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11 Jan 2007 : Column 714W—continued
School Meals
12. Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact of the introduction of guidelines on deep-fried products in school meals on school children's diets. [114160]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department has not made such an assessment.
The School Food Trust will have preliminary findings related to changes in the provision of school food available later this year. However, it will not be possible to separate the impact of the food-based standard related to deep-fried products from the other food-based standards. Preliminary results on children’s consumption will be available in 2009 (for primary schools) and in 2010 (for secondary schools).
Pay Rates
13. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he has taken to eliminate pay differences between lecturers in further education and teachers in schools. [114161]
Bill Rammell: The FE White Paper (2006) reinforced the commitment to close the funding gap between schools and colleges. Funding for FE has increased by 48 per cent. in real terms between 1997 and 2005. Over the next two years (2006-07 and 2007-08) funding for FE participation will increase in cash terms by over £300 million (7 per cent.).
FE providers are, however, independent organisations. We believe it is important that each provider retains the discretion to make their own decisions about pay for their staff, within their overall budget.
Leitch Report
14. James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the findings of the Leitch Report on skills. [114162]
Bill Rammell: I warmly welcome the Leitch review and its stretching skills ambitions for 2020. Its analysis is clear; if we are to compete in the global economy of 2020, we must have a world-class skills base. The Government have accepted the recommendations of the Report; now there must be shared responsibility for delivering the ambition. Employers, individuals and Government must work together to transform the level of investment in skills. We will publish an implementation plan in the context of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement later this year.
Children's Centres
15. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made in delivering health-visiting and maternity services through children’s centres. [114163]
Beverley Hughes: We now have over 1050 Sure Start Children’s Centres providing a range of multi-agency support services for families with young children. We would expect to see health-visiting and maternity services provided from children’s centres, or have strong links with centres. It is for Primary Care Trusts in partnership with local authorities to make decisions about which health services should be delivered through children’s centres, but we want to see a strong health presence particularly in centres in more disadvantaged areas, as well as PCT’s running children’s centres as the lead agency.
17. Dr. Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made towards the target of delivering a children’s centre in every community by 2010. [114165]
Beverley Hughes: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Kitty Ussher).
Pupil Exclusions
16. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans to collect information about school exclusions on a school-by-school basis. [114164]
Jim Knight: The Department already collects this information. We publish the exclusions data at local authority rather than at school level, because there is more demand for them at local authority level and we can be more confident of their robustness and reliability at that level.
Swimming
18. Mr. Gray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the national curriculum
requirement on swimming will be financed in the next two financial years. [114166]
Mr. Dhanda: Swimming is a compulsory part of the national curriculum for physical education in primary schools. Funding for schools to deliver their statutory responsibilities, including delivery of the national curriculum, is passed to schools through their delegated budgets.
Post-16 Education
19. Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what comparative assessment he has made of the objectives of the education provided to 16 to 18-year-olds by technical colleges and sixth-forms; and if he will make a statement. [114167]
Jim Knight: There is no single pattern of post-16 provision that meets the needs of all 16 to 19-year-old learners. Our plans for a transformed 14-19 phase include a rich choice of learning opportunities—whether in schools, colleges or in other settings—from which young people can choose what best meets their needs, aptitudes and aspirations. Different settings may have different learning objectives but institutions will need to cooperate to provide a broad and high quality offer that meets the needs of all young people in their area.
Adult Education
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget allocation for adult education was in (a) England and (b) Shropshire in each year since 1997. [109983]
Phil Hope: The Department allocates funds for education and training in the post-16 learning and skills sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC was established in 2001 bringing the planning and funding of post-16 education together under one body.
In 2001-02 the Learning and Skills Council spent £2,236 million on adult programmes including FE, Work-Based Learning, Adult and Community Learning and other programmes. This increased to £2,427 million in 2002-03, £2,866 million in 2003-04, £2,999 million in 2004-05 and £3,264 million for 2005-06. Adult funding for Shropshire has increased from £24.99 million in 2003-04 to £28.55 million in 2004-05 and £30.56 million in 2005-06. Due to changes in the collection of information local figures for earlier years are not available. Figures for adult education for the period 1997-2001 are not comparable as the budget was split between a range of different organisations.
Age Discrimination
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether his Department has had discussions with the Learning and Skills Council on the implications of the new age discrimination legislation for state-funded work-based learning, including apprenticeships; and if he will publish guidance for training providers on the effects of that legislation. [113951]
Phil Hope: The new age discrimination legislation is the responsibility of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The Learning and Skills Council has advised that training providers should seek advice and guidance on the new legislation from the DTI.
The DTI has produced guidance on age discrimination including a guide for providers of vocational training. This guidance is available to download from its website at:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/discrimination/age-discrimination/page26492.html
A Guide for Providers of Vocational Training
What does ‘Vocational training’ mean?
For the purposes of the regulations, the term ‘vocational training’ is more than just training provided by employers for their own employees. Vocational training should be taken to include a wide range of activities, including:
all types of training which would help fit a person for employment, including practical work experience;
all further, higher and other adult education (but not education of pupils in schools);
vocational guidance;
To whom do the regulations apply?
The regulations will apply to vocational training providers across the statutory, private and voluntary sectors, regardless of whether they receive any public funding. Some of the regulations apply specifically to bodies that award qualifications.
