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24 Oct 2007 : Column 424W—continued
Teaching Aids: Climate Change
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps the Government intend to take in response to the judgment in the case of Stuart Dimmock v. the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on the showing of Al Gore’s film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, in schools in England; and if he will make a statement. [160454]
Jim Knight [holding answer 23 October 2007]: The Department will be sending a hard copy of the revised guidance accompanying the climate change pack (which includes a copy of the Al Gore film) to secondary schools as directed by Mr. Justice Burton in his ruling of 10 October.
Vocational Training: Females
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps his Department and the Learning and Skills Councils are taking to ensure the learning and skills sector meets the needs of young women; and if he will make a statement; [154445]
(2) what steps his Department and the Learning and Skills Councils are taking to ensure equality of access leading to equality of work opportunities for young women: [154446]
Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
Gaining new skills and qualifications, learning and training are—alongside finding work—the most powerful ways individuals can transform their life chances and those of their families.
Working with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), we are committed to ensure our policies act to narrow gaps in attainment and participation where these gaps are detrimental to social justice and economic success. Specific commitments to equality and action to narrow gaps in the learning and skills sector, including equality of access and outcomes for young women, are set out in a number of documents, for example:
The former Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Gender Equality Scheme, the Department for Trade and Industry's (DTI) Equality Scheme and associated action plans, published in April 2007;
The LSC’s Single Equality Scheme also published in April 2007; and
The Skills Strategy Equality Impact Assessment, published in June 2007.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of adult education courses available in the UK in each year since 1997. [155092]
Bill Rammell
[holding answer 10 September 2007]: Funding for further education (FE) increased by 48 per cent. in real terms between 1997-98 and 2005-06. Spending on adult learning continues to increase with over £3 billion in 2007-08, up 7 per cent. on 2005-06.
We have chosen to move funding from short, non-accredited learning provision to longer courses focused on those who lack functional literacy and numeracy, and those without a first full level 2 qualification. Most of the reductions in publicly funded adult learning in 2005/06 occurred in lower priority provision (courses outside the national qualifications framework) and very short courses of fewer than nine guided learning hours. We remain committed to ensuring a wide range of learning opportunities for adults. This includes those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and learning for its own sake for which we are safeguarding £210 million in 2007-08.
The number of adult learners funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the individualised learner record (ILR). The LSC’s ILR is a census of activity capturing provision that learners enrol on and not the number of courses that are available to learners. The LSC will fund what people want to study and will work to ensure sufficient capacity is in place to meet the demand.
The following table shows the number of adult learners in further education, work-based learning and adult and community learning funded by the LSC since 2003/04 in England. (Numbers of adult learners elsewhere in the UK may be published separately by Welsh Assembly Government, Scottish Executive and Northern Ireland Department of Education.)
| Number of learners aged 19 and over (Thousand) | |
| Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100. Source: Learning and Skills Council (LSC) individualised learner record (ILR). | |
Changes to the data collection systems, when adult and community learning provision was funded through local authorities, mean that total figures for earlier years are not comparable.
Apprenticeships: Sandwell
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many apprentices there were in Sandwell in 2005-06. [160038]
Mr. Lammy: Figures for those participating in apprenticeships can be derived from the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) individualised learner record (ILR). There were 1,900 learners on apprenticeships and 770 on advanced apprenticeships in Sandwell local authority (based on home post code of the learner) in 2005/06.
Source:
Learning and Skills Council (LSC) work based learning (WBL) individualised learner record (ILR)
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10
Connexions Service: Vocational Guidance
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) how many interventions by the Connexions Service involved (a) a
face-to-face meeting with the individual only, (b) a telephone call only, (c) a text message only, (d) an e-mail only, (e) a face-to-face meeting and a text message only, (f) a face-to-face meeting and an e-mail only, (g) a face-to-face meeting and a telephone call only, (h) two or more forms of communication but no face-to-face meeting and (i) two or more forms of communication in each year since 2003; [156963]
(2) how many interventions made by the Connexions Service were for (a) careers or educational advice only, (b) other forms of advice only and (c) more than one type of advice in each year since 2003; [156966]
(3) what the marginal cost of an intervention by the Connexions Service was by (a) a text message, (b) an e-mail, (c) a telephone call and (d) a face-to-face meeting in each year since 2003. [156964]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to my earlier answer (PQ 156965) which gives details of interventions between April 2003 and March 2007.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) text messages, (b) e-mails, (c) telephone calls and (d) face-to-face meetings there were as part of an intervention by the Connexions Service in each year since 2003. [156965]
Bill Rammell: Between April 2003 and March 2007 the Connexions Service had over 17 million interventions with young people. The annual breakdown is given in the following table:
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
Counterfeit Manufacturing: China
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what impact counterfeit goods made in China are having on British businesses. [154694]
Ian Pearson: China does recognise that the intellectual property of companies is being abused, and is committed to addressing the problem. In terms of overall quantities seized, China remains the main source for counterfeit goods imported into the EU, with 79 per cent. of all articles seized by Customs coming from there. However, it should be noted that 60 per cent. of seizures are for counterfeit cigarettes, and in terms of the number of cases, the country breakdown is far more widespread and China only accounts for a third of cases.
