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Capita Contracts
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Cap Gemini report on the operation of the ILA scheme was commissioned; when it was due for delivery; when it was delivered; and what response her Department has made to the report. [37537]
John Healey: Cap Gemini Ernst and Young were commissioned by the Department to "Baseline the Capita computer systems" and to "Examine the Capita ILA system security arrangements". The assignments are not on the operation of ILAs. Work began in late December and it is envisaged that the final reports will be received in March.
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the contracts that have been awarded to the Capita Group by the Department. [39338]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department has a number of contracts with Capita for a range of different services. These are as follows:
- Teachers' Pensions: Administration of the Teachers' Pensions Scheme.
Connexions Card: Development of the Connexions Card.
Individual Learning Accounts: Administration of the ILA scheme.
Consultancy Framework Contracts: Framework contract to provide general management consultancy support and consultancy support for LEA interventions.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list all contracts awarded by her Department to Capita since 1997, including (a) start and finish date of contract, (b) value of contract, (c) description of work to be carried out, (d) evaluation mechanism for successful delivery of contract, (e) penalty charges for failure to deliver and (f) if penalty charges have been incurred; and if she will make a statement. [40489]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department has awarded a number of contracts to Capita since 1997 for a range of different services. These are as follows:
- Connexions Card—Development of the Connexions Card. A public-private partnership with a contract value in excess of £100 million over seven years from 2001 to 2008.
Individual Learning Accounts—Administration of the ILA scheme. A contract for five years with an estimated value of around £55 million from 2000 to 2005.
Consultancy Framework Contracts—Framework contract to provide general management consultancy support and consultancy support for LEA interventions. Both framework contracts were awarded for three years and expire in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Their level of usage determines the value of these contracts. Estimated expenditure to date has been £436,500.
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include penalty clauses, as these are unenforceable under English law. The Department's contracts often include arrangements which motivate the contractor to perform by linking payment to performance and also provide for termination if the contractor is in breach of the contract terms.
Sector Skills Council (Sport and Fitness Industry)
Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to ensure the creation of a sector skills council for the sport and fitness industry. [37099]
John Healey: My Department is looking to employers to bring forward proposals for sectors that meet the Sector Skills Council (SSC) licensing standard and make sense to their industries. An expression of interest by employers to form an SSC in any sector will be considered by the Sector Skills Development Agency when it is made. If the expression of interest meets initial criteria then a period of up to six months will be agreed to develop a full SSC proposal. If this is successful an SSC licence will be issued. A Business Adviser has been allocated to advise employers in the sport and recreation sector on the preparation of an expression of interest.
Refurbishment
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her answer of 25 January 2002, Official Report, column 1131W, what the cost of refurbishing each ministerial private office was in each year since May 1997. [37890]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The cost of refurbishing ministerial offices in each of the last four years is as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 1,960 |
| 1999–2000 | 5,674 |
| 1998–99 | 10,567 |
| 1997–98 | 74,404 |
Teachers (Performance Management)
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the cost has been of the performance related pay threshold assessment, broken down by (a) pay given to teachers, (b) administration costs paid to CEA including the costs of external assessors and (c) administration costs paid to CfBT, including costs of training for threshold assessment; [38048]
- (2) what the cost has been of providing external advisers for the performance management of head teachers in England; [38050]
(3) what the total training cost has been of the performance management system. [38052]
Mr. Timms: Since December 2000 the Department has paid about £650 million to local authorities to cover the additional salary costs of teachers passing the threshold. To help with the operation of threshold assessment and performance management we also make £28 million per year available to schools through the Standards Fund.
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The Department has a contract with Cambridge Education Associates (CEA) for the provision and deployment of threshold assessors and external advisers to governing bodies on heads' performance. We also have a contract with the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) for training in threshold assessment and performance management. The value of these contracts depends on the volume and quality of activity. Since January 2000 total CEA contract costs have been around £36.5 million and CfBT costs around £12 million, including the value of investment that will support future activity.
Universities
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her definition is of a high-ranking university as mentioned in Chapter 4 of "14–19: extending opportunities, raising standards"; and if she will collect information regarding the socio-economic background of students entering such institutions to enable comparisons with those entering other universities. [38091]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The reference to "high ranking universities" is to those universities which have particularly demanding entry requirements, as the higher award is based on at least ABB grades at A level plus one AS level or on an NVQ level 4. The Higher Education Funding Council for England already collects and publishes information on the social class of students entering higher education, which is broken down by institution. It published the information for the academic year 1999–2000, "Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK", last December (HEFCE Report 01/69). This is available on the HEFCE website at www.hefce.ac.uk/pi.
Civil Servants (Employment With Consultants)
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the dates and indicate the nature of the guidance given by her Department to Government Departments since May 1997 with respect to civil servants seeking employment within (a) Capita, (b) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (c) WS Atkins, (d) Nord Anglia, (e) Cambridge Education Associates, (f) KPMG and (g) Ernst and Young; and if she will place related documents in the Library. [36969]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 26 February 2002]: Civil servants wishing to take up employment outside the civil service are subject to the requirements of the Business Appointment Rules, which are set out in full in the Civil Service Management Code.
Secondments
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many staff were seconded between (a) Capita, (b) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (c) WS Atkins, (d) Nord Anglia, (e) Cambridge Education Associates, (f) KPMG and (g) Ernst and Young and her Department in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) 2001–02. [36572]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 26 February 2002]: The information is set out in the table in respect of Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers; there were no secondments during these periods between any of the other companies listed and this Department.
| Ernst and Young | PricewaterhouseCoopers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 1 | — |
| 2000–01 | 5 | 1 |
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