Are all courses at Universities and Further Education Colleges covered by the regulations?
Yes, the UK Government has decided that all courses at Institutions of Further and Higher Education should be covered by the age regulations, whether they are specifically vocational or more general in nature. This is to ensure there is a unified approach to age-related practices and policies in relation to all such provision.
To whom do the regulations apply?
The regulations will apply to vocational training providers across the statutory, private and voluntary sectors, regardless of whether they receive any public funding. Some of the regulations apply specifically to bodies that award qualifications.
Are all courses at Universities and Further Education Colleges covered by the regulations?
Yes, the UK Government has decided that all courses at Institutions of Further and Higher Education should be covered by the age regulations, whether they are specifically vocational or more general in nature. This is to ensure there is a unified approach to age-related practices and policies in relation to all such provision.
What does this mean for vocational training providers?
As a general principle the regulations mean that providers will not be able to set age limits or age-related criteria for ‘vocational training’ activities (as defined above).
In addition they will not generally be able to set such age limits for associated benefits or conditions, such as help with travelling costs.
However, the regulations do recognise that certain age-related practices may be justifiable where they are a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Such objective justification will not be an easy test, and providers of vocational training will have to produce supporting evidence if challenged: assertions that an age-based approach was necessary will not be enough. For further information on objective justification, please refer to pages 30 and 31 of the Acas guidance.
If you provide vocational training and currently set age limits or requirements, you will need to consider whether these are capable of being justified. You would have to be able to demonstrate this if challenged.
What about funding? Isn’t that access?
Article 3.3 of the Directive clearly states that the Directive does not apply to payments of any kind made by state schemes. The power to make provision for support for students is set out in section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998. The grants and loans for tuition fees and maintenance paid to students under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2006 (which are made under section 22) are from public funds. Student support in the UK is therefore a “state scheme”. As such funding falls outside scope of the Directive it is not covered by the age regulations.
Maintenance loans for students affect maintenance during study, not admission to a course of study. They are not related to access and fall outside the scope of the Directive.
Bursaries and scholarships are also not covered, because they are incentives, as opposed to relating directly to access.
What about learning programmes supported by Government funding that has age limits?
Age limits set in relation to Government funding are outside the scope of the Directive, as explained above. However, any decision to deny access to a training course to people outside that age group would need to be objectively justified by the training provider.
What does this mean for a training provider?
What this means is illustrated by the following two examples:
Training Provider X run an IT course which receives Government funding for participants under 25. The training provider only admit people within this age limit and refuses places to anybody 26 or over on grounds of their age. This would have to be objectively justified.
Training Provider Y also run an IT course which receives Government funding for participants under 25, who are offered free/subsidised places. However, rather than denying access to people aged 26 or over they instead require them to pay for their own place on the course. This would not need to be objectively justified.
For further information on objective justification, please refer to pages 30 and 31 of the Acas guidance.
There is also a provision in the regulations which allows for Positive Action to be taken in connection with access to vocational training, to compensate for
disadvantages linked to age. e.g. where particular age groups may be under-represented in particular occupations.
Positive action should not be confused with positive discrimination. A guarantee of work once the training is completed should never be offered or implied. For further information on positive action, please refer to page 29 of the Acas guidance.
Can you give me an example of a legitimate aim?
As Article 6(1)(a) of the EU Employment Directive makes clear, the protection of vulnerable groups is a legitimate aim. The promotion of vocational integration is also a legitimate aim listed in the Directive. Special employment-related measures to integrate particular sections of the population into the workforce are common throughout the EU. For example, the UK Government supports apprenticeship programmes which are designed by employers to develop occupational competence and wider employability, and hence help to integrate into the workforce those who would otherwise lack the necessary skills.
What does vocational integration mean?
The process of vocational integration should lead to an individual benefiting from educational opportunities, in order to become employable, and to achieve employment. Although the term “vocational integration” cannot be precisely defined, it relates to any action intended to help the transition of individuals from education or unemployment to work and their integration into the working world, or the movement of individuals between occupations.
It should be remembered, however, that education of pupils in schools does not constitute vocational training within the meaning of the Directive.
The following are just some of the issues vocational training providers will need to consider:
Do you set a minimum or maximum age for entry generally or in relation to admission or access to particular courses or other relevant activities?
Is age taken into account in any way when considering applications for admission or access, or associated benefits and conditions e.g. do you offer preferential fee discount arrangements based on age? Do you provide residential
accommodation to students of all ages, or are students over or under certain ages not offered accommodation?
If so, can you objectively justify any age related criteria? What legitimate aim does any age related criterion help you achieve, e.g. have you clear evidence that demonstrates particular age groups would be excluded from your learning provision if they had to pay full fees?
Are your age related criteria a proportionate means of achieving that aim? Is there another way of achieving that aim without resorting to setting age limits?
All such matters need to be critically examined in the light of the Regulations.
Acas have also produced a booklet called ‘Guidance on Age and the workplace: a guide for employers’. This booklet is also aimed at providers of vocational training and is available from their website at http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=337 or can be obtained in hard copy from any of the 13 Acas regional offices covering England, Scotland and Wales. (It can also be ordered by telephone, direct from Acas Publications, on 08702 429090.) A copy has been placed in the Library.
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