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Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, 8 October

Lord Graham of Edmonton asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council held on 8 October in Luxembourg. [HL6134]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): This was the first meeting of the new Council formation as reconfigured at Seville. Its relatively light agenda was weighted towards employment and social policy issues. There were no consumer affairs dossiers on the agenda, and only one health item was tabled. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, accompanied by my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations and the Regions, represented the UK.

The key discussion centred on the review of the European employment strategy (EES). The Council endorsed the opinion of the Employment Committee and Economic Policy Committee on the future of the EES, which makes more explicit the linkages between the EES and achieving the targets set at Lisbon in 2000. The Employment Committee will now draft an opinion on streamlining the Employment Guidelines and Broad Economic Policy Guidelines. Discussions will continue at the December ESPHCA and it is expected that the new strategy will be signed off at the spring Council in 2003.

The Presidency presented two progress reports without discussion: on agency work, which is likely to appear on the agenda for December's ESPHCA; and on a revised proposal for a directive protecting workers from the risks of exposure to electromagnetic fields and waves, which was remitted for further

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technical work. The chairman of the Social Protection Committee reported that the committee would agree new objectives on social inclusion at the end of October 2002. These would be approved at the European Council in Copenhagen in December. The chairman also drew attention to two reports for the 2003 spring Council: on long-term care for the elderly and the recently submitted national strategy reports on pensions.

The Council held a brief debate on gender and marginalisation in the context of national action plans on inclusion (NAPs incl). The Presidency called for more work to be done on appropriate indicators. All member states agreed to give greater prominence to gender in the 2003 round of NAPS incl.

In relation to health issues, the Council discussed the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products elements of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Council agreed on how to proceed in light of the forthcoming negotiating round (the fifth) of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body in Geneva (14–25 October 2002).

Under any other business, the Presidency outlined how the Council would follow up the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development with a letter to the President of the General and External Affairs Council. There would be Council conclusions in December. The Commission presented its plans for a communication on the rights of disabled people and for a conference on trafficking in humans.

Over lunch, Ministers had a political discussion on the proposal for the replacement of the Standing Committee on Employment with a tripartite social summit on growth and employment.

Broadband Access for Schools

The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:

What plans they have for increasing the bandwidth (for high-speed Internet access) to the United Kingdom education sector; and what proposals they have for rolling out adequate broadband support to the teaching professions.[HL5958]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The devolved administrations have responsibility for their respective countries' education departments; therefore this Answer refers to England only. The DfES has set up 10 regional broadband consortia (RBCs) to help LEAs deliver broadband access to schools. The RBCs are initially providing co-ordinated and cost-effective connectivity between schools and access to the Internet for schools, including those in rural areas, at a minimum bandwidth of 2 megabits per second (2Mbps). At present 23 per cent of schools have a managed educational broadband service, including 85 per cent of secondary and 14 per cent of primary schools.

The Joint Academic Network (JANet) is an established network providing facilities for the higher education (HE) and further education (FE) sectors, with all colleges now having guaranteed minimum 2Mbps connectivity and most HE institutions have at least 155Mpbs connection. SuperJANet offers a high capacity (10Gbps) national backbone.

Support provided to teachers includes: General and specific advice on broadband and other ICT in education issues through our lead agency Becta; technical advice and funding for possible technical support through Standards Fund 601A grant for infrastructures and services.

Education Support Grant

Lord Smith of Leigh asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the proposal from the Department for Education and Skills to use income support data to represent deprivation to determine need for education support grant takes account of the acknowledged regional variation and its impact on the reliability of the data.[HL5974]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: An income-based measure provides a good proxy for childhood deprivation. At the local education authority level the best such proxy available is provided by receipt of income support. The measure is based on a 100 per cent count of claimants at a point in time and our investigations have shown that it is robust and that claimants can be accurately assigned to local education authorities.

Skills Priorities

Lord Smith of Leigh asked Her Majesty's Government:

What advice they will give to the Learning and Skills Council in view of the shortages in certain categories of skilled labour, particularly in the construction industry, which will be affected by the additional funding under the Comprehensive Spending Review.[HL5975]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is working closely with the new Sector Skills Development Agency and the sector skills councils as key strategic partners in identifying sector skills priorities and agreeing with them specific arrangements for meeting the priorities identified. We will set out the funding available for 2003–04 and the following two years in December in the annual grant letter to the LSC. This will include resources from the Spending Review 2002.

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BBC Radio: Production Quota

Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:

What representations they have had supporting the extension to BBC radio of the statutory independent production quota which currently exists for all the United Kingdom public service television channels; what reply they have made; and whether there is any action they will be taking.[HL5903]

The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has received representations suggesting that BBC radio commits itself to an independent production quota similar to the one which currently exists for all the UK public service television channels—BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and C5. The department's officials are considering this issue with the BBC and others.

Northern Ireland Office Members of Staff: Criminal Actions

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether in all cases when a member of staff of the Northern Ireland Office is dismissed for criminal actions, such as photocopying confidential letters, the case is referred to the Department of Public Prosecutions or the Police.[HL5846]

The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): If a Northern Ireland Office member of staff is dismissed for criminal actions the circumstances and evidence surrounding such a dismissal may be referred to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The seriousness of the criminal activity, the cogency of the evidence and whether the known activity represented all that had gone on are factors in deciding whether or not to refer the matter to the police.

Complaints of Maladministration

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they consider that the time is ripe to enable the public to make complaints of maladministration directly to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration without having to complain via a Member of Parliament.[HL5892]

The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston): I have nothing further to add to my answer to the noble Lord's previous question on this matter.

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West Coast Route Modernisation

Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the annual expenditure by Railtrack, and what will be the annual expenditure by Network Rail, on the West Coast route modernisation for (a) maintenance and renewal, and (b) enhancements from the start of the project until forecast completion in 2006.[HL5922]

Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: The Strategic Rail Authority has still to finalise the details of its strategy for taking forward the West Coast route modernisation project, in the light of the consultation process which it launched on 9 October.

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