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Tuition Fees

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will estimate what proportion of students in each Government office region paid (a) full and (b) partial tuition fees and the proportion of those who were exempt in the 2000-01 academic year; and if he will estimate what percentage in each category there will be in each region in 2001-02. [145255]

18 Jan 2001 : Column: 329W

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 15 January 2001]: Estimates of the proportion of students paying a full, partial and nil contribution towards tuition fees under the new student finance arrangements are available only at a

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national level. For students normally resident in England and Wales, the figures for 1998-99 (the most recent year for which actual data are available) to 2001-02 are given in the table.

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Percentage

	1998-1999(4)	1999-2000(5)	2000-01(5)	2001-02(5)
Nil student/parent/spouse contribution	45	45	45	50
Partial student/parent/spouse contribution	20	20	20	15
Full student/parent/spouse contribution	35	35	35	35

⁽⁴⁾ Actual

⁽⁵⁾ Forecast

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The proportion of students who are exempt from making any contributions is expected to increase in 2001-02 to around 50 per cent. as a result of changes to the contribution threshold.

Travel Costs (Jobseekers)

Ms Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of reimbursing the travel costs of those people in rural areas who have had to travel to jobcentres to sign on and claim benefits in the last three years; [145135]

(2) how much was spent in the most recent year for which figures are available on reimbursing those on jobseeker's allowance, travelling to an interview at the jobcentre other than on their normal day of attendance. [145126]

Ms Jowell [holding answer 15 January 2001]: Responsibility for the subject of the questions 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 Ms Roseanna Cunningham, dated January 2001:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the costs of reimbursement of travel expenses for people attending Jobcentres. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

I am afraid that it is not possible to estimate the cost of reimbursing travel expenses for people living in rural areas who have to travel to Jobcentres to sign on and claim benefits. People are usually required to attend the Jobcentre fortnightly as part of maintaining their claim for Jobseeker's Allowance. There are, though, circumstances in which people may make their fortnightly declaration that they are available for and actively seeking work--by post. These circumstances allow people who would have to spend an unreasonable amount of their time travelling to the Jobcentre, and those who have a mental or physical disability which restricts their mobility, to make their fortnightly declarations by post.

You also ask how much was spent last year on reimbursing the travel expenses of people who had travelled to an interview at the Jobcentre other than on their normal day of attendance. The total amount paid to people to reimburse travel expenses in the operational year 1999-2000 was just over £447,000. That figure includes travel expenses reimbursed in a variety of circumstances, for example the fares incurred by people taking part in the New Deal programmes who have travelled to see their personal advisers or to attend work trials with employers.

I hope this is helpful.

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FACCENTA Group (Redundancies)

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what additional resources he will provide to the Employment Service in Lymington and the New Forest to assist with redundancies consequent upon the reorganisation of the FACCENTA Group. [145015]

Ms Jowell [holding answer 15 January 2001]: 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. Desmond Swayne, dated January 2001:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the additional resources which will be made available to the Employment Service in Lymington and the New Forest to assist with redundancies consequent upon the reorganisation of the Faccenda Group. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

The Employment Service in our London and South East Region made contact with the company immediately that these redundancies were announced on 10 January. As a result:

a 'Job Shop' will be set up on the company's premises from 15 January which will provide information on available vacancies and the support available to individual employees;

the employees affected will be given immediate access to Work Based Training to update their skills. They will also have immediate access to help with jobsearch and CV preparation;

the local Jobcentre will offer a personal adviser service to every one of the employees affected to ensure that they can be matched against suitable vacancies prior to redundancies taking effect;

information sessions for those affected will be run jointly with the Benefits Agency to provide advice and guidance about benefits and jobsearch. These seminars will be provided on-site at times convenient to the working pattern of the company.

The necessary resources to provide these services will be made available from the Employment Service locally supplemented by whatever additional resources are necessary from the Employment Service's London and South East Region.

In addition, the Region's Rapid Response Team, which exists to lend additional support in the case of large-scale redundancies, will be made available as necessary.

I hope this is helpful.

