---

2 Feb 2005 : Column 924W—continued

Specialist College Status (Coventry)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in the Coventry area have specialist college status. [211985]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Of the 19 maintained secondary schools in Coventry LEA, 12 are designated specialist schools. This includes two which were successful in the latest application round, announced on 26 January.

Youth Clubs/Services

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many youth clubs were available for young people to use in (a) England, (b) Kirklees and (c) Huddersfield in each of the last 10years. [211622]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Youth clubs are delivered locally by local authority youth services and National and local Voluntary youth organisations. Information is not held centrally on the number of youth clubs run by each individual local authority.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding was available for youth services in (a) England and (b) Kirklees in each of the last 10 years. [211699]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The main source of funding for the Youth Service in the past has been within the local government finance settlement and part of the Education Standard Spending Assessment/Formula Spending Shares. Until 2003–04 there was no separately identifiable funding for the Youth Service. From 2003–04 and the introduction of Formula Spending Shares, there has been a Youth and Community sub-block containing unhypothecated resources for the
 
2 Feb 2005 : Column 925W
 
Youth Service, among other items. The figures for England and Kirklees for the Youth and Community sub-block are in the following table. The local authority decides how much of this is spent on the Youth Service.
£ million

	England (including Kirklees)	Kirklees
2003–04	513	4.3
2004–05	539	4.5
2005–06	570	4.7

The Transforming Youth Work Development Fund (TYWDF) provided the following levels of public funding for youth services in England and Kirklees during the years 2002–05
£ million

	England (including Kirklees)	Kirklees
2002–03	20	169,787
2003–04	8.8	65,627
2004–05	8.5	67,556

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) Fund provided the following levels of public funding for youth services in England and Kirklees during the years 2002–05
£ million

	England (including Kirklees)	Kirklees
2002–03	7	57,334
2003–04	8	65,439
2004–05	5.5	44,989

CABINET OFFICE

Crown Servants (Pensions)

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many former crown servants including defence personnel are in receipt of state pensions; and how many of those are payable (a) within the United Kingdom, (b) outside the United Kingdom and (c) in Zimbabwe. [213336]

Mr. Miliband: Information on crown servants who are in receipt of pensions is not collected centrally. However, the civil service pension arrangements provide pensions to people who were formerly employed by Government Departments and agencies. The arrangements also provide pensions to people who were formerly employed as office holders or who worked for certain non-Crown bodies such as non-departmental public bodies. Pensions for the armed forces are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.

As at 31 December 2004, 534,932 pensions were payable under the civil service pension arrangements to people resident in the United Kingdom. A further
 
2 Feb 2005 : Column 926W
 
14,301 were payable to non-UK residents, of whom 13 were resident in Zimbabwe. These figures include pensions payable to widows and widowers.

Newspapers/Periodicals

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the (a) newspapers and (b) periodicals taken by his Department in each year since 1997; and how much the Department spent on each in each year. [207637]

Mr. Miliband: Estimated expenditure on newspapers and periodicals for the Department in each year since 1997 is shown in the table.
£

	Estimated expenditure
1997–98	51,000
1998–99	27,000
1999–2000	16,000
2000–01	76,000
2001–02	73,000
2002–03	90,000
2003–04	75,000

These figures have been taken from expenditure paid to the Department's central supplier of newspapers and periodicals; however, units within the Cabinet Office may use their own arrangements to make such purchases. In these instances the information is not recorded centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.

Public Service Reform

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent discussions he has had with officials from the public sector unions on public service reform. [211885]

Mr. Milburn [holding answer 31 January 2005]: As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster I have not held formal discussions with public sector unions on the subject of public services reform. However, my hon.Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr.Miliband) chairs regular meetings of the Public Services Forum (PSF) which bring together public service unions and employers to discuss reform issues. The forum, established in September 2003 aims to improve the dialogue between unions, Government and public service employers on public services reform.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Age Discrimination

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to protect workers over 65 years from unfair dismissal. [213209]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Under current unfair dismissal rules, employees of any age are entitled to make certain types of unfair dismissal claims where dismissal is for specified reasons. Employees cannot make general unfair dismissal complaints, however, if they have reached their employer's normal retirement age, or, in the
 
2 Feb 2005 : Column 927W
 
absence of a normal retirement age, the age of 65. In its last consultation on the forthcoming age regulations, Age Matters", the Government proposed to abolish this upper age limit. This would mean that employees of all ages would be able to complain about any unfair dismissal. However, dismissal at a justified retirement age for the reason of retirement will potentially be a fair dismissal.

The Government are currently finalising proposals on this matter in the course of preparing regulations to outlaw unjustified age discrimination in employment and vocational training. It aims to consult on the draft regulations later this year. The regulations will come into force on 1 October 2006.

Airbus A380

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the potential for job creation in the UK of the Airbus A380 Project. [213223]

Jacqui Smith: In March 2000, the Government announced that the A380 project was expected to generate, directly and indirectly, some 22,000 new jobs as well as helping to safeguard a further 62,000 jobs on existing Airbus programmes in the UK.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the UK contribution to date has been to the development of the Airbus A380; and how many aircraft will need to be sold for the investment to be recouped. [211384]

Jacqui Smith: HMG has contributed £530 million in repayable Launch Investment to Airbus UK for the design and development of the wings for the A380. The terms of the investment are commercially confidential.

HMG is a strong supporter of Airbus and provided financial support for the A320 and A330/340 programmes. Both have been successful in the market, have repaid their original investment and are contributing strong extra receipts to the Exchequer.

Bank Accounts

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to assist people who are unable to open bank accounts due to a lack of key identification documents, with particular reference to (a) the elderly, (b) the disabled and (c) non-UK nationals. [213389]

Mr. Timms: I have been ask to reply.

The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 require the banks to satisfy themselves as to the identity of their customers. It is important to foster an identification regime that does not constrain access to financial services and deals sensibly and sensitively with special groups.

The UK approach to anti-money laundering controls is flexible and risk-based with controls imposed in a cost-effective and proportionate way. High-level objectives are set out in the Money Laundering Regulations but the details of implementation are left to industry-produced guidance. In the case of the banks this is the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group
 
2 Feb 2005 : Column 928W
 
(JMLSG) Guidance Notes. The JMLSG Guidance Notes provide flexibility for vulnerable groups such as the disabled, those in care homes or sheltered accommodation, and for foreign nationals. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) Money Laundering Sourcebook also includes guidance on financial exclusion, which aims to help relevant firms ensure that, where people cannot reasonably be expected to produce detailed evidence of identity, they are not denied access to financial services, and are able to prove their identity by alternative means.

Last year, FSA set up a working group of key stakeholders to look at the identification issue. The group comprises representatives of trade bodies and practitioners, consumers, government, law enforcement, credit reference agencies and forensic consultants. As part of this work, the FSA published a report in October on customer identification, ID—defusing the issue: A progress report", making proposals to the JMLSG. It proposed in particular including in a revised version of the JMLSG guidance notes, the scope for greater reliance on a single document to confirm ID and how firms should use electronic verification services methods.

---