We are also conscious that British businesses investing in China may be adversely affected by counterfeiting there. The UK Government continue to raise the issue of intellectual property rights at all levels in all meetings with the Chinese.
Departments: Accountancy
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what accounts directions were issued by his Department's predecessors in financial years (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07. [156624]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation University and Skills' predecessors were DTI and DfES. The accounts directions issued by these two Departments have been summarised in responses prepared to your questions by BERR and DCSF.
Departments: Broadcasting Programmes
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what television programmes have been sponsored by his Department, its predecessors and its executive agencies in each year since 1997. [155625]
Mr. Lammy: The following list gives details of sponsorship deals for the departments and the “arms length bodies” under DIUS's remit since 1997.
Ufl Learndirect have sponsored the following:
This Morning (ITV): September 2000 - March 2002
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV): September 2002 - December 2002
Trisha (ITV): January 2003 - May 2003
This Morning (ITV): September 2003 - July 2004
Risking it All (Ch 4): April 2004 - May 2004
Wild at Heart (ITV1): 12 February - 5 March 2006
The Royal (ITV1): 12 March - 16 April 2006
Heartbeat (ITV1): 23 April - 7 March 2006
The Jeremy Kyle Show: 13 February 2006 - 28 September 2007
There was an advertiser funded programme project for UK Online for Business (DTI) in June 2003. This went out on ITV Carlton region only.
There was also an advertiser funded programme for Investors in People (DFES) which was called In Good Company and went out in September 2004 on ITV1 Carlton region only.
DFES sponsored City Survival Guide on ITV London from January to March 2003. These were a series of eight 90 second programmes for the Adult Basic Skills (Gremlins) campaign.
There is no record of sponsorship activity May 2004 to February 2006. Records of both the subcontracting agents—COI and PHD have been checked and both confirm this gap in sponsorship activity.
Departments: Disabled
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what proportion of people employed by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies are disabled. [153577]
Mr. Lammy: The proportion of people who are disabled in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies are 8.87 per cent. and 3.13 per cent. respectively.
Declaration of a disability is voluntary.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what proportion of staff formerly employed by the Department for Education and Skills are now employed by his Department. [153470]
Mr. Lammy: 69 per cent. of staff in the Department were employed by the former Department for Education and Skills.
Departments: Marketing
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) what the cost was of establishing his Department; and how much is accounted for by (a) relocation expenses and new building acquisition or rent and (b) branding expenses on (i) signs, (ii) stationery and (iii) departmental publications; [147876]
(2) how much has been spent on external consultancy fees involved in the (a) relocation and (b) branding of his Department, broken down by (i) company involved and (ii) services provided. [147883]
Mr. Lammy: The Department has incurred no relocation costs to date. It will be locating the London-based aspects of the Department to Kingsgate house, Victoria street. Kingsgate house was already part of the Government estate.
We have used the in-house expertise of our executive agency the Intellectual Property Office for advice on branding of DIUS. Where necessary (for specific design work) they have used a specialist agency already on their roster, the cost of which was £12,041 excluding VAT. This cost is inclusive of design work completed for DIUS on signs and stationery.
To date the Department has incurred no external consultancy fees on relocation. The company involved in the consultancy for branding work was ‘Bell Design’ for graphic design services.
Departments: Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much was spent by his Department on staff away days in the last 12 months. [153231]
Mr. Lammy: The information is not held centrally in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department is committed to developing staff to reach their full potential and believe that staff away days and team building exercises are beneficial in helping them achieve that.
Education: Prisons
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many prisoners in British prisons obtained (a) level 2 qualifications, (b) level 3 qualifications, (c) level 4 qualifications and (d) a university degree during their stay in prison in each year since 1997. [155666]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested was not collected centrally.
The introduction of the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) from 31 July 2006, means that data on individual offender achievement will increasingly become available for adults, young offenders and juveniles in custody, in England. Data in the format requested will be available from spring 2008 for the academic year 2006/07. Separate arrangements are made for Welsh and Scottish establishments.
Her Majesty’s Prison Service annual reports record the following basic skills achievements at level 2:
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