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New Deal (Job Placements)

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the projected average cost of obtaining for a person currently on Incapacity Benefit a sustainable job with the New Deal for Disabled People involving the use of a job broker; and what the average cost is per job of placements under other New Deal programmes. [147735]

Ms Hodge [holding answer 30 January 2001]: We have yet to see what the costs per job will be in practice in the national extension of the New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP).

New Deal is about giving the individual help each person needs to become employable, find a job and keep a job in the future. Some people will need more help than others and so the cost for each person will also vary. Simply calculating or comparing the cost per job alone cannot measure its success.

The information for the other New Deals is set out in the table:

New Deal	Average cost per job (£)
Young people	Less than 4,000
25+	Less than 3,500
Lone parents	(6)1,388
Partners	(7),(8)--
50+	(7),(9)--

⁽⁶⁾ Independent evaluation of the first phase of the New Deal for Lone parents found that the cost per participant moving into work was £1,388.

⁽⁷⁾ Not available

⁽⁸⁾ The New Deal for Partners of Unemployed People is a relatively new programme. Independent evaluation is being carried out and we will be looking at unit costs.

⁽⁹⁾ Detailed information to calculate the actual cost per job for people returning to work through New Deal 50 plus is not yet available.

12 Feb 2001 : Column: 43W

Investors in People

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment who is responsible for administering the Investors in People scheme locally in the Vale of York; and if he will make a statement. [148956]

Mr. Wicks: The North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council administers the Investors in People Standard in the Vale of York. From 1 April 2001, the Learning and Skills Council will assume this responsibility.

Child Care

Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he has taken to ensure that good quality affordable child care is available in (a) Morecambe and Lunesdale and (b) the United Kingdom. [148963]

Ms Hodge: The National Child Care Strategy aims to ensure that affordable, accessible, quality child care is available in every neighbourhood. The Working Families Tax Credit offers help with child care costs to lower income families. £170 million is also being made available until the end of 2003 through the New Opportunities Fund to help start up out of school hours care. By 2003-04, the Department's investment in child care will have trebled from £66 million in this financial year to over £200 million. The Government also intend to make a further £155 million available over the next three years from the New Opportunities Fund. This extra investment will be largely targeted in disadvantaged areas and on childminders. Through the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative, we expect to create 45,000 child care places, in up to 900 new 50-place nurseries. Around 50,000 out of school hours clubs in disadvantaged areas are expected to achieve extra start-up support. The Morecambe and Lunesdale area is eligible for the new support being made available for disadvantaged areas. 145,000 childminder places and 450 childminder networks will have been started up by 2004.

New child care places for 546,000 children have been created between April 1997 and September 2000. Taking into account turnover, this has helped an extra 343,000 children. As part of the Strategy 150 Early Years and Child Care Development Partnerships (EYDCPs) have been set up across England ¹ to develop new child care places and maintain existing ones across the whole of their local area. Since April 1999 Lancashire EYDCP has created child care places for 487 children in the Morecambe and Lunesdale area and, taking into account turnover, this has helped an extra 125 children.

Lancashire EYDCP is assisting the DfEE in a pilot programme to test innovative approaches to combining early education with care throughout the day. The project is based in the Morecambe and Lune Valley areas and focuses on establishing a partnership between early education providers and the voluntary and private sectors and childminders leading to a co-ordinated seamless child care and early education service for children and families. One of the aims of the project is to help meet the needs of families for whom lack of transport is a barrier to accessing child care, and will include the provision of a mobile nursery facility to operate in rural areas.

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Age Discrimination

Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to combat age discrimination in the work force. [148964]

Ms Hodge: We made a commitment, last October, to introduce age legislation within six years, by signing the European Employment directive on Equal Treatment. We have negotiated a long implementation period to give us the scope to consult closely with employers and expert groups to prepare workable and beneficial age legislation.

In the meantime we will continue to tackle age discrimination by promoting vigorously the non-statutory Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, which was launched in June 1999. The Code has been promoted to employers through trade press, events and awards initiatives. It sets the standard for non-ageist practices and promotes the business benefits of age diversity in the work force. We must overcome ageist stereotypes and employers need to understand that younger and older workers can add value to their business. In the years leading up to legislation, we want to take employers with us, so that they work with the spirit, not just the letter of the law. In that way we will build up the real culture change we need to overcome discrimination.

Modern Apprenticeships

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many modern apprenticeships in agricultural and land-based industries were (a) initiated, (b) completed and (c) in progress in each of the past five academic years. [149473]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 8 February 2001]: The number of Modern Apprenticeships in agricultural land-based industries for each of the last five academic years were:

(a) Initiated

Academic year	Modern apprenticeships
1995-96	430
1996-97	1,170
1997-98	2,030
1998-99	3,530
1999-2000	3,960

(b) Total leavers and the percentage of leavers gaining a qualification

	Advanced modern apprenticeships:		Foundation modern apprenticeships:
Academic year	Total leavers	Leavers gaining a qualification at level 3 and above (percentage)	Total leavers	Leavers gaining a qualification at Level 2 and above (percentage)
1995-96	50	35	N/A	N/A
1996-97	350	49	N/A	N/A
1997-98	780	41	40	5
1998-99	990	39	680	32
1999-2000	1,160	42	1,880	42

Because the award of a Modern Apprenticeship entails completion of the whole framework, achievement of a qualification at the levels shown is broadly synonymous with completion.

12 Feb 2001 : Column: 45W

(c) In progress on 30 September each year

Year	Modern apprenticeship
1995	120
1996	570
1997	1,520
1998	2,820
1999	4,770

National Training Organisations

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what public funds were received by each national training organisation in the last three years, broken down by their sourcing from (a) his Department, (b) their sponsoring department, (c) other Government Departments and (d) European Union funds. [149476]

Mr. Wicks [holding answer 8 February 2001]: National Training Organisations (NTOs) received £7,102,204 in 1998-99, £14,271,987 in 1999-2000 and are planned to receive £14,943,474 in 2000-01 to help meet their sector skills priorities.

Details from other budgets can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary Modern Schools

Mr. Curry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he intends to publish the benchmark information for secondary modern schools intended to assist the evaluation of their work and be available to Ofsted inspectors. [149652]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 9 February 2001]: Secondary modern school benchmark information will be available within four weeks from our Standards website (www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/performance) and Ofsted will use this information during their inspections.

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