Fair Support Scheme in the last 12 months. [140704]
Mr. Caborn: I have been asked to reply.
The Defence Export Services Organisation of the MOD is responsible for defence exports. In certain circumstances, Trade Partners UK staff both in London and at Missions overseas may work in support of major defence contracts including those where indirect offset (sometimes called economic offset) is part of the overall package.
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In addition, Trade Partners UK schemes including the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme, which replaced the Trade Fair Support scheme, are available to British companies in all sectors. The cost of support to overseas exhibition and seminar participants in the Fire, Police, Security Industries and Equipment sector (within which data for defence related business are grouped) for 1999-2000 was £317,000. A further £44,000 was spent on supporting Inward Missions within the same overall sector. It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to identify within these sums the cost of support to defence related business alone, or the overall cost of staff time on defence related work.
The cost of support to Outward Missions with a defence element in 1999-2000 was £14,500.
PRIME MINISTER
Prime Minister's Office
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Prime Minister, (1) pursuant to his answer of 5 June 2000, Official Report, column 50W, on special advisers, if he will list the destination and the total cost, including travel, accommodation and subsistence allowance of each of the occasions when members of the No. 10 Policy Unit travelled abroad in an official capacity; and on how many occasions members of the No. 10 Policy Unit accompanied him on official visits abroad; [135256]
- (2) pursuant to his answer of 5 June 2000, Official Report, column 50W, on special advisers, if he will list the destination and the total cost, including travel, accommodation and subsistence allowance of every occasion when his Chief Press Secretary, and each of the occasions when his Chief of Staff accompanied him on overseas visits since 28 February. [135257]
The Prime Minister: In the period 31 March 1999 to 31 March 2000, members of the Policy Unit have travelled overseas on official business on 47 occasions. The average cost of their official travel was approximately £430 per visit. All visits have been in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code.
In this period members of the Policy Unit accompanied me on overseas visits on three occasions. The costs of all officials who accompanied me on overseas visits, including my Chief Press Secretary, Chief of Staff and members of the Policy Unit, were fully accounted for in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Mr. Twigg) of 28 July 2000, Official Report, column 969W.
Mr. Baker: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 2 November 2000, Official Report, column 575W, regarding his office costs, if he will provide a breakdown of how the £5.4 million was spent. [137537]
The Prime Minister [holding answer 10 November 2000]: Expenditure was as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Pay | 3.3 |
| Running costs | 1.7 |
| Capital | 0.6 |
Note:
Income was £0.2 million
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Lockerbie
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Prime Minister what response he has made to the letter sent to him on 13 November by the Reverend John Mosey of UK Families Flight 103, with particular reference to (a) the role of US Government officials and (b) an international criminal court. [139394]
The Prime Minister: I have replied to Reverend Mosey's letter today.
SCOTLAND
Departmental Employees (HIV)
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will take steps to ensure that people who are HIV-positive do not suffer discrimination as a result of employment practices followed by his Department. [137787]
Dr. Reid: The Scotland Office would respect the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in respect of any member of staff who developed any illness as a consequence of being HIV positive. The Scotland Office would seek to make reasonable adjustments in the circumstances of their employment, in consultation with the individual concerned.
Postal Services
Mr. Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to improve postal services in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [140831]
Mr. Wilson: I am closely involved with colleagues and the Post Office in developing plans to implement the recommendations of the PIU report on the modernisation of the post office network.
We wish to see the post office network thrive, not just survive, and are providing the support to make this happen. As a first stage in implementing the PIU report ring-fenced support of £270 million over the next three years has been allocated. Plans include modernising and maintaining the rural network, restructuring of the urban network, setting up the Universal Bank, and trials of the Government General Practitioner and internet access and learning point facilities.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Teacher Numbers
Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers have (a) left and (b) joined the profession in the state sector in each of the last 10 years. [140796]
Ms Estelle Morris: The head-counts of teachers leaving and entering full-time or part-time service in the maintained schools sector in England were as follows:
(18) Excludes teachers who entered and left or left and entered within the year.
(19) Data for 1998-99 are provisional.
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The number of teachers leaving on early or ill health retirement has now stabilised at a lower level, following the reform of the Teachers Pensions Scheme in 1997.
The full-time equivalent number of regular teachers in the maintained sector has increased by 6,900 since January 1998.
There was a growth of 2000 in the number of people training to be teachers between 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
Muslim Schools
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the grant maintained (a) boys, (b) girls and (c) mixed sex Muslim schools. [140965]
Ms Estelle Morris: From September 1999, grant maintained schools became foundation, community, voluntary controlled or voluntary aided schools.
There are two maintained Muslim primary schools in England--Islamia in Brent and Al Furqan in Birmingham. Both are voluntary aided schools and cater for boys and girls.
Truancy
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by local education authority the truancy figures and percentage of pupils involved in the last 10 years, indicating the factors at work where reductions have been most marked. [140942]
Ms Estelle Morris: The precise data requested in this question are not available centrally. I have today placed in the Library a table that provides rates of unauthorised absence in secondary schools in England by local education authority for each year since 1993-94, when absence figures were first collated centrally. I will write to my hon. Friend further with data for primary schools and place a copy in the Library.
Over three years, we are investing in excess of £500 million across England on projects tackling truancy and school exclusion, and other initiatives to get children back into school and learning. Effective projects include the purchasing of electronic equipment to monitor attendance, additional staff to chase-up truants, and reward schemes for acknowledging regular attendance. Schools are also being encouraged to set up pupils mentoring schemes and to develop home-school liaison through the implementation of home-school agreements. Schools can also set aside part of the National Curriculum at Key Stage 4 to allow certain pupils to spend more time on work-related learning.
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Last month, in conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, we announced further measures to tackle truancy. This includes a co-ordinated national programme with truancy sweeps; an extra £43 million in 2001-02 to tackle poor behaviour in schools with truancy as the top priority; extra Learning Mentors in Excellence in Cities areas; increased penalties for parents who take no action to secure the attendance of their children; and asking schools with above average truancy records to set new targets for attendance.
Together, these initiatives are designed to help schools reduce truancy and raise overall attendance levels.
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