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1 Sep 2008 : Column 1499W—continued
Apprenticeships
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent steps he has taken to increase the scope and quality of apprenticeships. [221032]
Mr. Lammy: Expanding provision and raising quality are integral to our ambitious plans set out in World-class Apprenticeships. We are establishing the National Apprenticeship Service from April 2009 to ensure the growth of high quality provision of apprenticeships in England. The service will have responsibility for broadening the flexibilities of the Apprenticeship programme to enable employers to develop new apprenticeship frameworks, and to improve and encourage the range of frameworks available.
The Learning and Skills Council will assess performance against minimum levels of performance for apprenticeships; develop a new apprenticeship blueprint which defines the core elements of an apprenticeship and specific training requirements; and work with the new Learning and Skills Improvement Service to secure continuous improvement in the provision of apprenticeships.
Last week the Government published a draft “Apprenticeships Bill” to underpin and help sustain the improvements in the quality of the programme. This draft Bill will ensure that apprenticeships are a badge of quality skills for young people and adults and for employers. It will drive forward the provision of sufficient apprenticeship places to meet the entitlement for our young people to have an offer of an apprenticeship place by 2013
The Department and the Department for Children, Schools and Families look forward to receiving comments on the draft Bill from hon. and right hon. Members and all those committed to providing high quality skills for people and employers.
Departmental Computers
Mr. Peter Ainsworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of (a) the number of computer devices left on overnight in his Department when not in use and
(b) the cost of leaving computer devices on overnight when not in use in each year since establishment; and if he will make a statement. [217870]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS is a new department which has been in existence for just over one year. All DIUS staff are issued with laptops which are turned off and stored securely when not in use; there are circa 950 such laptops across the DIUS estate.
The Department also has 50 modern energy saving desktops, primarily used by those individuals who, for a variety of reasons, cannot use their laptop on a particular day. Staff are advised to switch these off when not in use and by default these devices enter an energy saving mode when unattended.
The cost of devices left on overnight has not been calculated.
Departmental Paper
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what percentage of paper used (a) for photocopying and (b) in printed publications by his Department has been from recycled sources. [220737]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was established on 28 June 2007 and as such can report only on one year of activity for which the Department has been in operation.
The percentage of paper from recycled sources used in the last financial years was:
| Percentage | |
Departmental Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the estimated total cost to the public purse will be of all private finance initiative/public private partnership contracts for which his Department is responsible. [216702]
Mr. Lammy: The Department does not have any private finance initiative contracts or public private partnership contracts. The cost to the public purse will be nil.
Departmental Public Expenditure
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much was spent on (a) new furnishings, (b) art and (c) new vehicles by his Department in each of the last three years. [213529]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was established under Machinery of Government changes in June 2007. Since the Department’s creation the following has been spent on:
| £ | |
Departmental Publications
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what planned publication dates there are for (a) statistical and (b) other publications of his Department. [219339]
Mr. Lammy: Details of forthcoming National Statistics publications can be found in our publication schedule, which is available on the Research and Statistics Gateway via the following link:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/rsgateway/search.pl?cat=9&;subcat=9&q1=Search
Details for other publications of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills are listed in the following table:
Departmental Reviews
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what reviews are being undertaken by external experts on behalf of his Department; and what the expected completion date of each is. [219463]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 21 July 2008]: The Government Chemist function will be audited by two external experts. The audit takes place every three years. This is part of the Government Chemist agreement between LGC Ltd and the Secretary of State for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The Government Chemist is the referee analyst under various Acts of Parliament and is appointed by DIUS Ministers. The forthcoming audit will begin in a few weeks and will probably report by the end of the year.
DWP commissioned Capgemini to undertake a review of the governance arrangements of the joint DWP-DIUS Integrating Employment and Skills programme during July. The formal three weeks review period is over, but they will be completing a small piece of work helping the departments to implement their findings in August.
Lifelong Learning UK, on behalf of DIUS, are in the process of selecting a tender to undertake a review of the impact and effectiveness (including vfm) of FE incentive schemes to recruit and retain FE teachers in the workforce. We expect a report to be produced by end October 2008 that will inform future policy in these areas.
A small scale qualitative survey of 25 FE providers and stakeholder groups is being carried out to gain insight into how they are responding to the FE reforms on simplifying processes and reducing burdens, such as developing proportionate audit and inspection. We expect the final report in early August.
Education: Rural Areas
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many recommendations in the Commissioner for Rural Communities report England's rural area: steps to release their economic potential within his
Department's areas of responsibility his Department intends to implement; and if he will provide a timetable for implementation. [217703]
Bill Rammell: The Department is currently reflecting upon the Rural Advocate's Report on Strengthening England's Rural Economies. DEFRA is the lead Department across Government and I refer the hon. Member to the response given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 7 July 2008, Official Report, columns 1204-05W.
English Language: Bournemouth
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many accredited schools there are in Bournemouth for teaching English as a second language. [220546]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Further Education: Standards
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will provide an updated list of organisations with a monitoring, inspection or improvement role in further education colleges on the same basis as Box 4 on page 27 of the 2005 Department for Education and Skills publication Realising the Potential: A review of the future role of further education colleges. [219478]
Bill Rammell: Since 1997 the Government have implemented major change to simplify the further education landscape and streamline national agencies. This includes reducing numbers of staff managing the further education and skills system from 10,000 in the TEC era to 4,700 as the Learning and Skills Council was established and further to 3,600 currently. We responded quickly to recommendations in Realising the Potential: A review of the future role of further education colleges by merging two major inspectorates, Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate, thereby simplifying inspection processes. More recently, the merger of the Quality Improvement Agency and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership, to form the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, will streamline processes further and drive quality improvement in the FE service through more direct influence from sector-leaders and practitioners. An updated list of organisations with a monitoring, inspection or improvement role in further education colleges is set out in the following list on the same basis as originally in the review report. This shows a reduction in the number of organisations with a monitoring, inspection or improvement role.
List of organisations with a monitoring/inspection/improvement role in FE colleges
Ofsted
The Quality Assurance Agency (for HE in FE)
Funding/Monitoring/planning influence
The Learning and Skills Council
The Higher Education Funding Council for England
Job Centre Plus
Local Authorities
Regional Development Agencies
Sector Skills Councils/Commission for Employment and Skills
Local Learning and Skills Councils
The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (being formed from merging the Quality Improvement Agency and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership)
Lifelong Learning UK
Institute for Learning
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