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14 Sep 2009 : Column 2182W—continued
Conditions of Employment
Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answers of 17 October 2007, Official Report, column 1148W, and of 10 September 2007, Official Report, column 2011W, on conditions of employment, what provisions of the Warwick Agreement (a) have been implemented to date and (b) will be implemented over the course of this Parliament. [291105]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the right hon. Member to my response to his questions on the 10 September 2007 and 17 October 2007, whereby I explained that the final report of Labour's National Policy Forum in July 2004 formed part of the May 2005 general election manifesto. The Government remain committed to fulfilling their manifesto over the course of this Parliament.
Debts: Government Assistance
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to assist those with high levels of personal debt; what steps Ministers in his Department (a) have taken during the last two years and (b) plan to take during the next year to raise awareness of his Department's services in their region; what (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation regulates the activities of debt advisers; what amendments have been made to each such enactment; what changes to such legislation are planned in the next 12 months; how much his Department (A) has spent on debt advice in each of the last three years and (B) plans to spend in the next two years; what recent representations he has received on the issue; and if he will make a statement. [290630]
Ian Lucas [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The Department provides a broad package of support to individuals with high levels of personal debt. As set out in the Government's White Paper "A Better Deal for Consumers: Delivering Real Help Now and Change for the Future" published on 2 July, the Government are focusing efforts to ensure that:
creditors across the board offer some relief to customers who find themselves in financial difficulty;
free, independent debt advice and support is available for those who need it;
industry and the advice community both follow best practice guidance in handling clients with problem debt;
the most appropriate debt remedies are in place to support the over-indebted; and
there is better legal protection for debtors' property.
In particular, the Department is funding a new self-help debt advice toolkit being developed by the Money Advice Trust, which will enable debtors to negotiate debt repayments with creditors themselves with more targeted advice agency support. This assisted self-help approach should allow over-indebted consumers to reach agreement more speedily and start making regular payments to reduce their debt. Use of the toolkit will
also reduce pressure on the debt advice agencies and allow many more debtors in need of advice to be assisted.
Debt advisers are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act, last revised in 2006, and are required to have a consumer credit licence. There are no plans to amend the legislation in this latter area.
From 2006-07 to 2008-09 the Department provided:
£1 million each year to National Debtline; and
approximately £15 million in the first year, and £28 million in the next two, to the Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project.
In 2009-10 and 2010-11 the Department intend to provide:
£3.5 million each year to National Debtline; and
approximately £28 million in the first year, and £29 million in the second, to the Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project.
The Department receives frequent representations from stakeholders on our assistance programmes.
Departmental Recruitment
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of applications for jobs relating to contracts let by his Department from those (a) with and (b) without security clearance were rejected prior to interview in (i) April, (ii) May and (iii) June 2009. [285673]
Mr. McFadden: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Vetting
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many advertisements for contracts with his Department have included reference to the need for security clearance as a pre-requisite for award of a contract in the last 12 months. [285670]
Mr. McFadden: This information is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applicants for contracts with his Department who were previously security cleared but whose clearance had expired have had their applications rejected on the basis that their clearance has expired in the latest period for which figures are available. [285674]
Mr. McFadden: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Dorneywood
Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on what occasions the Secretary of State has visited Dorneywood since his appointment. [291107]
Electoral Commission: Codes of Practice
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1443W, on Electoral Commission: codes of practice, for what reasons the Code of Practice on Guidance is not intended to apply to guidance issued to political parties by the Electoral Commission. [288854]
Ian Lucas: The Code of Practice is intended to help businesses and third sector organisations comply with their regulatory obligations. The Cabinet Office is of the view that any formal (or informal) definition would not include political parties. The Ministry of Justice is of the view that Electoral Commission guidance to political parties is not within the scope of the Code.
Employment Schemes: Coventry
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps the Government has taken to assist young people in Coventry to secure employment. [290981]
Mr. Lammy: The global recession has hit the west midlands hard and young people are feeling the impact of this. Government are clear that Britain cannot afford a wasted generation of young people, lost to unemployment and although, under this Government opportunities for young people have improved (at the end of 2008 we had the highest ever rate of 16 to 18-year-olds in education and training in England), a number of measures are already in place that will provide further help to school leavers, graduates and young unemployed people, including those in Coventry.
For example this year across England we expect there to be 250,000 young people starting an apprenticeship and we have recently announced an extra 47,000 youth jobs supported by the Future Jobs Fund for young people who are unable to find work or training within a year. Through this fund Coventry city council will provide 50 job starts during October 2009 and a further 100 job starts in January 2010.
We recently launched a national campaign Backing Young Britain to ensure we do everything possible to give every young person help to find a job or training or work skills and experience. This will provide £40 million to fund over 20,000 additional internships so that graduates and non graduates can get higher quality work experience; a new mentoring network to help young people find their feet in a tough jobs market; more help for young people from day one of unemployment through job clubs and one to one support in jobcentres for those leaving education this summer.
In the west midlands regional partners have responded with their own initiatives to help unemployed young people. For example, the West Midlands Graduate Internship Programme will create 250 graduate internships and, uniquely, graduates who are unemployed may be eligible for job seekers allowance through Job Centre Plus. Also there is a new £2.5 million programme funded by Advantage West Midlands called Grad Central online service,
which will place at least 2,000 more people into jobs over the next four years. In addition, Graduate Advantage, led by Aston University, has funding from Advantage West Midlands to provide a further 400 placements by 2011. Partners are also providing specific help for redundant apprentices.
Jobcentre Plus in Coventry has a range of measures to help young people in the city secure employment. It is supporting Backing Young Britain by encouraging key local employers, partners and stakeholders to give their personal commitment to offering jobs, apprenticeships, work trials, work experience, internships and mentoring advice. This has been met with a positive response from both the public and private sector, including BUPA Home Care, TUI UK and west midlands police-Coventry division. In addition, Jobcentre Plus advisers have referred 114 18 to 24-year-olds to the extensive job search and confidence building support that is available on the first day of unemployment. Further job search support for groups of 18 to 24-year-old customers is due to start in the near future in partnership with Coventry Connexions.
Coventry city council and its Local Strategic Partnership has prioritised support to assist young people into employment via its Local Area Agreement. The Local Public Service Board has recently approved the use of £550,000 Area Based Grant funding to support a six-month employment placement scheme, which will provide 100 placements for new unemployed graduates, redundant managers and those in the NEET category that fall outside the Future Jobs Fund and other provision provided by ESF and Connexions programmes.
Further Education: Manpower
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the net change in the number of teaching staff in further education colleges was over the academic year 2008-09. [291073]
Mr. Lammy: The number of teaching staff in further education colleges for 2008/09 is not available.
The latest available information is for 2007/08 when there were some 75,755 full-time equivalent teaching staff in post. This is an increase of 2,988 (4.1 per cent.) on the 2006/07 figures when there were 72,767 full-time equivalent teaching staff in post.
Graduates: Employment
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps the Government has taken to assist graduates to secure employment. [290982]
Mr. Lammy: While these are tough times for graduates we should not forget that a degree remains a strong investment. Businesses are continuing to recruit through the downturn and are Backing Young Britain by offering internships.
For those who cannot find work immediately, the government is offering graduates real help to build the skills needed for successful careers longer term:
The Graduate Talent Pool went live for graduates on 29 July and graduates can now match themselves to internships from a range of employers. Over 12,000 graduate internships are available, most of which will be advertised via the Graduate Talent Pool.
A low carbon future leaders scheme offering 1,500 places will be created across six Low Carbon Economic areas.
There are more postgraduate study options (around 24,000 additional places expected) with support available through Professional and Career Development Loans;
There are around 3,000 extra opportunities to develop enterprise and entrepreneurship skills through the Higher Education Funding Council for England's Economic Challenge Investment Fund;
Up to 4,000 full-time, and in excess of 50,000 part-time and short-term volunteering places which are available to graduates.
Graduates: Work Experience
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many graduates have obtained a place on the National Internship Scheme (a) in England and (b) in Coventry. [290983]
Mr. Lammy: This information is not yet available. Monitoring information on the numbers of graduates in England obtaining places through Graduate Talent Pool will be available later this year.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for how long the National Internship Scheme is planned to operate. [290984]
Mr. Lammy: Current contracts for the administration of the Graduate Talent Pool website run to July 2010. We will review the impact and performance of the Graduate Talent Pool later this year and take a decision on how long the service should be offered.
Higher Education: Admissions
Mr. Gale: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of funded, full-time university places that will be available for students seeking to commence studies in (a) autumn 2009 and (b) autumn 2010 in each region. [283098]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 2 July 2009]: Our grant letter to HEFCE this year confirmed additional teaching grant funding for the equivalent of an extra 10,000 full-time-equivalent places in 2009-10. We did not specify whether these additional student numbers should be full or part time, undergraduate or postgraduate, but HEFCE estimate that this will result in around 3,000 additional full-time first year entrants. Further to this, we announced on 20 July that we would be providing financial support for an additional 10,000 students in science, technology, engineering and maths over the duration of their course in higher education. We will not receive outturn data on the 2009-10 student population until early 2011.
Innovation Fund
Tony Baldry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Building Britain's Future document, what mechanisms will be used to ensure that the new Innovation Fund levers in up to £1 billion of private sector funding. [284955]
Mr. Lammy: The Government are committing £150 million of tax payer's investment to build a fund of up to £1 billion over its 10-year life. The Government expects that its investment of £150 million will leverage significant investment from the private sector.
Prior to the launch of the UK Innovation Investment Fund a number of institutional investors expressed an interest in investing in the fund and we would anticipate that the Fund of Funds manager will be able to secure additional private investment from within the UK and overseas.
On 3 August the Government and Capital for Enterprise Limited issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from prospective Fund of Funds manager(s) for the UK Innovation Investment Fund. Prospective managers are asked to set out their investment strategies and to demonstrate how they will raise money from private sector investors. We aim to make an appointment in December.
London Metropolitan University
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with London Metropolitan University on (a) job losses and (b) reductions in student numbers there; and if he will make a statement. [281472]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 22 June 2009]: An important principle set out in legislation (sections 65(1) and 68(2b) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992) is that Ministers cannot intervene in the funding decisions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). As is the case with other universities, London Metropolitan University receives grant from HEFCE under a Financial Memorandum which sets out how it should properly account for its public funding. It is for the Funding Council to keep the financial health of the institutions it funds under review to protect the public interest, including ensuring that public funds are properly spent. This month I have met with the UCU representative and a number of staff from the institution.
I know that the process of restructuring can be very difficult and unsettling for both staff and students, but am pleased that the Council's chief executive has met with the new interim vice-chancellor to further discuss the way forward. The final decision must though rest with the university and I remain confident that higher education provision in general across London will be sufficient to meet the diversity of demand. No Government though can give a commitment to protect every course or department at any particular institution.
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