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1 Sept 2003 : Column 724W—continued

Degree Qualifications

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of the (a) male and (b) female work force in (i) London and (ii) Sefton have degree-level qualifications. [124107]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The lastest available estimates from the Local Area Labour Force Survey 2001 are shown in the table.

Proportion of people of working age⁽¹⁸⁾ holding qualifications at NVQ level 4 or above⁽¹⁹⁾

	Male		Female		All
		95% confidence interval between(20)		95% confidence interval between		95% confidence interval between
London	32.0%	30.9%–33.0%	29.5%	28.5%–30.6%	30.8%	30.1%–31.6%
Sefton	21.8%	18.3%–25.4%	22.5%	18.8%–26.3%	22.2%	19.6%–24.7%
Great Britain	24.3%	24.0%–24.5%	23.1%	22.8%–23.4%	23.7%	23.5%–23.9%

⁽¹⁸⁾ Working age is defined as all males aged 16–64 and females aged 16–59.

⁽¹⁹⁾ NVQ level 4 or above covers postgraduates, first degrees, HNDs and other undergraduate qualifications.

⁽²⁰⁾ The confidence interval figures show in the answer indicate the potential margin or error of the data for each area, given that the LFS is a sample survey and that estimated populations for each area are therefore subject to sampling variations.

1 Sept 2003 : Column 725W

Departmental Staff

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many staff the Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which the Department is responsible had in each year since 1997; and what the cost of those staff was in each of those years. [122260]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Data on staffing levels in the Civil Service are collected from departments and agencies twice-yearly, in April and October. Headline figures are published under National Statistics guidelines via a press notice. Those for October 2002 were published on 27 February 2003.

A copy of the press notice, accompanying media brief and supporting tables is available on the world wide web at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics. Copies of these documents are also placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

More detailed information on the Civil Service is published annually in Civil Service Statistics, copies of which are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. The last

1 Sept 2003 : Column 726W

edition, based on April 2001 data, was published in June 2002. The next edition, based on April 2002 data, is due to be published at the end of July 2003.

Staffing costs for my Department for the years in question were as follows.

	£ million
1997/98	100.43
1998/99	107.98
1999/00	116.81
2000/01	133.95
2001/02	124.12

The figures exclude the staffing costs of Departmental staff employed in and paid by Government Offices, which are not held centrally.

Cabinet Office publishes information on non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) in its annual publication Public Bodies. The information includes details of the number of staff employed by each NDPB at 31 March each year. Public Bodies 2002 was published in January 2003. Copies of Public Bodies published each year since 1997 are available in the Libraries of both Houses.

Staffing costs of NDPBs for which my Department is responsible are listed in the following table:

£ million

NDPB	1997/98	1998/99	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02
Adult Learning Inspectorate	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	8.00
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency	2.52	2.42	2.73	3.11	3.22
Construction Industry Training Board(21)	18.71	19.98	21.15	23.21	26.73
Engineering Construction Industry Training Board(21)	1.05	1.04	1.27	1.29	1.34
Higher Education Funding Council	5.06	5.13	6.05	6.90	7.80
Investors in People UK Ltd.	0.80	0.88	1.01	1.09	1.31
Learning and Skills Council	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	135.00
National College for School Leadership	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	2.22
Qualifications and, Curriculum Authority	n/a	14.27	15.08	15.51	19.09
Student Loans Company	5.62	6.80	9.35	10.42	12.20
Sector Skills Development Agency	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Teacher Training Agency	2.45	2.84	3.03	3.63	5.32

⁽²¹⁾ financial year ends 31 December

n/a—NDPB not in existence at that time.

Disabled Students

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of university students were registered disabled for courses commencing in (a) autumn 2000, (b) autumn 2001 and (c) autumn 2002. [117381]

Alan Johnson: The available information is only collected for UK domiciled students and is based on the student's own assessment of whether he or she has a disability and so does not necessarily indicate that the student is registered disabled.

The data for the last three available years are given in the table. Data for the academic year 2002/03 will be available from December 2003.

