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28 Apr 2003 : Column 227W—continued

Learning and Skills Councils

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills why the Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire LSC rejected funding applications (a) for e-learning and ICT and (b) for basic skills from Jamia Rehmanic in 2002. [110202]

Margaret Hodge: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. John Harwood, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Gentleman and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

National Skills Strategy

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to incorporate the development of (a) disabled people and (b) the socially excluded within the proposed National Skills Strategy. [107715]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The National Skills Strategy will set out our approach to helping people who face particular difficulties in becoming part of the effective labour force, including disabled people and others affected by social exclusion.

Part-time Workers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact of the part-time workers directive on staff in his Department. [109279]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: My Department welcomed the introduction of the part-time workers directive in July 2000 as supporting its commitment to family-friendly policies and helping its employees to achieve a better balance between work and home life. Its introduction had no particular impact on terms and conditions for

28 Apr 2003 : Column 228W

staff in the Department, as part time and full time workers have equitable treatment on a pro-rata basis, dependent on hours worked.

Part-time working is one of a wide range of flexible working arrangements that the Department offers.

At 1 January 2003, 12.5 per cent. of my Department's permanent staff worked part-time, an increase of 1 per cent. from 1 January 2002.

School Budgets

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of maintained schools carrying forward a budget deficit into the current financial year; and if he will list such schools which are known to his Department. [109424]

Mr. Miliband: Information on the balances carried forward by maintained schools at the end of the financial year 2002–03 will be contained in the outturn statements for that year produced by local education authorities under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. The deadline for production of these statements is 10 October 2003, and until then we do not know the number of schools in deficit at the start of 2003–04.

Science Technicians

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made, in conjunction with the Royal Society and the Association for Science Education, on the development of a career structure for science technicians; and if he will make a statement. [108310]

Margaret Hodge: Since the Royal Society and Association for Science Education published their report in January 2002, we have been working closely with them and with the Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services to develop a career structure for science technicians. We have extended this work to include Design and Technology technicians and two guides with recommendations on career structure and induction have been produced. We are developing induction training for science technicians as part of our drive to enhance the role of support staff. Continuing

28 Apr 2003 : Column 229W

professional development will be provided by the national network of science learning centres, a joint Department for Education and Skills and Wellcome Trust initiative.

Secondments

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individuals were seconded to his

28 Apr 2003 : Column 230W

Department from (a) the private sector, (b) NGOs and (c) other, in each case listing (i) from which organisation and (ii) dates of secondments, in 2002–03. [108081]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on secondments to this Department in the period April 2002 to March 2003 is set out in the table.

