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Trident Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances the Government would (a) deploy Trident nuclear weapons and (b) deploy Trident nuclear missiles on a first strike basis. [151597]

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Mr. Hoon: As the Government have made clear on many occasions, we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self-defence. As our overall strategy is to ensure uncertainty in the mind of any aggressor about the exact nature of our response, and thus to maintain effective deterrence, we do not define the exact circumstances under which we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons.

We would not use our weapons, whether conventional or nuclear, contrary to international law.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which threats the UK's Trident nuclear weapons are (a) intended to deter and (b) targeted against. [151598]

Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3.11 of the Defence White Paper published in December 2003 (Cm 6041). The UK's nuclear weapons are not targeted at any country.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role of the Trident programme is in combating international terrorism. [151599]

Mr. Hoon: As the Government have made clear on many occasions, we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self-defence. I also refer the hon. Member to paragraph 21 of the SDR New Chapter, published in July 2002 (Cm 5566 vol. 1), where we stated that:

'The UK's nuclear weapons have a continuing use as a means of deterring major strategic military threats, and they have a continuing role in guaranteeing the ultimate security of the UK. But we also want it to be clear, particularly to the leaders of states of concern and terrorist organisations, that all our forces play a part in deterrence, and that we have a broad range of responses available.'

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system is due to come to the end of its service period; when a decision is due on whether to commission a new UK nuclear weapons system to replace the Trident programme when it comes to the end of its service period; and what consultation will be undertaken in advance of a decision on replacement. [151702]

Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3.11 of the Defence White Paper published in December 2003 (Cm 6041). Any decision on the UK's future nuclear deterrent capability will be open to scrutiny and debate in the normal way.

Unexploded Cluster Bombs

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) adults and (b) children under 16 have been (i) killed and (ii) maimed by unexploded cluster bombs dropped by British aircraft in (A) Kosovo, (B) Afghanistan and (C) Iraq since their invasion by coalition forces. [145494]

Mr. Ingram: UK aircraft have not dropped cluster bombs in Afghanistan.

We have no viable means of ascertaining the information for either Kosovo or Iraq.

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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Civil Servants (Disabled People)

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will set out the number of employees in his Department who have a disability, broken down by disability type. [148992]

Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department is an active member of the Cabinet Office led Civil Service Disability Working Group, which was set up in January 2003 to look at disability collection issues, monitoring and non-declaration.

Over 5 per cent. (280) of staff employed in my Department have recorded a disability.

Information on the numbers by type of disability is set out in the table. Details are not published where the numbers are below five in order to protect the privacy of the individual, in line with Exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Disability type	Number
Hearing impairment	43
Learning difficulties	7
Mental illness	5
Mobility impairment	47
Physical coordination difficulties	5
Reduced physical capacity	51
Visual impairment	20
Unknown disability	66

The statistics exclude DfES staff in the Government Office network with a recorded disability where a breakdown by disability type could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Global Gateway for Learning

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on development of the Global Gateway for Learning since the Commonwealth Education Ministers' Conference in October 2003. [151114]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Development of the Global Gateway has continued on schedule since last October. The Global Gateway will be a new one-stop-shop website for UK schools on all aspects of international education. It will also enable UK schools and schools from across the world to develop effective partnerships (e.g. joint curriculum projects, professional development, collaborative opportunities etc.) through a school linking facility. I am pleased to announce that I will formally launch the website on 10 February 2004.

Information Technology

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what cost savings have been made in his Department since the introduction of the Information Technology Procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated. [151051]

Mr. Charles Clarke: A Centre of Excellence in Programme and Project Management was established

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within the Department for Education and Skills in August 2002, to improve the planning and management of improvements in the education system. In June 2003, its remit was extended to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects (including those concerned with procuring IT). As cost benefits for IT procurements will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans and as part of this process methods for measuring savings are being worked out.

Jenny Gray

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) position and (b) role is of Jenny Gray, a civil servant in his Department. [151093]

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Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 26 January 2004]: It is not our policy to comment on the position of individual civil servants.

University for Industry

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which targets have been set by Government for the University for Industry; and what progress has been made in meeting them. [150777]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 26 January 2004]: Stretching targets are agreed annually between my Department and Ufi. They are set at challenging levels and are designed to build upon the achievements of previous years and to maintain Ufi's rapid progress.

The attached table (Annex 1) shows the targets agreed for 2003–04 and the progress made towards them by 31 December 2003.

Annex 1

	Definition	2003–04 Target	Position at 31 December 2003
Number of Learners	The total number of learners starting learndirect courses in 2003–04.	450,000 learners	350,953
Number of enrolments	The total number of enrolments on learndirect courses in 2003–04	1 million enrolments	602,308
New learners	60 per cent. of learners starting their first learndirect course are 'new learners' (i.e. learners that have not engaged in any other learning in the three years prior to registering with learndirect	60 per cent. of learners	50 per cent.
Workforce Development (1) SMEs	Numbers of SMEs sponsoring one or more of their employers on learndirect courses	70,000 SMEs engaged	34,907
Workforce Development (2) SMEs	Number of employees in SMEs enrolling on learndirect courses	200,000 enrolments onlearndirect courses	118,575
Course Portfolio Diversification	Number of Business and Management course enrolments	112,000 enrolments	90,167
Skills for Life achievement	Refers only to achievement of qualifications in England that can be counted towards the Government's 750,000 PSA Skills for Life Target	8,000 achievements	541
Income generation	Ufi will generate £3.7 million from the sale of courses unsubsidised with public money to employers and to individuals	£3.7 million	£995,018
LSC Budget Management	Ufi will use its best endeavours to use all the LSC funding allocated for learndirect provision	By end 31 March 2004,no less than £151 millionof the £159.5 millionmade available by theLSC for learndirectprovision in the financialyear 2003–04 shall havebeen used for the fundingof learndirect provision	£104,338,468
Quality: Hubs and Centres	In 2003–04 Ufi/learndirect will achieve an average inspection grade awarded by the Adult Learning Inspectorate of 2.5	Average ALI inspectiongrade of 2.5	2.89
Quality: Learner Satisfaction	The percentage of learners satisfied with learndirect	87 per cent.	85 per cent.
Users of the learndirect Information and Advice Service	A total of number of helpline callers, web users, emails received and responded to and webchats held	4.7 million	3,726,801
Callers from within Government target range	Calls received by learndirect call centres from callers who are eligible to count towards the Government's level 2 PSA target	550,000	240,304
Quality Information and Advice Service	Percentage canvassed through a rolling customer satisfaction survey who agreed with the statement: "the overall quality of the service was good" (applicable to all IAS users as defined by agreed volume targets)	87 per cent.	93 per cent.

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