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20 Apr 2004 : Column 468W—continued
National Minimum Wage
Huw Irranca Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if she will make a statement on the impact of the introduction of the national minimum wage for 16- to 17-year-olds on combating the exploitation of young people by employers. [164551]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The Government announced on 15 March 2004 that we will be introducing a new minimum wage rate for 16- to 17-year-old workers at £3.00 per hour with effect from 1 October 2004. Apprentices aged 16 and 17 will be excluded from the new rate. The great majority of young workers are already being paid in excess of the new rate, but this should help prevent the exploitation of young workers by a minority of employers. The Government run a national publicity campaign each autumn to publicise increases in the minimum wage and will be considering how best to publicise the new rate as part of that campaign.
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Focus Groups and Opinion Polls
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what her estimate is of total expenditure by her Department on (a) focus groups and (b) opinion polls in each year from 1995–96 to 2003–04; and if she will make a statement. [162752]
Ms Hewitt: The Department does not centrally collect the information sought at the required level of detail and to provide it would entail disproportionate cost because of the need to ask all Directors in the DTI, plus agencies and associated non-departmental public bodies, to attempt to provide details of each survey and piece of research commissioned since 1995.
Working Time Directive
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what assessment she has made of (a) implementation of the Working Time Directive in other EU member states and (b) costs to business in other EU member states of complying with the Working Time Directive. [164582]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Other EU member states have all implemented the Working Time Directive. From discussions with them, I know they have used the flexibilities available in the Directive in different ways, depending on their national circumstances and traditions, but I have made no formal assessment of this. I do not have figures for the cost to businesses for other EU member states.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what assessment she has made of the implications for the competitiveness of UK industry of complying with the Working Time Directive. [164583]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government have put in place a comprehensive set of measures aimed at raising competitiveness and closing the UK's productivity gap with major competitors. The UK economy has grown faster than the G7 average in five of the last six years. Since the Working Time Directive applies to all European Union members it is unlikely to put the UK at a competitive disadvantage with these competitors.
British American Tobacco
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what (a) resource budget, (b) administration costs and (c) staff numbers are dedicated to the Companies Act investigation into British American Tobacco. [165422]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 19 April 2004]: As the inquiries have been concluded, no resources are currently dedicated to the Companies Act investigation into British American Tobacco Plc. The investigation was carried out internally by members of Companies Investigation Branch and there are no separate cost breakdowns.
Companies Investigation Branch does not disclose operational matters such as the numbers of staff dedicated to any particular inquiry.
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Civil Servants
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, whether the number of jobs in her Department that are to be (a) cut and (b) relocated are the same as the numbers given her Department's recent Business Plan 2004–07. [165119]
Ms Hewitt: The DTI business plan states that we will reduce the number of people in the Department's headquarters by 7 per cent by April 2005 and by 10 per cent by April 2006.
We have also established an Efficiency Project which has developed proposals to improve further the way we work. These proposals would deliver a further 4 per cent reduction in posts by April 2008 (to 14 per cent) and 18 per cent of posts relocated outside London and the South East by April 2010. They are dependent on sufficient funding being available to meet the costs of change.
Trade (Far East)
Mr. Rosindell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what steps her Department is taking to promote trade with Far Eastern countries. [165543]
Mr. Mike O'Brien : Working with business, UK Trade and Investment has developed a global strategy for each industry sector, targeting markets, including many in the Far East, where there are felt to be significant opportunities for UK industry. A comprehensive package of trade development measures, including subsidised trade missions, trade fairs, help to find agents/distributors etc, are available to eligible UK companies.
Invoices (Late Payment)
Bob Spink : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what plans she has to re-examine legislation relating to the late payment of invoices; and if she will make a statement. [163591]
Nigel Griffiths : There are no current plans to re-examine the late payment legislation.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Secondments
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) KPMG have made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been to those firms; and what (a) periods and (b) tasks. [156918]
Mr. Charles Clarke
: Since 2001, PricewaterhouseCoopers have made two inward secondments to the Department, one from October 2000–September 2001 in the Connexions Service and the other from July 2002–March 2003 in the Sure Start Unit. Deloitte & Touche have made one secondment to the Department from November 2001–March 2004 in the Sure Start Unit. Ernst and Young have made one
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secondment to the Department from October 2000–March 2001 in School Leadership Division. There were no secondments from KPMG to the Department.
