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New Deal (Young People)
Mr. Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many complaints have been made by New Deal clients on the 18-24 year old programme in each New Deal delivery unit (a) since 6 April 1998 for all areas and (b) since 1 January 1998 for the Pathfinder areas. [80903]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Information on the total number of complaints made by New Deal clients on the 18 to 24 year old programme is not held centrally. Under the Employment Service Jobseeker's Charter, New Deal clients are able to raise any complaints through a number of avenues such as the New Deal Hotline, which is available to both clients and employers for compliments and complaints. Hotline inquiries are collated centrally as per the following table, however, the majority of any complaints are dealt with at local level with the New Deal Personal Adviser. The level of satisfaction amongst young people participating on New Deal is one of the Core Performance Measures. Information about this will be published, by Unit of Delivery, later in the year.
| Region | Number of calls received |
|---|---|
| London and South East | 46 |
| Northern | 14 |
| Scotland | 158 |
| Wales | 18 |
| South West | 3 |
| East Midlands | 151 |
| West Midlands | 60 |
| North West | 111 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 165 |
| Total | 726 |
Open University
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number per head of population studying with the Open University in (a) England and Wales, (b) Herefordshire, (c) the local education authority with the highest number of Open University students per head and (d) the local education authority with the lowest number of Open University students per head; and if he will make a statement. [80929]
Mr. Mudie: Information on the number per head of population studying with the Open University in each local education authority is not available centrally. The available information based on data at English and Welsh county level is given in the following table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| England and Wales | 236 |
| Hereford and Worcester | 278 |
| County with highest figure per head | 664 |
| County with the lowest figure per head | 85 |
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Students (Herefordshire)
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students from Herefordshire are currently in (a) full-time and (b) part- time (1) higher education and (2) further education; how many are studying with the Open University; and if he will make a statement. [80928]
Mr. Mudie: Information for Herefordshire is not available centrally. The available information for Hereford and Worcester is given in the following table.
| Full-time | Part-time | |
|---|---|---|
| Higher education | 13,597 | 6,423 |
| Further education | 14,394 | 43,271 |
| Open University | 3 | 1,944 |
Ministerial Meetings (US)
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 23 March 1999, Official Report, column 196, how many times Ministers in his Department met their counterparts in the US Administration between 1 January 1998 and 1 June 1998, indicating the dates and locations of each meeting, the ministers involved and the name of the US counterpart. [80823]
Mr. Mudie: My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State and the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities met Alexis Herman at the G8 Employment Conference in London in February 1998.
No other such meetings took place between 1 January 1998 and 1 June 1998.
Departmental Personnel
Mr. John M. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many personnel there are on the payroll of his Department currently; what is the annual cost of that payroll; and what were the comparable figures on 30 April 1997. [81084]
Mr. Mudie: I refer the hon. Member to Annexes Ei, Eii and F of the Department's Report (Cm 4202) which is available in the Library.
The Report shows that there are currently 36,088 personnel on the Department's payroll (comprising DfEE HG and the Employment Service). The annual cost of that payroll is £831,004,000. Comparable figures for April 1997 are 41,910 personnel at an annual cost of £772,722,000.
Wirral Metropolitan College
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what are the arrangements for publication of the inspection report on Wirral Metropolitan College. [81209]
Mr. Mudie:
The report is expected to be published on 27 April. Copies will be sent to all colleges, national and regional press, subscribers and the Local Education Authority and Training Enterprise Council. I have
21 Apr 1999 : Column: 559
arranged for copies to be placed in the Library and it will also be available on the FEFC web site, the address of which is 'www.fefc.ac.uk'.
A copy is sent to the Member in whose constituency the main site of the college is located. However, I have asked in this case for copies to be sent to my hon. Friends the Members for Wirral, South (Mr. Chapman) and Wallasey (Angela Eagle).
Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what information about the retirement packages of principals of FE colleges is made publicly available. [81211]
Mr. Mudie:
Further education colleges are required to disclose in their annual financial statement the aggregate amount of any compensation paid to senior post holders for loss of office. College financial statements are public documents.
Mrs. Ann Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the training given to teachers for the delivery of drugs misuse education in schools. [80313]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Support for drug education teacher training is available to local education authorities through the Standards Fund. One of the requirements of Standards Fund provisions in this area is that local education authorities should submit at the end of the year a report of their drug education work, providing information on, amongst other things, the training of teachers and youth workers. This information allows us to monitor the level and quality of teacher training on drug education and was used to inform the guidance that we issued last November on the effective delivery of drug education in schools and youth service settings.
We have also given detailed consideration to information provided by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) in its 1997 report "Drug Education in Schools", on the level and quality of in-service training of teachers relating to drug education.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the total number of occasions when (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity since 2 May 1997. [76834]
Mr. George Robertson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) on 31 March 1999, Official Report, columns 674-75.
Departmental Costs
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost to his Department in each
21 Apr 1999 : Column: 560
of the last five years of evacuating British citizens from overseas trouble spots; which places were involved; and what was the cost for each. [80711]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
In the last five years there have been three occasions where the military have evacuated British citizens from overseas trouble spots. The details are as follows:
May 1994--evacuation from Yemen. Central records for this operation, whose costs lay where they fell, were not kept in 1994.
June 1998--evacuation from Eritrea. The cost of the operation was estimated at around £50K.
December 1998--evacuation from Sierra Leone. The cost of the operation was estimated at around £150K.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the roles which servicemen aged 16 and 17 are not eligible to perform, by service. [81238]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
Service personnel who are on the trained strength are fully employable within the limits of their training, their rank or rating. Personnel aged under 17 are not deployed operationally, nor do they undertake operational patrols in Northern Ireland. Personnel aged under 18 are not deployed on UN peacekeeping operations in line with UN policy on the matter, although should a Royal Navy unit already serving overseas deploy at short notice on peacekeeping duties, it might contain a small number of personnel aged under 18.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many enlisted 16 and 17 year olds there are in each service. [81241]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
At 1 March 1999, the numbers of 16 and 17 year old personnel serving in the UK Regular Armed Forces can be broken down as follows:
| Age | Total | Naval Service | Army | Royal Air Force |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1,559 | 253 | 1,235 | 71 |
| 17 | 5,069 | 776 | 3,914 | 379 |
| Total | 6,628 | 1,029 | 5,149 | 450 |
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his policy towards the recruitment of under 18 year olds to the Armed Forces. [81239]
Mr. Doug Henderson: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 16 March 1999, Official Report, column 571.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many 16 and 17 year old servicemen are currently deployed overseas, by (i) service and (ii) theatre; and how many have been removed from their unit on its current deployment. [81236]
21 Apr 1999 : Column: 561
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The details of Service personnel deployed overseas, by Service, are as follows:
There are no 16 or 17-year-old Royal Marine personnel serving overseas.
There is no record of personnel having been removed from their unit prior to its current deployment.
Naval Service. No Royal Navy personnel aged 16 are presently deployed overseas. There are 53 Royal Navy personnel (including seven women) aged 17 deployed overseas with the Fleet. Their locations are as follows:
Adriatic: 21
Far East: 4
Gulf: 6
Mediterranean: 15
South Atlantic: 3
West Indies: 4.
Army. As at 1 March 1999, no Army personnel aged 16 were deployed overseas. Some 133 personnel aged 17 were deployed overseas as follows:
Botswana: 1
Belize: 4
Canada: 2
Cyprus: 16
Gibraltar: 4
Kenya: 18
American Territories: 1
Germany: 56
USA: 9
Former Yugoslavia: 22
Royal Air Force. As at 1 March 1999, no Service personnel aged 16 were deployed overseas. One 17-year-old was serving in Saudi Arabia.
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