UK domiciled higher education students recorded as having a disability, from 1999/2000 to 2001/02

	Academic year
	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02
Numbers(22)
With a disability	73,168	79,583	89,291
Without a disability	1,431,303	1,510,667	1,575,847
Unknown	100,050	53,615	34,747
Total known	1,504,471	1,590,250	1,665,138
Percentages
With a disability	5	5	5
Without a disability	95	95	95
Total known	100	100	100

⁽²²⁾ Includes postgraduates and undergraduatesSource:

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

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E-learning

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will publish the consultation document on the national e-learning strategy. [126791]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The consultation document Towards a Unified e-Learning Strategy' was published on Tuesday 8 July 2003. Copies of the document are available in the House of Commons Library and can also be downloaded from the website www.dfes.gov.uk/elearningstrategy.

E2E Programme

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress on the E2E programme. [126781]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: From 1 August 2003, Entry to Employment (E2E) will be nationally established across all 47 local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) areas. Operational and funding guidance has been produced for E2E and all local LSCs have now contracted with providers to deliver E2E.

Skills Strategy

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the role of the National Employment Panel in implementing the skills strategy. [126794]

Mr. Charles Clarke: 21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential sets out the National Employment Panel's role in implementing the Skills Strategy. The Panel will work with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education and Skills to consider how best to strengthen the links between placing people in jobs and supporting claimants in gaining skills for sustainable employment. The Panel will also review how best to help those on inactive benefits (some of whom have been out of the labour market for a long time) to develop their job-related skills and qualifications where this provides a route out of benefit dependency. The Panel will make recommendations by the end of 2003.

The National Employment Panel will also continue to give advice to Ministers for Education and Skills and for Work and Pensions on issues concerning the interface between skills and employment policy. Where relevant, this advice will be considered by the Skills Alliance.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will make a statement on the role of the National Skills Strategy in implementing the European Employment Strategy; [126795]

(2) if he will indicate how the proposals in the Skills Strategy (Cm 5810) take forward the European economic reform agenda agreed at Lisbon in 2000 in (a) domestic and (b) international context. [126800]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: In elaborating the Lisbon agenda, the European Council has set targets to raise the overall level of skills across the European Union. Member states contribute to the achievement of these targets through their own national strategies and policies. The Skills Strategy will contribute particularly by raising the skill levels and employability of adults in this country

1 Sept 2003 : Column 728W

through the new entitlement to free tuition for adults seeking their first level 2 qualification, increased support for higher level skills in areas of sectoral or regional priority and by helping adults gain ICT skills as a third basic skill alongside literacy and numeracy.

Within the overall Lisbon agenda, the European Employment Strategy (EES) provides a framework for reaching key Lisbon employment rate targets. Under the EES, member states develop their national employment strategies and policies in the light of the shared priorities agreed at EU level. For the UK these include providing appropriate guidance in the context of initial training and lifelong learning, modernising the apprenticeship system, tackling poor basic skills and promoting better access to learning for adults, including through the promotion of e-learning. These are all being addressed in the Skills Strategy, which will therefore contribute to the EES by equipping workers in this country with the skills they need for lifetime employability and providing other member states with a model for how to develop the skills base demanded by the modern labour market.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will establish a strategic communications group to develop a plan for skills. [126796]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: My Department will establish the Strategic Communications Group in the near future so that a communication and marketing plan for skills can be agreed by the end of this year, as set out in the Skills White Paper.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how he defines (a) low skills equilibrium and (b) high skills equilibrium as referred to in the Skills White Paper. [126797]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The low skills equilibrium theory is where, due to adaptation over a number of years to the poor availability of skills in the work force, UK companies often engage in producing more basic, less customised and less skill intensive products than their competitors overseas. This reduces the incentives for individuals and employers to acquire skills, thus becomes self-reinforcing. As we set out in the Underlying Evidence paper for the Skills Strategy that we published in March, it is a vicious circle of low skills, low wages and consumer demand for cheap products and services. The Skills Strategy White Paper makes no reference to a high skills equilibrium.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects to publish an Employer Guide to Good Training. [126798]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: We expect the Employer Guide to Good Training will be available in most local Learning and Skills Council areas by September 2004 and in all areas by December 2004.

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