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Deregulation
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what regulations her Department proposes to repeal by the end of 1996; if she proposes to conduct a compliance cost assessment on each regulation repealed; and what is the estimated cost of undertaking a compliance cost assessment to determine the advantages or disadvantages of each such a repeal. [3202]
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 11 November 1996]: It is proposed to revoke the Education (Transfer of Functions Relating to Grant-maintained Schools) Order 1996, SI 1996/2247, and to make a fresh order with technical amendments. No compliance cost is involved. The effect of the order is to transfer the function in relation to the consent to borrowing by grant-maintained schools in England from the Secretary of State to the Funding Agency for Schools.
Travel-to-work Funding
Mr. Peter Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assistance is available to a person who lacks funds to travel to work in respect of a job opportunity verified by the local office of her Department. [3628]
Mr. Forth: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from Mike Fogden to Mr. Peter Griffiths, dated 12 November 1996:
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The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the payment of fares to travel to work. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
While there are no schemes set up specifically to provide assistance with travel costs upon finding employment, Jobseekers who have been unemployed for two years or more may be entitled to claim the Jobfinder's Grant.
The purpose of the Grant is to encourage people to look for work by overcoming some of the barriers associated with the transition from benefits into employment.
Ongoing research has indicated that over 70% of Grant recipients cited the need to travel to work as one of the problems they had faced.
In addition, we have been running the Travel to Interview Scheme for a number of years to help unemployed people cope with the expense of getting to job interviews. The scheme does this by helping people who have been unemployed more than 13 weeks with travelling costs, and if necessary, overnight accommodation costs to attend job interviews outside their usual travel to work area. A few basic conditions must be met before assistance can be granted, to ensure the scheme is properly and fairly administered and gives good value for money. In the last year the scheme has helped nearly 47,000 applicants with travelling costs totalling £1.7m.
We also provide extra help for disabled people. People with disabilities can be given help with travel costs to attend job interviews and, if necessary, the travel costs of someone to accompany them, through our specialist Placing Assessment and Counselling Teams (PACTs). In addition, once a job has been secured, the Access to Work programme can provide help with the additional costs, resulting from disability, of getting to and from work.
I hope this is helpful.
Religious Education
Mr. Peter Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many secondary schools (a) have a member of staff specialising in religious education and (b) have no such member of staff. [3626]
Mr. Forth: The Department does not collect detailed information about the deployment of teachers in individual schools. However, the 1992 secondary school staffing survey indicated that over 90 per cent. of schools had at least one teacher with an RE qualification.
Mr. Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers in training for secondary school posts are specialising in religious education. [3625]
Mr. Forth: In 1995-96, 494 students entered courses of initial teacher training in which religious eduction was either the main or second subject.
Secondary Schools (Unacceptable Placements)
Mr. Peter Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many secondary school age pupils are at present being kept at home because local education authorities have not offered placements acceptable to the parents. [3627]
Mr. Robin Squire: This information is not collected centrally.
Teachers (Warwickshire)
Mr. Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many full-time equivalent teachers were employed in Warwickshire; and what was the pupil-teacher ratio in each year since 1991-92. [3511]
Mr. Forth: The number of full-time equivalent teachers employed in the maintained nursery, primary and secondary sector, including grant-maintained schools, and the overall pupil-teacher ratio, for the Warwickshire local education authority area are shown in the table.
| Warwickshire LEA area | FTE teacher numbers(20) | Overall PTR |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 3,904 | 17.8 |
| 1993 | 3,961 | 17.8 |
| 1994(21) | 4,017 | 17.7 |
| 1995(21) | 4,027 | 18.0 |
| 1996(21) | 3,875 | 18.9 |
(20) Excluding FTE teachers in special education and education elsewhere.
(21) Excluding sixth form colleges from 1994 onwards.
Pupils (Unit Costs)
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals she has to
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publish the unit costs of pupils in primary and secondary schools in all local education authority areas in England for 1995-96. [3828]
Mr. Robin Squire: Provisional aggregate outturn expenditure per pupil for all LEA-maintained pre-primary, primary and secondary schools for 1995-96 will be published in the Department's annual report in March 1997. Data for individual LEAs should be available shortly thereafter.
Higher Education Staff
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to establish a pay review body for staff employed in higher education establishments. [3687]
Mr. Forth: My right hon. Friend has no such plans at present.
EDS Ltd.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many contracts her Department, agencies and associated bodies have had with EDS for each year since 1985; what was the value of each contract; if she will indicate for each contract (a) if it was completed, (b) what modifications were made at the request of (i) the company and (ii) the Department and (c) if work under contract is being undertaken in-house; and if she will make a statement on the number of job reductions in her Department arising from the contracting out of work to EDS. [3795]
Mr. Robin Squire: Both the Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service have recently signed contracts with EDS for access to the Government catalogue framework agreement for the supply of IT goods and services. EDS operates the catalogue on behalf of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency. No modifications have been made to this contract.
The Student Loans Company entered into a contract with EDS for software to support its lending operations in 1989. In 1990, at the suggestion of EDS, the contract was extended to include the provision of loan repayment software. The total value of the contract was £3 million per annum. Early in 1993, the SLC signed a revised contract with EDS which transferred ownership of the software lending system to the SLC. In 1995 the contract ended.
There are no other contracts between the Department or its agencies and EDS. I am not aware of any further contracts between the Department's associated bodies and EDS.
There have been no job reductions in the Department, its agencies and associated bodies as a result of contracting out work to EDS.
Mr. Harry Greenway:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will undertake a public consultation exercise on the value of corporal punishment in schools; and if she will make a statement.[2428]
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Mr. Forth:
No. Corporal punishment is an issue which gives rise to a wide range of sincerely held views. However, the Government's view is that its reintroduction would not solve problems of indiscipline in schools.
Mr. Denham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many requests for information the teachers' superannuation scheme has received from pension transfers and opt-outs; in how many cases all appropriate information has been supplied; what is the average length of time taken to supply such information; and what moratorium has been introduced on supplying such information. [3346]
Mrs. Gillan:
Approximately 7,000 requests for information have been received in respect of members of the teachers' superannuation scheme for England and Wales. Responses have been issued in more than 1,000 cases. The average time taken to deal with priority cases is between three and four weeks. The Teachers' Pensions agencies which administers the teachers' superannuation scheme, was unable to deal with requests for information until 1 October when regulations came into force which enable it to provide and charge for information and process re-instalments.
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