Start date	End date	Organisation	Type
1 September 2002	28 February 2003	Building Research Establishment Ltd. (BRE)	Private
12 January 2000	26 February 2003	Little Acorn Nursery	Private
15 July 2002	31 March 2003	Price Waterhouse Coopers	Private
11 September 2002	11 November 2002	Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)	Private
14 January 2002	12 July 2002	Centre for Schools Standards	Private
5 September 2001	4 September 2002	Nationwide Building Society	Private
15 July 2002	31 March 2003	Manor and Castle Development Trust	Private
1 February 2002	31 December 2002	Greenwich Education Action Zone	Private
1 November 2001	1 November 2003	Deloitte and Touche	Private
4 January 2001	31 March 2002	The Design and Technology Association	Private
21 October 2002	20 October 2004	Social Market Foundation	Private
8 October 2001	30 September 2003	Student Loans Company	NDPB
1 July 2002	30 June 2003	National Children's Home	Other
5 November 2001	4 November 2002	Brent Education Service	Other
11 November 2002	10 November 2003	Thames Valley University	Other
23 April 2001	31 March 2002	London borough of Harrow	Other
1 January 2003	31 August 2003	Northamptonshire LEA	Other
1 April 2003	30 September 2003	Essex county council	Other
17 September 2001	30 September 2002	Sheffield Hallam University	Other
15 January 2003	14 January 2004	Slough borough council	Other
5 November 2001	31 March 2003	Telford and Wrekin council	Other
30 July 2001	29 July 2003	London borough of Ealing	Other
1 September 2001	31 March 2003	Derby City LEA	Other
1 November 2000	30 November 2003	Walsall LEA	Other
1 September 2001	31 March 2002	North Derbyshire health authority	Other
3 February 2003	2 August 2003	Cambridge Regional College	Other
1 April 2001	30 June 2002	Southampton city council	Other
1 April 2000	31 March 2003	Birmingham city council	Other
1 June 2001	31 May 2003	Cambridgeshire county council	Other
4 June 2001	31 May 2003	London borough of Newham	Other
1 July 2000	30 June 2003	The Childrens Society	Other
15 October 2001	31 March 2002	Essex Police HQ	Other
19 June 2000	31 March 2003	Unemployment Unit Youth Aid	Other
25 April 2000	24 April 2003	Rastrick High School	Other
1 November 2001	31 October 2003	London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham	Other
7 October 2002	6 October 2003	Centre for Economics of Education	Other
30 April 2001	31 March 2003	Huddersfield New College	Other
1 January 2001	31 May 2002	Leeds city council	Other
1 October 2001	30 September 2003	Loughborough University	Other
10 September 2001	14 December 2002	Birmingham Race Action Partnership	Other
1 October 2002	30 June 2003	West Nottinghamshire College	Other
15 April 2002	14 April 2004	Cranford Infants and Nursery School	Other
1 January 2000	31 March 2003	Litherland High School	Other
1 April 2000	31 March 2003	North Tyneside council	Other
3 September 2001	2 September 2002	West Sussex county council	Other
7 January 2002	6 January 2004	London borough of Lambeth	Other
5 June 2002	5 June 2003	Nottinghamshire county council	Other
4 January 2001	31 March 2002	Federation of City Farms	Other
1 October 2001	30 September 2003	Nottinghamshire county council	Other
9 July 2001	8 July 2003	Hastings College of Art and Technology	Other
17 June 2002	13 June 2003	Camden council	Other
8 January 2001	7 January 2002	London borough of Richmond	Other
1 November 2001	31 October 2003	Cityof Wakefield	Other
10 September 2001	31 January 2002	Japan Ministry of Health, and Welfare	Other
1 January 2002	31 March 2003	Kent county council	Other
5 February 2001	31 March 2002	Croydon Advisory and Inspection Centre	Other
30 September 2002	30 April 2003	Children's Play Council	Other
1 September 2001	31 August 2003	North Tyneside council	Other
30 October 2000	29 October 2003	Kirklees LEA	Other
1 September 2000	31 March 2003	South Gloucestershire LEA	Other
1 April 2000	30 September 2003	Westminster Student Support	Other
3 February 2003	2 February 2004	NACRO	Other
1 October 2001	30 September 2003	Birmingham city council	Other
1 November 2002	31 August 2003	Zaccheus Centre	Other
1 April 2001	31 March 2003	City of Hackney Primary Care Trust	Other
1 December 2000	31 March 2003	National Children's Bureau	Other
27 February 2002	31 March 2003	City of Bristol LEA	Other
1 July 2002	1 July 2003	City of Nottingham LEA	Other
14 October 2002	13 October 2003	Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea	Other
5 November 2001	4 November 2003	London borough of Sutton	Other
1 November 2000	31 October 2002	Camden council	Other
1 October 2002	30 March 2003	Bexley Education and Leisure Department	Other
20 January 2003	19 January 2004	NSPCC	Other
24 January 2000	23 January 2003	Leeds city council	Other
1 May 2001	31 March 2002	Institute of Employment Studies	Other
1 November 2001	31 October 2003	Derbyshire county council	Other
2 May 2000	30 April 2003	North Tyneside council	Other
1 September 2001	31 August 2003	New Zealand Department of Labour	Other
2 December 2002	1 December 2003	New Zealand Department of Labour	Other
26 February 2001	22 February 2002	Council for Environmental Education	Other
27 January 2003	26 January 2004	West Thames College	Other
1 September 2001	31 August 2002	Manchester city council	Other
1 September 2002	31 August 2005	The Open University	Other
10 May 2002	9 May 2004	Herefordshire county council	Other
1 April 2001	31 March 2003	Lincolnshire county council	Other
1 October 2001	30 September 2003	Leeds city council	Other
1 September 2001	30 August 2002	West Kent College	Other
30 April 2001	29 April 2003	North Somerset council	Other
5 November 2001	7 November 2003	Nottingham city council	Other
2 August 2002	1 June 2003	Raleigh International	Other
1 December 2001	30 November 2003	Nottingham city council	Other
22 July 2002	22 July 2003	Wirral MBC	Other
15 October 2001	14 October 2002	Middlesbrough council	Other
13 March 2001	28 February 2003	Save the Children	Other
2 September 2002	31 August 2003	Southwark College	Other
3 April 2001	30 June 2003	Thomas Coram Research Unit	Other
4 June 2001	29 April 2003	London borough of Barking and Dagenham	Other
22 October 2001	30 September 2002	Tameside College	Other
2 April 2001	1 April 2003	University of West England	Other
10 March 2003	9 June 2004	Hull city council	Other
5 May 1997	31 May 2002	London University	Other
4 November 2002	30 April 2003	CFBT	Other
13 January 2001	3 October 2003	Scarman Trust	Other
2 July 2001	1 July 2003	London Guildhall University	Other
1 April 2002	31 December 2004	ES	Other
30 October 2000	31 October 2002	Suffolk county council	Other
1 November 2000	31 October 2003	Bradford city council	Other
7 October 2002	6 October 2003	Bournemouth local education authority	Other
1 October 2002	31 March 2003	Tameside MBC	Other
22 July 2002	30 September 2003	Doncaster CSV	Other
23 September 2002	30 June 2003	West Nottinghamshire College	Other
22 July 2002	30 September 2003	Doncaster CSV	Other
1 February 2000	30 August 2002	Manchester Metropolitan University	Other
4 October 1999	31 October 2002	National Audit Office	Other
14 May 2002	13 May 2003	London borough of Ealing	Other
1 September 2001	31 March 2003	Somerset county council	Other
1 February 2002	31 March 2003	Croydon Social Services	Other
1 February 2002	31 March 2003	Croydon Social Services	Other
21 January 2001	31 July 2003	Sheffield Hallam University	Other
23 September 2002	31 August 2003	Royal Forest of Dean College	Other
3 September 2001	2 September 2002	London School of Economics	Other
1 January 2003	30 September 2003	Cornwall and Devon Connexions Partnership	Other
1 January 2003	30 September 2003	Cornwall and Devon Connexions Partnership	Other
2 April 2001	31 March 2003	Hastings College of Art and Technology	Other
3 December 2001	2 December 2002	Nottingham city council	Other
20 May 2002	19 May 2003	Ministry of Education New Zealand	Other
7 April 1999	7 April 2002	DT: Small Business Service	Other
1 September 2002	31 August 2004	Stantonbury Campus	Other
7 October 2002	28 March 2003	Sheffield Hallam University	Other
5 November 2001	4 November 2003	Rochdale Metropolitan borough	Other
5 June 2002	4 June 2003	CEDC	Other

28 Apr 2003 : Column 233W

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