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Foreign Students
Mr. Opik: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will estimate the gross cost of setting up mechanisms for the means testing of citizens of other EU member states to assess their eligibility to pay tuition fees. [27718]
Dr. Howells: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 27 January 1998, Official Report, column 191.
NVQ Provision
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to monitor the quality of NVQ provision in the workplace. [27709]
Dr. Howells: The quality assurance of NVQs is primarily a matter for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the awarding bodies. The Department is currently providing £1.5 million to support additional external verification of NVQs by awarding bodies to help in assuring standards of assessment. In addition the delivery of training funded through Colleges and TECs, which includes NVQ provision in the workplace, is inspected by the Further Education Funding Council and the Training Standards Council.
New School (Portsmouth)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of Portsmouth City Council's proposals to build a school on the site of the East wing of St. Mary's Hospital in respect of the adequacy of the site for a school of the size proposed. [27885]
Mr. Byers:
I can confirm that Portsmouth City Council has put forward a public-private partnership proposal to provide a new secondary school. I understand that the Council is still considering a number of possible sites for the school. As part of the new process for assessing the viability of local authority PPP/PFI projects, the Council's proposal is currently being considered by the interdepartmental Project Review Group. An announcement about approved projects is expected shortly.
12 Feb 1998 : Column: 285
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the difference between the education budget and the general schools budget for each local education authority in the country; and how much of that amount was spent on service strategy and regulation activity in the last year for which figures are available. [27500]
Mr. Byers:
The following table sets out, for each local education authority in England, the difference between its total education budget and its General Schools Budget, and its Service Strategy and Regulation expenditure for 1996-97.
12 Feb 1998 : Column: 286
Welfare to Work
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the contractual arrangement for the delivery of the New Deal services to provide Welfare to Work. [27687]
Mr. Alan Howarth:
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.
12 Feb 1998 : Column: 287
Letter from Leigh Lewis to Miss Anne McIntosh, dated February 1998:
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of training 50,000 child-minders under the New Deal; which organisations will be expected to carry out such training; and how many participants are expected to be (a) young people unemployed for more than six months, (b) single parents and (c) others. [27712]
Mr. Andrew Smith:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 28 January 1998, Official Report, column 237, on the number of young people likely to train as childcare workers under the New Deal for 18-24 year olds. Potentially, participants on the New Deal for long-term unemployed people could also train as childcare workers under these options, and participants on the New Deal for lone parents could be helped to find employment as a childcare worker.
There are different arrangements for training and funding young people to become childcare workers for each of the options for the New Deal for 18-24 year olds. On the Voluntary Sector (VS) and Employment options young people will be provided with work experience by voluntary childcare organisations, and by private and local authority nurseries respectively, which will work with training organisations to enable participants to attend an approved childcare course for at least the equivalent of a day per week. On the Full Time Education and Training (FTET) option young people will attend approved childcare courses provided by training organisations. In addition to the allowances that will be payable to participants on the FTET and VS options, voluntary organisations will be paid a placement fee for each participant in the VS option (the amount depending on contract), employers will receive a job subsidy of £60 per week per participant under the Employment option, and training organisations will receive a fee which is negotiated locally under the FTET option. Organisations providing placements on the VS and Employment options, will also be paid £750 per participant for training. The overall cost will depend upon the level of take up on each of the options.
12 Feb 1998 : Column: 288
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question relating to the contractual arrangements for the delivery of the New Deal. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Employment Service Chief Executive.
There are currently three principal contracting models for delivering the New Deal for unemployed young people:
a joint venture partnership: where a consortium is formed to deliver the whole of the New Deal in a unit of delivery and the Employment Service agrees with members of the consortium jointly to develop and implement a delivery proposal. The contract is between the Secretary of State (acting through the Employment Service) and lead members of the partnership;
a single consortium: where a consortium is formed, as above, and the Secretary of State has a single contract with either a designated lead organisation or the consortium which has established itself as a legal entity;
a series of individual contracts: the Secretary of State (acting through the Employment Service) enters into a series of individual contracts, which in aggregate deliver the full New Deal services required in a district.
I hope this is helpful.
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