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19 Jul 2005 : Column 1602W—continued
Training Providers
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment she has made of the effect on existing learners of the phasing out of lead and feed arrangements where existing training providers lose their contracts; and what estimate she has made of the number of learners who may be affected; [7121]
(2) what assessment she has made of the commercial implications of requiring training providers to establish a series of regional contracts before they can be consolidated into a single national contract with regional management arrangements; [7122]
(3) if she will make a statement on the commercial implications of replacing lead and feed arrangements in the awarding of contracts to training providers through the Learning and Skills Council with regional contracting in 2005–06 for providers already operating on a (a) regional and (b) national basis. [7123]
Bill Rammell: The 'lead and feed' arrangements were part of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)'s contracting arrangements for 2004–05 and were designed to simplify the relationship between providers and the LSC. As part of its continuing drive to improve quality in work-based learning the LSC has reviewed its contracting arrangements, including 'lead and feed' arrangements and is introducing new systems for 2005–06. I have asked Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, to write to the hon. Gentleman with more detail about these issues. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom to Mr. Stephen O'Brien, dated 8 July 2005:
I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to provide you with a written response to your recent parliamentary questions regarding the LSC's regional contracting arrangements.
Lead and feed arrangements were introduced in August 2003 to meet the requirements of Success for All to introduce single contracts and development plans for national providers. The arrangements also enabled the LSC to meet requests from The
- Association of Learning Providers to reduce the bureaucracy of contracting for large providers who worked across more than one local LSC area.
The arrangements were reviewed in 2004 and found to have met the objective of reducing bureaucracy. However, the review also found that the majority of large providers still had success rates below the national average. The review therefore recommended a move to regional contracting so that the LSC could dedicate more senior resource to support providers in improving their quality and success rates.
Many large, national providers have introduced their own regional management arrangements and the commercial impact of the regional contracting on providers is not expected to be significant.
Regional contracting will not affect the responsibility for local LSC's to decide which providers they contract with and for what programmes. Local LSC's will be making contracting decisions based on providers' past performance and local need. This may result in some providers not having their contract renewed but this will not be as a result of the introduction of regional contracting.
Where the decision not to contract with a provider would result in the displacement of learners, the LSC is fully equipped and ready to place each learner with a new provider so that the learner can complete their original programme with the minimum disruption. It is not possible to calculate the number of learners affected until contracting negotiations have taken place.
The LSC expects that regional contracting will give providers the opportunity to re-direct administration and management time to front line delivery as the number of points at which we liaise reduces from one per local LSC to one per region.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Claim Management Companies
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of service provided by claim management companies. [12475]
Bridget Prentice: The Government have decided that insufficient progress has been made in improving the service provided by claims management companies through effective self-regulation. The Government have therefore announced that it will introduce measures in the Compensation Bill to enable claims management companies to be effectively regulated.
Commonwealth (Voting)
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of British nationals who voted in each of the Commonwealth countries in the last five years. [13503]
Ms Harman: Decisions about voting rights of British citizens resident in other Commonwealth countries are for the individual countries concerned. The number of resident British citizens who may be entitled to vote and who actually do so in elections held in other Commonwealth countries is not therefore collected by the UK Government.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many Commonwealth citizens voted in the last general election. [13504]
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Ms Harman: This information is not collected. No record is kept of the country of origin or nationality of individual voters in UK elections, and it is not possible to differentiate between voters upon this basis.
Data Protection Act
Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on her correspondence with the Information Commissioner concerning (a) the numbers of manual filing systems held by private sector bodies which are subject to the Data Protection Act 1998, (b) whether simple CCTV systems recording individual activities constitute the processing of personal data and (c) whether a record of a name of a public servant, recorded by a public authority amounts to personal data; and if she will place the correspondence in the Library. [9432]
Bridget Prentice: My Department is in regular discussion with the Information Commissioner on these and other matters. I have no plans at present to place any correspondence in the Library.
Freedom of Information
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals have been received by the Information Commissioner's Officer against refusals to divulge information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and how many of those have been determined. [11267]
Bridget Prentice: At 30 June 2005, the total number of appeals received by the Office of the Information Commissioner was 1,157, of which 224 have been determined.
Management Consultancies
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which five management consultancies received the highest value of contracts awarded by her Department in each of the last three years; and what the total value was of the contracts awarded to each. [12575]
Bridget Prentice: My Department has let consultancy contracts with the five following companies in the financial years shown, to the aggregate values indicated. Figures for financial year 2004–05 are not currently available.
My Department uses consultants for the provision of expert professional advice and support on specific, time-limited tasks, usually in connection with projects, but sometimes in support of the ongoing operation of the Department.
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The levels of expenditure reflects the wide-ranging and fast-paced programme to modernise the Department's work, to increase efficiency, provide better customer service, and value for money for the taxpayer.
Delivering such a programme, in the most effective and efficient way, has necessitated the use of external expertise and skills to supplement the Department's own resources.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what her Department's total spending on management consultants has been in each of the last three years. [13098]
Bridget Prentice: From April 2001 until March 2004, my Department's expenditure with management consultants was as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 6.5 |
| 2002–03 | 5.7 |
| 2003–04 | 9.0 |
Expenditure reflects the wide-ranging and fast-paced programme to modernise the Department's work, to increase efficiency, provide better customer service, and value for money for the taxpayer.
My Department uses consultants for the provision of expert professional advice and support on specific, time-limited tasks, usually in connection with projects, but sometimes in support of the ongoing operation of the Department.
Figures for the financial year 2004–05 are not currently available.
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