HC Deb 03 December 1996 vol 286 cc607-8W
Mr. Bryan Davies

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many people have been trained in the clear writing of national vocational qualification standards since the publication of the Government's action plan on the recommendations of the Beaumont report; and of these how many are (a) members of her Department's staff and (b) outside consultants; [6939]

(2) pursuant to the action plan on the recommendations of the Beaumont report, how many standards development consultants have been trained in the use of plain English and Welsh; and what was the cost of this training. [6946]

Mr. Paice

To date, a total of 130 people have attended workshops on language issues as part of a programme in standards development. Of these, 27 were departmental staff, 56 from the accrediting bodies and 47 industry body representatives including 12 consultants. Costs for this financial year and next are anticipated to be £116,321.