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29 Apr 2008 : Column 292W—continued
Innovation, Universities and Skills
ConstructionSkills: Stratagem
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what payments ConstructionSkills made to (a) Fishburn Hedges, (b) Stratagem and (c) Grayling Political strategy in each of the last five years; and on what date and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [202261]
Mr. Lammy: I have written to Peter Lobban, the chief executive officer of CITB-ConstructionSkills, asking him to reply to the hon. Gentleman's question directly.
Apprentices: Social Security Benefits
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on family incomes of young people taking on work-based apprenticeships with day release to college which are not eligible for education maintenance allowance and which result in the loss of child benefit, tax credits, child support agency and other passported benefits. [202425]
Mr. Lammy:
In 2004 a cross-departmental review on financial support for 16 to 19-year-olds reported that apprenticeship pay should be on par with the overall package of financial support provided to learners in other learning routes. In response, the Government set
an expectation that apprentices be paid a weekly wage of at least £80 per week which is broadly the equivalent of the package of child and family benefits paid in respect of unwaged learners. A research survey published by the Department in April 2008 showed that average apprenticeship pay has risen in line with inflation since 2005, from a weekly average of £137 to £170 in 2008. A copy of the survey report will be placed in the Library. To ensure that apprenticeship pay remains at least on par with financial support for other learning routes, the Government have remitted the Low Pay Commission to report on apprenticeship pay by February 2009. The Government will consider its findings once they have been published.
Business: Higher Education
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) how many (a) British nationals, (b) EU citizens, (c) non-EU citizens and (d) individuals in total with a Masters degree or equivalent M-level or continuing professional development qualification received a Master of Business Administration degree from each institution in each of the last 10 years; [201605]
(2) how many (a) British nationals, (b) EU citizens, (c) non-EU citizens and (d) individuals in total received a Masters degree from each institution in each of the last 10 years; [201606]
(3) how many (a) British nationals, (b) EU citizens, (c) non-EU citizens and (d) people in total received PGCEs in each subject from each institution in each of the last 10 years; [201607]
(4) how many UK nationals of each (a) age, (b) sex and (c) ethnic group completed an equal or lower qualification following (i) full-time and (ii) part-time study in each subject at each institution in each of the last 10 years; [201609]
(5) how many (a) British nationals, (b) EU citizens, (c) non-EU citizens and (d) people in total who already had a PGCE qualification received a Masters degree or equivalent or lower qualification except an M-Level or continuing professional development qualification in each subject from each institution in each of the last 10 years. [201611]
Bill Rammell: Most of the information is not held centrally or could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The data we hold are set out in tables which have been placed in the Libraries.
Departmental Energy
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps his Department has taken to reduce its energy consumption in the last 12 months; and what his Department’s expenditure on energy was in (a) the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available and (b) the immediately preceding 12 months. [201745]
Mr. Lammy:
All property occupied by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is managed on our behalf by, and is the responsibility of, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and
the Department for Children Schools and Families. Therefore steps taken to reduce energy consumption in those Departments will apply to his Department as well.
No separate figures are yet available for departmental expenditure on energy.
Departmental Pensions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the unfunded liability in present value terms of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible; and on what assumptions for (a) discount and (b) longevity the estimate is based. [200721]
Mr. Lammy: Arising from its responsibilities as an employer, the Department has to ensure that appropriate employer pension contributions are made to the pension schemes into which its employees make contributions under their contract of employment. The Department does not have responsibility for the management of these schemes.
The overriding majority of my Department’s staff are members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.
The information sought in the question is contained in the resource accounts of the pension schemes.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the unfunded liability in present value terms was of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible in each year since 1990-91. [200722]
Mr. Lammy: The Department was established as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007.
Arising from its responsibilities as an employer, the Department has to ensure that appropriate employer pension contributions are made to the pension schemes into which its employees make contributions under their contract of employment. The Department does not have responsibility for the management of these schemes.
The overriding majority of employees in the Department are members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Information about pension scheme liabilities in present value terms is shown in scheme resource accounts (since 2000/01), although these are produced under differing sets of assumptions—for example, of longevity—so are not comparable across years.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the (a) rate and (b) cost was of employer contributions for each public sector pension scheme for which his Department has responsibility in each year since 1990-91; and if he will make a statement. [200723]
Mr. Lammy: The Department was established as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007.
