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Work Experience Schemes
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action her Department is taking to improve the evaluation of work experience schemes for school children. [700]
Jacqui Smith: Work experience is increasingly important as part of our strategy to engage employers in supporting schools and colleges, but the issue raised is of an operational nature which is a matter for the LSC. Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive, will write to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom to Mr. Boswell, dated 1 July 2005:
I write in response to your Parliamentary Question which has been referred to the LSC, in which you asked the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action is being taken by the Department for Education and Skills to improve the evaluation of work experience schemes for schoolchildren.
Funding for Work Experience is delivered as part of the Education Business Links funding which local offices receive to further the links and understanding between businesses, employers, young people and staff teaching in schools. A significant amount of the total EBL funding supports the 95% of Key Stage 4 pupils who go on placements each year. The majority of these placements are delivered through partnerships between schools and their local Education Business Partnerships. The evaluation of these placements forms part of the contractual arrangements for funding. A number of other agencies; for example QCA and NEBPN are working to ensure quality standards in the delivery of work-experience placements providing resources and support for teachers and students in the evaluation of their experiences.
Work-related Stress
Lynne Featherstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases of work-related stress have been reported in her Department in each of
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the last three years; how much compensation was paid to employees in each year; how many work days were lost due to work-related stress in each year; at what cost; what procedures have been put in place to reduce work-related stress; at what cost; and if she will make a statement. [7861]
Jacqui Smith: My Department takes the health and welfare of all its employees very seriously. Systems and practices are being developed, in line with HSE guidance, to help prevent work related stress occurring and also to identify periods of absence that are connected with employment. This work is ongoing and is at nil additional cost to the Department as staff currently employed to take forward statutory requirements such as this are developing policy, systems and practices.
In addition, we encourage the use of the Department's Employee Assistance Programme for counselling and information. Staff and their managers also use departmental occupational health advisers to provide advice on all areas where health may affect attendance and performance.
My Department has no cases of work related stress to report, no days lost to work related stress and compensation has not been paid to employees for work related stress during the last three years.
Young Offenders
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many hours per day (a) 16 to 18-year-old and (b) over 18-year-old prisoners in each young offenders institution receive of (i) compulsory education, (ii) extra curricular education, (iii) sport and (iv) general exercise; and if she will make a statement. [8047]
Phil Hope: The Prison Service collects data on the time spent by prisoners held in each young offender and juvenile establishment on education and physical education on a weekly basis. Where both juveniles (aged 15 to 17 inclusive) and young adult offenders (aged 18 to 20 inclusive) are held within the same establishment, the Prison Service does not separate the data for the number of hours undertaken by each age group.
Consequently, provision of a detailed breakdown by day for the age groups and by the specific categories requested could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
The following table sets out the weekly average number of hours of education and physical education (PE) undertaken by offenders at each young offender and juvenile establishment in 2004–05.
(81)Establishments holding both juveniles and young adult offenders.
Source:
HMPS
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Altayib Ali Ahmed
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations on the case of Altayib Ali Ahmed sentenced to death in Khartoum. [8418]
Ian Pearson: Our embassy in Khartoum made representations, both bilaterally and through the EU, to the Government of Sudan on this case on 27 June. Following these interventions the Sudanese authorities postponed the execution.
We are resolutely opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances, and raise these concerns with the Government of Sudan on a regular basis. The case also goes against the provisions of the N'djamena Cease-Fire Agreement of 2004 in which the parties agreed to release all prisoners of war and those detained in relation to the conflict. We will continue to follow this case closely.
British Council
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the effect of the shift in status of the British Council from a non-departmental public body to a public corporation on (a) balance sheet departmental liabilities and (b) financial constraints under departmental expenditure limits. [9045]
Mr. Straw: The reclassification of the British Council from a non-departmental body to a public corporation has no effect on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) balance sheet liabilities.
The FCO's financial constraints under departmental expenditure limits (DEL) are unaffected by the British Council's change in status because the FCO's DEL was adjusted to take account of the change.
British Embassies
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total saving to his Department has been in each year since the British embassies in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador were closed. [7034]
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Mr. Straw: The British embassy in Honduras closed in December 2003 and the British embassy in El Salvador closed in August 2003. The British embassy in Guatemala City remains open and the UK's ambassador in Guatemala City is now the non-resident ambassador to Honduras and El Salvador. The British embassy in Nicaragua also closed in March 2004 and the UK's ambassador in Costa Rica is now the non-resident ambassador to Nicaragua.
Since closing the embassies in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua in Financial Year 2003–04, the annual net saving on running costs and staff salaries has been £958,000.
The decision to close the British embassies Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua was based on the need to align our resources with our priorities, to maximise efficiency and ensure that the UK has a cost-effective and flexible network of overseas representation.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will answer the letter dated 19 May from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mukhtar Ali. [7887]
Dr. Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied to the letter on 29 June.
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