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4 Jul 2005 : Column 150W—continued
Alcohol Education
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what resources her Department has given to schools for educating children about the effects of alcohol for the 2004–05 academic year. [8206]
Jacqui Smith: The Department supports schools in helping them decide which resources to choose when educating children about the effects of alcohol, for example through the resources referenced in the PSHE section of the Department's Teachernet website. However, it is up to individual schools and teachers to determine the resources that are appropriate to assist them in delivering this teaching, having regard to the needs of their pupils and local communities.
The statutory national curriculum science order requires that all pupils should learn about the effects of alcohol and other drugs. The framework for Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) provides the context for developing drug, alcohol and tobacco education beyond this. Alcohol education in schools has
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an essential role to play in enabling pupils to develop their knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding about alcohol.
Children's Commissioner for Wales
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what memoranda of understanding have been issued to address (a) issues arising from children in Wales appealing to the Children's Commissioner for Wales on non-devolved matters and (b) cross-border issues. [8256]
The Beverley Hughes [holding answer 30 June 2005]: The Children's Commissioner for England's remit is set out in the Children Act 2004. In line with the Devolution Settlements, the Children's Commissioner has the function of promoting awareness of the views and interests of children in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in so far as they relate to reserved matters.
The existing responsibilities of the Commissioners in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are unchanged, and children throughout the UK will in the first instance be able to approach their local commissioner on any matter, devolved or reserved. Children will not be expected to know the intricacies of the various devolution settlements.
We anticipated that the various UK Commissioners would draw up their own co-operation agreements appropriate to local circumstances but we have left them to act as they saw fit in this respect.
The Children's Commissioner, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, has met with the other UK Commissioners and discussed this issue with them. His office is currently working on drafting a memorandum of understanding. The Commissioner is due to meet with the other Commissioners in August and ways of working together will be a key area of discussion.
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what memoranda of understanding have been issued to ensure effective communication between the Children's Commissioner for England and the Children's Commissioner for Wales. [8257]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 30 June 2005]: The Children's Commissioner for England's remit is set out in the Children Act 2004. In line with the Devolution Settlements, the Children's Commissioner for England has the function of promoting awareness of the views and interests of children in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in so far as they relate to reserved matters.
The existing responsibilities of the Commissioners in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are unchanged, and children throughout the UK will in the first instance be able to approach their local commissioner on any matter, devolved or reserved. Children will not be expected to know the intricacies of the various devolution settlements.
Furthermore, the Children Act explicitly states that when the Children's Commissioner considers reserved matters, he must take account of the views of, and any work undertaken by" the Commissioners in the Devolved Administrations. The Government have
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always emphasised that the UK Commissioners should be left to draw up any further co-operation agreements among themselves, in order that they could be made appropriate to local circumstances.
The Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, has met with the other UK Commissioners and discussed this issue with them. His office is currently working on drafting a memorandum of understanding. The Commissioner is due to meet with the other Commissioners in August and ways of working together will be a key area of discussion.
Consultants
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the auditors' report on the use of consultants within her Department will be published; and if she will make a statement. [5936]
Maria Eagle: Internal audit reports are produced for internal management purposes and are not published.
As part of this audit, which was carried out jointly with the National Audit Office, a good practice guide on the engagement and use of consultants was prepared. This has been distributed to all divisions in the Department. A copy of this guide will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what value for money procedures the Department uses when considering the use of consultants. [6350]
Maria Eagle: My Department uses the following value for money procedures when considering the use of consultants.
Firstly, we undertake a process to establish the mostappropriate way of meeting a requirement. This includes a consideration of the options including using existing staff, fixed term appointments and secondees. Consultants will only be engaged when they can provide:
Secondly, if a decision is made to engage a consultant a further process is undertaken to establish the most appropriate way of selection. This may be through (a) a competitive tender, (b) selecting from either the Department's, Office of Government Commerce's or another Government Department's framework agreement, or (c) by single tendering where certain qualifying conditions are met. The conditions for single tendering are where:
the cost of open or selective tendering would exceed the potential for saving, e.g. based on the results of a recent tender exercise;
you have received an unsolicited proposal that contains ideas of concepts that you wish to use because it meets your needs, these ideas are the property of the tenderer and may be legally protected under intellectual property rights.
In all cases proposals from consultants are systematically evaluated on a whole life cost basis with a view to obtaining best value for money using pre-prepared criteria. Evaluation looks at the economic, financial and technical capability of the consultant and includes among others, financial stability of the organisation, past experience, management structure, key personnel, ability to meet the requirement, level of quality and costs.
As mentioned earlier my Department maintains a list of consultancy framework providers that have been tendered through the Official Journal of the European Union and which meets most of the external consultancy needs of the Department. These provide additional value for money savings through the competitive prices obtained during the competition and also by removing the administrative burden of each requirement being tendered separately. Office of Government Commerce and certain other Government Departments maintain similar lists.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of education maintenance allowances in increasing (a) participation and (b) attainment in (i) school sixth forms, (ii) sixth form colleges and (iii)colleges of further education. [8468]
Maria Eagle: The evaluation of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) was one of the most extensive ever undertaken. It was piloted in 10 areas and 11 control areas and involved following two cohorts of young people over a four year period. The results showed that EMA increased participation in further education among eligible 16-year-olds in the pilot areas by 5.9 percentage points. This is equivalent to 3.8 percentage points across the whole cohort nationally. The impact was highest among groups with previously lowest participation rates, particularly young men, those with moderate or lower attainment at age 16 and those from lower socio-economic groups.
EMA was rolled out for 16-year-olds in all areas from September 2004 and will be fully rolled out for all 16 to 18-year-olds by 2006/07. The DfES and LSC are carefully monitoring progress and will be undertaking continuing work to assess the effectiveness of EMA. To date, EMA has been paid to a total of 296,000 young people, including 216,000 16-year-olds, which is over 99 per cent. of the numbers projected.
Evaluation information is not readily available to show the impact of EMA on participation separately in school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and colleges of further education. However, the latest participation figures which were published today (SFR 27/2005) show that, in 2004, of the 73.3 per cent. of 16-year-olds in full-time education, 29.5 per cent. are in school sixth forms, 10.4 per cent. are in sixth form colleges and 27 per cent. are in colleges of further education. A further 6.4 per
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cent. are in independent schools or HE institutions. The increases, in particular over 2003 across different post-16 providers, are similar.
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