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13 Nov 2007 : Column 131W—continued
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what representations his Department has made to Post Office Ltd. on taking account of future population and
demographic projections in plans for post office closures; and if he will make a statement. [163783]
Mr. McFadden: The Government have made a requirement on Post Office Ltd to meet a number of minimum access criteria, and in applying the criteria Post Office Ltd will be required to consider local demographics.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if his Department will make representations to Post Office Ltd. on taking into account deprivation at local government ward level when considering post office closures; and if he will make a statement. [163784]
Mr. McFadden: The Government recognise the important social and economic role of the network. The requirement on Post Office Ltd. to meet a number of minimum access criteria includes additional protections for deprived urban areas and remote rural communities, to ensure people have reasonable access across the whole country.
Post Offices: Closures
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the effects of proposed post office closures on the local communities in London where post offices have been proposed for closure; and if he will make a statement. [162551]
Mr. McFadden: It is not possible to say which offices will close until Post Office Ltd has drawn up implementation plans and local consultations have taken place. However when developing detailed area plans with input from Postwatch, local authorities and sub-postmasters, Post Office Ltd will take into account the need to meet the national access criteria as well as local geography and factors such as availability of public transport, alternative access to key post office services, local demographics and the impact on local communities.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the annual savings are that are anticipated to accrue to the Post Office from those post offices so far proposed for closure, broken down by (a) each post office area and (b) each proposed closure. [163839]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Post Offices: York
Hugh Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many transactions over post office counters in the city of York there were in each of the last five years; what the value was of each; how much the Post Office charges for each payment made to local authorities over post office counters; and which local authorities (a) pay the charge in whole, (b) pay part of the charge on behalf
of the customer and (c) require the customer to pay the charge in full. [163933]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many adults (a) enrolled in adult and community learning programmes and (b) participated in further education in Suffolk in each year since 1997. [162582]
Mr. Lammy: Figures for those participating in adult and community learning (ACL) programmes and further education (FE) can be derived from the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) Individualised Learner Record (ILR). The following table shows the number of LSC funded adult learners in Suffolk local LSC area on ACL programmes since 2003/04 and in FE since 2002/03. The LSC’s FE ILR was collated for the first time at local LSC level in 2002/03 and figures are given from that time. ACL returns do not go back earlier than 2003/04 with the same degree of accuracy.
| Number of adult learners in ACL and FE in Suffolk local LSC area | ||
| ACL | FE | |
Apprentices
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many of the employers signed up to the apprenticeship programme are engaged in the provision of training as their main economic activity. [162054]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 286W.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will place in the Library a breakdown of his Department’s efficiency savings in relation to its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets, including (a) the efficiency projects in the Department, (b) the date on which each of these projects was initiated and (c) how much was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [162318]
Mr. Lammy:
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills came into existence in 2007, with its predecessors being parts of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education and Skills. As a result, the efficiency savings programmes for SR04 were initiated by these two Departments. An answer describing the full programmes for each has
been prepared in response to your inquiry by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Departmental Manpower
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many staff are presently seconded to his Department from outside Government, broken down by the (a) outside body from which they have been seconded and (b) length of secondment. [162284]
Mr. Lammy: A total of 11 staff are seconded to my Department from a range of organisations as listed in the following table. The secondments are normally for a period of up to two years.
| Organisation | Number of secondees |
Departmental Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many fixed penalty tickets have been incurred by vehicles within the purview of his Department for the last year for which figures are available; and what their total cost was. [162283]
Mr. Lammy: No fixed penalty tickets have been incurred by vehicles within the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families formally known as the Department for Education and Skills.
European University Institute
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what involvement his Department has with the work of the European University Institute; and if he will make a statement. [161887]
Bill Rammell: Officials from my Department act as members of the High Council (governing body) of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and of its budgetary committee. These bodies generally meet twice each year. The presidency of the EUI rotates on an annual basis and from April 2008 the UK will chair these meetings.
Further Education Reporting and Performance Board
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will make a statement on the work of the Further Education Reporting and Performance Board. [161886]
Bill Rammell: The Further Education Reform and Performance Board is part of the programme architecture established to manage the Skills PSA. It is chaired by DIUS and has representatives from the sector including DCSF and our main delivery partners the LSC, Association of Colleges, Ofsted, Association of Learning Providers, Quality Improvement Agency, Sixth Form College Forum, Local Government Association, Lifelong Learning UK and the 157 group. The board's role is assuring the readiness to respond to key priorities for the FE supply side, taking account of views from across the sector. It reports into the over arching Skills PSA board along with: HE Strategic Delivery and Financial Support, Leitch Implementation and Skills Strategy, Vocational Qualifications Reform, Apprenticeships and Communications and Customer Insight.
Galileo
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what discussions he has had with industry on the criteria used to appraise UK involvement with the Galileo system; and if he will make a statement. [163479]
Ian Pearson: Since my appointment I have had a number of meetings and discussions with industry on UK space activities. These have covered a range of space issues including Galileo. Additionally, there are regular discussions between my officials and UK industry both formally through the British National Space Centre’s (BNSC) Telecommunications and Navigation Advisory Board and informally with individual companies and industry organisations such as UKSpace.
Galileo: Performance Standards
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what criteria he will use to assess the performance of the Galileo system. [163482]
Ian Pearson: Galileo has been jointly developed by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA). The main characteristics of the system were agreed by the Council of European Transport Ministers at its meeting on 9-10 December 2004. ESA is responsible for the technical development of the system and is currently managing the In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase of the programme. It is this phase which is intended to demonstrate the potential of the system to provide services and benefits to the UK, Europe and globally.
Higher Education: Eastern Region
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what percentage of young people from (a) the East of England and (b) Suffolk undertook (i) degrees and (ii) other advanced courses at university in each of the last five years. [162583]
Bill Rammell: The latest available information is shown in the following table. Figures for 2006/07 will be available in January 2008.
| English domiciled young( 1) entrants to higher education institutions by domicile and level of study—UK higher education institutions( 2) , academic years 2001/02 to 2005/06 | ||||
| Domicile | ||||
| Country | Government office region | Local authority | ||
| Level of study | Academic year | England | East | Suffolk |
| (1) Young refers to undergraduates aged 20 and under. (2) Excludes the Open University. Note: The figures are on a HESA Standard Registration Population basis and are rounded to the nearest five. They cover students on all modes of study. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) | ||||
The Government’s main measure of participation in Higher Education is the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR). This is the sum of the HE initial participation rates for individual ages between 17 and 30 inclusive. It covers English-domiciled first time entrants to HE courses, which are expected to last for at least six months, at UK Higher Education Institutions and English, Scottish and Welsh Further Education Colleges, and who remain on their course for at least six months. The HEIPR is not available for smaller areas.
Figures for the young 17 to 20 age group are shown in the following table:
| Higher Education Initial Participation Rate for 17 to 20-year-olds (HEIPR20) | |||
| HEIPR20 (percentage) | Number of initial participants | ||
| Note: The HEIPR is usually published to the nearest integer, but the figures are included to one decimal place to inform comparisons over time. Numbers are quoted to the nearest 1,000. Source: “Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 1999/2000—2005/06 (Provisional)”, published by DfES | |||
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