Departmental Advertising

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list for (a) 1996-97, (b) 1997-98, (c) 1998-99, (d) 1999-2000 and (e) 2000-01, (i) his Department's total spending on advertising campaigns, (ii) the cost of each individual advertising

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campaign and (iii) the criteria that were established to gauge the effectiveness of each campaign; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of each campaign based on these criteria. [142713]

Mr. Wills: The Department's total spend on advertising was:

	£
1996-97	7,537,917
1997-98	9,992,350
1998-99	15,673,258
1999-2000	11,900,968
2000-01(6)	15,166,537

⁽⁶⁾ To end of December 2000

Campaigns over £500,000 are:

1996-97

	£
Modern Apprenticeships
To encourage young people and employers to sign up to Modern Apprenticeships	2,611,339
Nursery Vouchers
To ensure that eligible parents and providers understood how they were affected by the new arrangements introduced under the Nursery Voucher Scheme	1,074,646
Disability Discrimination
To inform employers about the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995	664,889

1997-98

	£
New Deal
To raise awareness of New Deal and to inform the public, employers and potential clients	6,409,339
National Traineeships
To encourage employers to offer National Traineeships to young people	800,000
Modern Apprenticeships
To raise awareness of Modern Apprenticeships among young people and employers	912,321
Disability Discrimination
Consultation to review the lowering of the threshold exempting small employers from the DDA's employment provisions, from 20 to 15 employees	520,995

1998-99

	£
New Deal
To promote awareness of New Deal and to inform potential clients and employers, and to sign up employers	4,772,362
Reading and Literacy
To encourage parents to get more involved in their children's reading (linked to National Year of Reading)	3,648,223
Disability Discrimination
To inform employers about how the Disability Discrimination Act affects them	1,924,033
National Traineeships
To encourage employers to take up National Traineeships	1,502,023
Learning Direct
Promoting the Learning Direct helpline to young people	619,026
Career Development Loans
To encourage young people to take out CDLs to improve their career prospects	603,590
Millennium Bug Busters
To promote to employers training on how to prepare for the Millennium Bug	585,101

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1999-2000

	£
Disability Discrimination
To challenge the general public to change their attitude to disability and to inform employers about the Disability Discrimination Act	2,643,160
Maths Year 2000
To encourage parents to help with their children's maths (linked to Maths Year 2000)	2,322,336
Age Diversity
To address age discrimination in recruitment and employment practice	1,127,946
National Traineeships
To encourage young people to take up National Traineeships	1,077,300
One
To promote the launch of the One scheme in 12 pilot areas	872,807
Childcare Link
To promote a helpline telling parents what childcare options are available in their area	809,592
Time Off for Study
To inform employers of their legal responsibilities under the Right to Time Off for Study Act	702,001

2000-01⁽⁷⁾

	£
Don't Quit Now
To raise awareness of the benefits of staying in some form of learning after reaching the age of compulsory education	2,700,000
New Deal 50 plus
To increase participation in New Deal 50 plus	2,399,779
ICT Employability
To encourage those out of work to take up taster courses in ICT	2,011,305
Childcare Recruitment
To encourage recruitment into the childcare sectors by young people and returners	1,820,608
Disability Discrimination
To tell SME service providers how aspects of the Disability Discrimination Act affect them	1,241,982
Modern Apprenticeships
To promote the availability of Modern Apprenticeships	855,595
Individual Learning Accounts
To encourage people to take up Individual Learning Accounts to improve their career prospects	611,767
Fast Track Teachers
To inform potential recruits about the fast-track teachers scheme	1,055,788
Parents' Magazine
To promote a magazine which helps parents to get more involved in their children's education	1,483,660

⁽⁷⁾ To end of December 2000

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Detailed evaluation criteria are not held centrally and could be collated only at disproportionate cost. However, every campaign is measured vigorously against specific communication objectives using pre- and post-campaign research, conducted by independent research companies, to record shifts in awareness, attitudes, knowledge or behaviour among the target audience(s).

The Department employs tracking research to monitor these shifts over time and typically conducts telephone surveys of respondents to advertising campaigns to monitor satisfaction with the services offered and actions taken as a result of the campaign. It routinely tests the likely effectiveness of different creative approaches on the target audience(s) through market research, as part of the development of advertising campaigns. Lessons learned from previous campaigns are used to inform future ones.

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