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Telephone Service Providers

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many telephone service providers have had more than 50 complaints made against them for potential breach of Telephone Preference Service regulations. [61260]

Alun Michael: The Information Commissioner is responsible for administering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 of these Regulations relates to unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls. Where a complaint is made about a potential breach of Regulation 21, the alleged breach is considered to have been committed by the instigator of the marketing call rather than the telephone service provider who has provided the service by which the call was made. While the Commissioner's Office have received complaints about potential breaches of Regulation 21 which have allegedly been committed by organisations that would be classed as telephone service providers, the nature of the casework management system used makes it impossible to identify the number of telephone service providers about which the ICO has received more than 50 complaints. They are looking to develop this function in their casework management system in the future.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints have been made (a) through the Direct Marketing Association and (b) directly by members of the public against telephone service providers for potential breach of Telephone Preference Service regulations. [61261]

Alun Michael: The Information Commissioner is responsible for administering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 of these Regulations relates to unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls. Where a complaint is made to the Information Commissioner's Office about a potential breach of Regulation 21, the alleged breach is considered to have been committed by the instigator of the marketing call rather than the telephone service provider who has provided the service by which the call was made.
 
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The Information Commissioner receives complaints directly from individual and corporate subscribers regarding alleged breaches of Regulation 21. He does not receive complaints through the Direct Marketing Association and the Association does not itself log complaints but refers them to the Information Commissioner.

Due to the nature of the casework management system used by the Information Commissioner's Office they are at present unable to identify the number of complaints received about a particular sector of industry such as telephone service providers. The casework management system used can be used only to identify the number of complaints received about a particular named organisation or the total number of complaints received about alleged breaches of Regulation 21.1 am informed by the Information Commissioner that direct complaints received and dealt with about alleged breaches of Regulation 21 were as follows:

	2004	2005
Q1	28	336
Q2	44	397
Q3	213	184
Q4	308	96

Figures before 2004 are not available due to the casework management system previously operated by the Commissioner's Office.

WEEE Directive

Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the likely value of penalties to be applied to the UK by the EU for delays in implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [60901]

Malcolm Wicks: The Government anticipates implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive within a timescale that would avoid the application of penalties.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funds have been made available for adult education courses in Peterborough in 2005–06; and what percentage change this represents from the previous year. [45466]

Bill Rammell: The Department allocates funds for the post-16 education and training sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) working through 47 local offices. The LSC was established in 2001 bringing the planning and funding of post-16 education together under one body within a framework set by Government. In 2005–06 we plan to spend £2,851 million on the main education and training programmes for adults, an increase of £183 million or 7 per cent. on the comparable figure for 2004–05. The Department does not hold figures for adult education funding at local level. Mark
 
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Haysom, the council's chief executive, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment the Learning and Skills Council has made of the socio-economic status of adult learners in (a) further education and (b) adult and community learning in the academic year (i)2002–03, (ii) 2003–04 and (iii) 2004–05. [58884]

Phil Hope [holding answer 16 March 2006]: I am not aware of any assessment undertaken by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) of the socio-economic status of adult learners. Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive has written to my hon. Friend with further information and a copy of his letter has been placed in the House Library.

Care Leavers

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people in Essex who left care in 2005 stayed (a) in their own dwellings, (b) with friends or family, (c) in foyer accommodation, (d) in hostels and (e) in bed and breakfast accommodation. [59175]

Maria Eagle: The Department will be releasing national and local authority level figures on looked after children in a Statistical Volume on 30 March 2006. Figures for looked after children aged 16 and over will be available on the Department's website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000646/index. html.

National and local authority figures for all children looked after will be available after this date.

I will write to the hon. Member and provide him with the available information he has requested immediately thereafter.

Departmental Entertainment

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much her Department's entertainment allowance is for 2005–06; what rules govern its use; and if she will make a statement. [59812]

Bill Rammell: The Department adheres to guidance on financial procedures and propriety for expenditure on official entertainment which are based on the principles set out in Government Accounting. While there is no separate departmental allowance for entertainment, the guidance states that approval must be sought in advance from the appropriate director or board member for all entertainment expenses. The Department's provisional outturn for expenditure on entertainment for 2005–06 is £35,000.

Departmental Finance

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases of financial irregularities have been recorded in her Department in each of the last five financial years; and if she will make a statement. [57550]

 
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Bill Rammell: The Department does not separately identify losses which are due to financial irregularities and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Department has data for the last four financial years which relate to frauds incurring an identified loss. This has been extracted from the annual departmental return to Treasury, which is used to inform the Treasury Fraud Report. The records held by the Department cover years 2001/02 to 2004/05.

	Number of cases
2001/02	7
2002/03	14
2003/04	7
2004/05	4
Total	32

Kent County Council (Education)

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she last commissioned an audit of Kent county council's education department. [61103]

Jacqui Smith: The most recent inspections of Kent education services were an Ofsted inspection of the local education authority which reported in October 2000, and the 2005 annual performance assessment of the authority's children's services by Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. A joint area review of children's services in Kent, by Ofsted and other inspectorates and commissions, will take place in financial year 2007–08.

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