Arising from its responsibilities as an employer, the Department has to ensure that appropriate employer pension contributions are made to the pension schemes into which its employees make contributions under their contract of employment. The rate and cost information being sought is contained in the pension scheme resource accounts (since 2000/01).
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the effect on his Department's expenditure would be from increasing the employee contribution to each pension scheme for which his Department is responsible by one per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [200724]
Mr. Lammy: An increase in the employee contribution would not affect the Department's expenditure.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the cash equivalent transfer value is of the public sector pensions of the 10 highest paid members of staff in his Department and its executive agencies; and if he will make a statement. [200725]
Mr. Lammy: The majority of the information requested will be set out in the Departmental Remuneration Report, which is part of the Department's accounts.
Departmental Public Participation
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many public consultations have been held by his Department since its establishment; and how many respondents took part in each consultation. [198644]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has launched eight public consultations since its establishment. The number of respondents that took part in the process for each consultation is stated in the following table. Please note that “a respondent” may be an individual or equally it can be an organisation representing the views of its full membership of thousands. The tracking system cannot distinguish between the two.
Financial Services Skills Council: Cicero Consulting
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what payments the Financial Services Skills Council made to Cicero Consulting in each of the last five years; and on what date and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [202262]
Mr. Lammy: The Financial Services Skills Council has contracted with Cicero Consulting since December 2006. The payments and contract between Financial Services Skills Council and Cicero Consulting are current and commercial in confidence. Under the arrangements Cicero Consulting provide expertise and advice on financial services for a fixed amount of hours per month. It is important that the SSC has a sound understanding of the issues faced by and the views of the industry and consumers.
Part-Time Education: Finance
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of making the support available to part-time 19 to 25-year-olds enrolled on their first full level 3 course equivalent to that of full-time, home-based, first degree undergraduates in respect of (a) grants, (b) maintenance loans and (c) fee loans; and if he will make a statement. [196896]
Bill Rammell:
Our internal modelling estimates for extending the Level 3 entitlement to adults aged 25-29 is around £20 million over the CSR period (i.e. from 2008/09 to 2010/11) in respect of tuition fees. Our estimate of extending it to adults aged 25-34 is around £40 million over the same period. This is probably near
the bottom end of likely costs: were participation to increase as a result of the entitlement, costs could be much greater.
We currently have no plans to extend the Level 3 entitlement beyond its current age-range of 19-24.
Student Loans Company: Finance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) how much money was retained by the Student Loans Company for eventual repayment to graduates in each month of the last year for which figures are available; [200279]
(2) how much money has been refunded to graduates by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the form of (a) refunds of overpayments for people who have extinguished their debt, (b) refunds for people who have overpaid but who continue to owe money to the SLC and (c) refunds for any other reason in each of the last five years. [200280]
Bill Rammell: The Student Loans Company (SLC) does not retain funds to repay student loan borrowers, but refunds any overpayments from the cash repayments it receives from borrowers. Refunds include any interest due, which is awarded at the same rate of interest as that charged on student loans (matching the Retail Price Index). The net repayments collected by the SLC are paid back to the Government on a monthly basis.
Refunds to borrowers who continue to owe money to the SLC may arise for a number of reasons—mainly due to administrative errors or because their overall annual income is below the annual repayment threshold (£15,000) but income at some paydates in the year exceeds the weekly or monthly threshold.
The amounts refunded to borrowers by the SLC for the five years commencing 2002-03 are set out in the following table. Refunds in 2006-07 represented 1.7 per cent. of the repayments collected by SLC totalling £529,800,000.
| £ | |||||
| Financial year | |||||
| Type of refund | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| N otes: 1. Includes income contingent (ICR) loans and publicly owned mortgage style (MS) loans. 2. Domicile—England for ICR loans and England and Wales for MS loans. 3. It was not practical to isolate other refunds from the category of borrowers who continue to owe money. | |||||
Students: Grants
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) how many and what proportion of part-time undergraduates in England studying (a) between 50 per cent. and 59 per cent., (b) between 60 per cent. and 74 per cent. and (c) 75 per cent. or more of a full-time course received a fee grant in the last year for which figures are available; [200287]
(2) what the average value was of the fee grant received by part-time undergraduates studying (a) between 50 per cent. and 59 per cent., (b) between 60 per cent. and 74 per cent. and (c) 75 per cent. or more of a full-time course in the last year for which figures are available. [200288]
Bill Rammell: The information requested is not available centrally.
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