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8 Oct 2008 : Column 688W—continued
Teachers: Vacancies
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many vacancies for full-time secondary school teachers there were in Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [223818]
Jim Knight: The number of vacancies for full-time secondary school teachers in Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
| Vacancies | |
Further details can be found in the School Workforce Statistical First Releases (SFR), the most recent of which was published on 25 September and can be found at:
Information on teacher vacancies can be found in table 7.
Young Offenders: General Certificate for Secondary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of people who had been in young offender institutions for (a) less than and (b) more than two years were entered for GCSEs in each of the last five years. [224928]
Beverley Hughes: The Department does not collect data on GCSE enrolments by young people in young offender institutions (YOIs) broken down by length of stay in custody. However, the roll-out of the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) through the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) from 31 July 2006, means that some data on young offender enrolment within YOIs is now collected. Data are only available for 2006/07, during which 95 young people were enrolled on one or more GCSE course.
However, many young people in custody are still enrolled at learning providers in the community and therefore their enrolments are not included in the figure provided. Also, many young people stay in custody only for a very short time, and therefore it is not always realistic for them to enrol on and achieve long-term qualifications (e.g. GCSEs), in custody. Therefore, the LSC figure quoted in this answer does not provide records of all of the enrolments of all young people in YOIs. Data are not available for GCSE achievements for young people in Secure Children’s Homes, Secure Training Centres, or privately run YOIs.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council England: Manpower
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people are employed (a) directly and (b) as consultants by Arts Council England to administer funds from the National Lottery. [223883]
Barbara Follett: 783 people were employed directly by Arts Council England in 2007-08. Information on consultants employed to administer funds from the National Lottery is not available.
Cultural Heritage
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent estimate he has made of the annual contribution of the heritage sector to the national economy. [224497]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 6 October 2008]: English Heritage is aware of several studies which have attempted to estimate the contribution of a particular element of the heritage sector to the national economy, but these have not enabled an aggregated figure to be prepared.
Significant figures are, however, available. For example, privately owned historic houses generate an economic contribution of over £1.6 billion; England’s cathedrals generate around £150 million per annum of benefits for the local and national economies; and a report into traditional building skills estimated that £3.5 billion was invested in historic buildings in 2005, a significant proportion of which paid for skilled craftsmen in the building trades.
Tourism, one of the largest industries in the UK, was estimated to be worth approximately £85.6 billion in 2006. England’s historic buildings are a key motivator for those considering a visit to the country and top the table of activities undertaken by those who actually do visit. It is therefore clear that a considerable proportion of the £85.6 billion is generated indirectly by the historic environment.
Cultural Heritage: Pay
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on salaries for staff working on heritage in each year since 1997. [224495]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 6 October 2008]: The table lists the departmental expenditure on salaries of staff responsible for heritage issues such as quality of architectural design and identification and conservation of the historic environment.
| Financial year | Staff salaries (£) |
Departmental Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what percentage of staff in his Department have had more than two periods of sickness of less than five days in each of the last three years. [218690]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Based on average staff numbers for each of the last three years, the results are as follows:
| Number of staff | Percentage of staff | |
As part of the Department's Diversity and Health and well-being policies, we have a range of initiatives and programmes in place to support staff and to manage stress, mental health and behavioural issues.
Furthermore, in order to raise awareness of stress and mental health issues we have implemented a range of initiatives and guidance for managers and staff to manage mental health problems in the workplace including an initiative to tackle the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
We regularly monitor sickness absence and reasons for absences as a means to tackle attendance issues and provide support to our staff. This support ranges from a 24-hour employee assistance programme, occupational health referral, rehabilitation programme for staff and reasonable adjustments to work or the working environment.
Our work-life balance and lifestyle programme supports our “stress at work” policy allowing staff to manage stress through achievement of effective work-life balance.
We have robust procedures in place to manage sickness absence within the Department and the policy includes
guidance for staff on how to preserve and maintain their own and others mental well-being, this includes information on preventing and identifying stress.
The Department has completed a stress audit recently and the overall departmental analysis shows that there are no areas of high risk stress across the Department, and only three areas of medium risk. We are now in the process of drawing up an action plan to address the issues highlighted in the report. We will also be running a health event in November which will aim to raise awareness of health and well-being issues.
The Department's sick pay policy pays for sickness absence on full pay for up to six months in any period of 12 months absence—followed by half pay for sickness of up to a maximum of 12 months in any period of four years or less.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in his Department have had five or more periods of sickness absence of less than five days in two or more of the last five years. [218964]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There were 11 staff in the Department who had five or more periods of sickness absence of less than five days in two or more of the last five year.
As part of the Department’s diversity and health and well-being policies, we have a range of initiatives and programmes in place to support staff and to manage stress, mental health and behavioural issues.
Furthermore, in order to raise awareness of stress and mental health issues we have implemented a range of initiatives and guidance for managers and staff to manage mental health problems in the workplace including an initiative to tackle the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
We regularly monitor sickness absence and reasons for absences as a means to tackle attendance issues and provide support to our staff. This support ranges from a 24 hour employee assistance programme, occupational health referral, rehabilitation programme for staff and reasonable adjustments to work or the working environment.
Our work-life balance and lifestyle programme supports our “stress at work” policy allowing staff to manage stress through achievement of effective work-life balance.
We have robust procedures in place to manage sickness absence within the Department and the policy includes guidance for staff on how to preserve and maintain their own and others mental well-being, this includes information on preventing and identifying stress.
The Department has completed a stress audit recently and the overall departmental analysis shows that there are no areas of high risk stress across the Department, and only three areas of medium risk. We are now in the process of drawing up an action plan to address the issues highlighted in the report. We will also be running a health event in November which will aim to raise awareness of health and well-being issues.
The Department’s signature sick pay policy pays for sickness absence on full pay for up to six months in any period of 12 months absence—followed by half pay for sickness of up to a maximum of 12 months in any period of four years or less.
English Heritage: Educational Visits
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many educational visits to English Heritage managed properties took place in each of the last five years; and how many of these were provided without charge by English Heritage. [224496]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 6 October 2008]: The information requested has been provided by English Heritage and is set out in the table.
English Heritage has offered schoolchildren free entry to its sites since it was created in 1984. More recently, in response to feedback from teachers asking for more support at sites, English Heritage introduced interactive, curriculum-linked sessions in September 2006 called Discovery Visits. While entry to the sites remains free, schools are charged £60 for these sessions for a group of up to 30 pupils. In 2006-07, 10,400 children took part in Discovery Visits and 27,000 in 2007-08.
| Number of educational visits | |
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