There were no secondments from my Department to any of the companies listed during the period.
School Transport
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures in the draft School Transport Bill will ensure that pupils attending denominational schools of their particular faith are not put at a disadvantage for home-school transport arrangements. [165482]
Alan Johnson : The draft School Transport Bill contains powers that will allow Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to operate school travel schemes. The only group of pupils specifically protected in the draft Bill is those entitled to free school meals, who are protected from charges provided they attend their nearest suitable school. However, in the draft prospectus that was published alongside the draft Bill we remind LEAs that local schemes must comply with the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires LEAs to take account of the religious and philosophical beliefs of parents, particularly in respect of pupils from low income families who will probably depend on public transport to get to school.
It is important that parents can choose a school in accordance with their religious convictions and in approving schemes, we will not expect LEAs to disturb well established arrangements for denominational transport, particularly where they are associated with local agreements or understandings about the sitting of denominational schools.
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Postgraduate Study
Chris Grayling : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many graduates have chosen to continue in higher education for a masters' year in each of the past ten years. [152630]
Alan Johnson : The latest available information, showing newly qualified graduates who went on to postgraduate study, is shown in the table. Comparable figures for earlier years are not held centrally. Figures for 2002–03 will be available in August 2004.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 15,550 |
| 1995–96 | 15,585 |
| 1996–97 | 15,095 |
| 1997–98 | 15,525 |
| 1998–99 | 16,285 |
| 1999–2000 | 15,670 |
| 2000–01 | 16,005 |
| 2001–02 | 16,400 |
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agenct's First Destinations Record.
(6) Covers taught and research higher degrees.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many research graduates have been recruited by universities in (a) science, (b) engineering, (c) technology and (d) mathematics in each of the past 10 years. [152631]
Alan Johnson: The latest available information is shown in the table. Figures for earlier years are not available centrally.
| Subject of course: | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Science(8) | Engineering | Technology | Mathematical Sciences | Other subjects | All subjects | |
| 1994–985 | 9,575 | 2,555 | 535 | 500 | 8,243 | 21,408 |
| 1995–96 | 8,852 | 2,397 | 476 | 550 | 8,954 | 21,229 |
| 1996–97 | 8,662 | 2,380 | 469 | 508 | 8,934 | 20,953 |
| 1997–98 | 9,181 | 2,153 | 507 | 501 | 8,726 | 21,068 |
| 1998–99 | 11,070 | 2,676 | 745 | 513 | 10,256 | 25,260 |
| 1999–2000 | 10,843 | 2,604 | 734 | 554 | 10,428 | 25,163 |
| 2000-01 | 11,007 | 2,936 | 591 | 529 | 10,916 | 25,979 |
| 2001–02 | 11,341 | 2,724 | 519 | 638 | 10,532 | 25,754 |
| 2002–03(9) | 11,781 | 2,827 | 542 | 671 | 10,449 | 26,271 |
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record.
1 Covers UK and overseas students taking Doctorates, Masters and other postgraduate courses mainly by research.
(7)Covers Medicine and Dentistry, subjects allied to Medicine, Biological Sciences, Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects, Physical Sciences, Computer Sciences, Architecture, Building and Planning.
(8)Provisional.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportions of state-supported PhD students beginning their courses in each of the last 10 years have studied scientific subjects. [152633]
Alan Johnson: The latest available information, for UK and EU students entering PhD courses in the UK, is shown in the table. Figures for earlier years are not available centrally.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record.
1 Covers Medicine and Dentistry, subjects allied to Medicine, Biological Sciences, Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects, Physical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Computer Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Architecture, Building and Planning.
(9)Provisional.
20 Apr 2004 : Column 473W
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