| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Nov 2003 : Column 995W—continued
Royal Mail Group
Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list foreign acquisitions by the Royal Mail Group since May 1997; what the cost of the acquisition was in each case; what their contribution to the Royal Mail Group's profit and loss account was in the most recent period for which figures are available; which acquisitions have since been divested from Royal Mail; and what the net contribution to the Royal Mail Group was in such cases. [139854]
Mr. Timms: Royal Mail's overseas investments are the responsibility of the Royal Mail Board. I have therefore asked the Deputy Chairman to reply direct to my hon. Friend.
Small Business Council
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) cost and (b) remit of the Small Business Council was in 2002–03; what use has been made of the council by businesses in Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland; and if she will make a statement. [139570]
Nigel Griffiths: The cost of the Service in 2002–03 in millions was £349 million, which includes programme budgets.
Information about the use of the service in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency is not collected separately. In the Middlesbrough area the Tees Valley Business Link has helped 465 businesses to start up and has provided advice and guidance to 1,151 businesses during 2002–03. Further information is available from Tees Valley Business Link.
The remit of the Small Business Service is to help build an enterprise society in which small firms of all kinds thrive and achieve their potential, with an increase in the number of people considering going into business, an improvement in the overall productivity of small firms, and more enterprise in disadvantaged communities.
19 Nov 2003 : Column 996W
The SBS Annual Report (HC 807) placed in the Libraries of the House on 14 July 2003 gives an overview of national progress, costs and impact.
Small Loans Guarantee Fund
Sir Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) applications have been received and (b) awards have been granted by the Small Loans Guarantee Fund in the last six years for which figures are available within (i) the Scottish Borders, (ii) Scotland and (iii) the UK. [139484]
Nigel Griffiths: Since 1997, 29,205 UK businesses have received loan guarantees through this scheme.
The total number of loans guaranteed for the Scottish Borders, Scotland and the UK over the last six years are shown in the following table.
| Borders | Scotland | UK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | |||
| (April to September) | 4 | 401 | 2,866 |
| Guaranteed | |||
| 2002–03 | |||
| Guaranteed | 10 | 558 | 3,916 |
| 2001–02 | |||
| Guaranteed | 16 | 698 | 4,269 |
| 2000–01 | |||
| Guaranteed | 19 | 621 | 4,312 |
| 1999–2000 | |||
| Guaranteed | 23 | 526 | 4,279 |
| 1998–99 | |||
| Guaranteed | 16 | 408 | 4,482 |
| 1997–98 | |||
| Guaranteed | 16 | 440 | 5,081 |
| Total | 104 | 3,652 | 29,205 |
There is no figure for the number of loan applications made to banks and other lenders.
Training
Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Department for Education and Skills, (b) the Learning Skills Council, (c) voluntary sector training providers and (d) other interested parties regarding training and re-training in manufacturing and industry; and if she will make a statement. [139426]
Jacqui Smith: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, works closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, meeting regularly to discuss areas of joint interest. They jointly lead and chair the Skills Alliance, which brings Government together with key Social and Economic partners, and delivery agencies, including the LSC and SSDA, to drive the implementation of the Government's Skills Strategy.
19 Nov 2003 : Column 997W
The Skills Strategy, published in July 2003, aims to ensure that employers have the right skills to support the success of their businesses and organisations, and individuals have the skills they need to be both employable and personally fulfilled.
Through the Government's Manufacturing Strategy we are working closely with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that UK manufacturing has the skills it needs as it increasingly moves to high value, knowledge intensive operations.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Higher Education White Paper
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his estimate is of the additional cost of implementing the proposals in the higher education White Paper in the first three years that they come into effect] [139752]
Alan Johnson: We plan to publish a Regulatory Impact Assessment before the end of the year which will set out the impact of this change alongside the financial implications of the other policies announced in the Higher Education White Paper.
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his Answer of 12 November, Official Report, columns. 354–5W, on the Higher Education White Paper, how many responses to the consultation on the White Paper on Higher Education were received from honourable Members; how many were included in the total in the Government's response to the consultation; and how many other responses received by (a) his Department and (b) other Government Departments and agencies within the time limit for the consultation were not included in the total in the Government's response. [139453]
Alan Johnson: Seven hon. Members responded to the invitation to comment on the White Paper and were included in the total in the Government's commentary of responses.
All other responses similarly were included in the total in the commentary of responses which was published on 28 July 2003.
Non-EU Students
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the 50 (a) universities and (b) further education colleges with the highest numbers of non-European Union students registered for courses, giving the number of non-European Union students registered at each institution for the last year for which figures are available. [131724]
Alan Johnson: The latest available figures are given in the table.
(18) HE figures cover Non-EU overseas students studying HE and FE in English HEIs including the OU, based on a census count as at 1 December.
(19) FE data cover Non-EU overseas students studying HE and FE in English FECs, based on a census count as at 1 November.
Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Learning Skills Council (LSC).
19 Nov 2003 : Column 999W
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what percentage of non-European Union students at (a) further education colleges and (b) universities successfully completed their courses for each of the last five years for which figures are available; [131725]
- (2) if he will list the 50 universities with the lowest percentage of non-European Union students successfully completing their courses, giving the percentage for each institution in the last year for which figures are available. [131726]
Alan Johnson: The information requested is not held centrally.
For universities and other HE sector institutions, the available information on non-completion rates is published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in "Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK", but this information covers UK domiciled students only.
For the FE sector, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) only publish success, retention and achievement rates for those learners funded by the council in further education colleges and external institutions in England. However, the majority of learners from countries outside of the European Union are not funded by the LSC—so figures are not available. Furthermore, the LSC do not publish further education institution success, retention and achievement rates based on less than 500 learners as they can be misleading. In 2001/02, less than 15 further education institutions in England had more than 500 LSC funded non-European Union students.
19 Nov 2003 : Column 1000W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |