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DfES: Education Initiatives
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What are all the education initiatives, together with their cost, which are funded by the Department for Education and Skills from the overall education budget.[HL1855]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: Details of the education programmes funded by the Department for Education and Skills are set out in Table 4.2 of the Department for Education and Employment Annual Report (Cm 5102). The programmes listed in that table under the heading Objective Three: Helping People without a job into work and two of the programmes
under Objective Two: Lifelong Learning (entitled "European Social Fund" and "European Regional Development Fund") are now the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.Since that report was published, we have announced an additional £197 million for education and skills projects funded under the Capital Modernisation Fund: £40 million for new investment in schools, workforce skills and measures to raise productivity; and £50 million to fund Curriculum online.
DfES: Staffing
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many staff are currently employed directly, and how many are funded indirectly, by the Department for Education and Skills.[HL1856]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) employs directly 4,299 staff (4,103 permanent and 196 temporary).
Details of the number of staff funded indirectly by DfES could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Education Budget
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What percentage of the overall education budget is spent on (a) schools; (b) Department for Education and Skills running costs and centrally funded initiatives; and (c) local government administrative costs.[HL1858]
Approximately 67 per cent of the total education and skills budget for England in 2001–02, made up of this department's departmental expenditure limit plus the education standard spending assessment, is being spent on schools. My department's departmental expenditure limit, which provides funding for schools as well as further and higher education and lifelong learning, represents around 46 per cent of the total budget for England. The department's central running costs constitute some 0.5 per cent of the total. Local Education Authority administration costs make up around 1 per cent of the total.
Citizenship, Parenting and Relationship Education
Lord Quirk asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they are taking to ensure (a) that there is an adequate supply of teachers for citizenship, parenting, sex and relationship education and
(b) that both the specialist and general teaching staff are suitably trained to deliver these elements in the National Curriculum and to respond to children's questions.[HL1925]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: In order to be awarded qualified teacher status, all trainee teachers most demonstrate that they plan opportunities to contribute to pupils' personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Also, in this academic year to date, 143 people have begun specialist postgraduate certificate in education courses in citizenship at institutions in England. On 7 December, my honourable friend the Minister of State for School Standards announced that 200 places for initial teacher training in citizenship would be available in the 2002–03 academic year and indicated his intention to make a similar number available in each of 2003–04 and 2004–05.
Standards fund grants of £15 million in the current financial year are supporting schools' implementation of personal, social and health education and of citizenship education, including the provision of continuing professional development in these subjects for serving teachers. In addition, my department has organised a series of regional training events attended by over 1,000 teachers and launched a website which includes a training needs identification tool for teachers, examples of good practice and a database of resources.
Equality of Treatment: Election Candidates
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 November (WA 56), what are their reasons for considering that being a Member of Parliament is not an occupation that falls within the scope of the Equal Treatment Directive even though it falls within the scope of the employment provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975; and[HL1808]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 November (WA 56), whether they consider that the control of access to employment and occupation falls within the scope of the Equal Treatment Directive; and if not, why not; and[HL1809]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 November (WA 56), whether they consider that a political party falls within the scope of the Equal Treatment Directive when controlling access to employment and occupation; and, if not, why not; and[HL1810]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 November (WA 56), whether they consider that the control of access to occupations and vocations (whether involving public office otherwise) falls within the scope of the Equal Treatment Directive; and, if not, why not; and[HL1811]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 November (WA 56), what are their reasons for considering that political parties are not public authorities, within the meaning of Section 6 of
- the Human Rights Act 1998, when exercising the functions of selecting candidates for election to the House of Commons.[HL1812]
The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): Whether or not a provision falls within a particular part or section of an Act in domestic law is not decisive of how it will be regarded for EU law purposes.
The Government's view is that being a Member of Parliament is not an occupation within the scope of the directive: an MP can more properly be characterised as someone holding political office. Occupations are within the scope of the directive only where an employment-type relationship arises. Being a Member of Parliament does not, in the Government's view, give rise to such a relationship.
Apart from the issue of whether being a Member of Parliament is an occupation under the directive, the Government are of the view that the directive does not apply to the electoral process because it is not comparable to selection for employment.
The Government accept that the equal treatment principle applies to the control of access to employment and occupations covered by the directive. By accepting this, however, the Government do not accept that the selection by a political party of a candidate for election is control of access to employment and occupation. Holding political office would not, in our view, cause an employment-type
relationship to arise, whether between the Member and their political party or otherwise. Standing as a candidate for election or standing for selection to be a candidate is not the same as having access to employment or occupation.It is accepted that the directive covers access to vocational guidance, vocational training, advanced vocational training and retraining. It may also cover access to occupations and vocations, but only so long as the occupation or vocation concerned involves an employment-type relationship. For the reasons advanced above, however, this does not mean, that the directive applies to selection of candidates as MPs.
As to whether political parties are public authorities for the purposes of Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998, a body will only be a public authority for the purposes of the Human Rights Act if it has a public function, that is, a function which is governmental or quasi-governmental in nature and which seeks to achieve some collective benefit for the public. The Government's view is that the selection of a candidate to stand for election is internal to the party and its members, and is more a private act that furthers the party's own ends than a public function.
As stated in my Answer on 28 November (WA 56), however, it is not for the Government to give assurances as to how the law will be construed. The Government reach their view after due deliberation, but that it is binding in any way ultimately it is for the courts to decide.
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