§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Lord Privy Seal how many private companies the British Council has used to hire consultants for Third world country projects; and if he will list the companies and where they are located within England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. RidleyThe British Council makes use of a wide range of public and private organisations to provide consultants from their own staff. It does not use recruitment organisations for these purposes, though it has very occasionally used agencies to provide teachers or educatiors on long-term contracts (that is, over a year).
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Lord Privy Seal how many companies the British Council has used for placing overseas students, within training courses, in each of the past five years; and if he will name the companies and show their business location within England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. RidleyThe British Council does not use companies in Great Britain for placing of students, though there may exceptionally be cases where a company or institution contracted to provide training will with the prior agreement of the council arrange other attachments as part of the agreed programme.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Lord Privy Seal how many consultants the British Council has recruited for work overseas in each of the past five years; and if he will show how these have been drawn from England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. RidleyInformation is not readily available to distinguish consultants from other short-term visitors organised by the British Council. My right hon. Friend will write to the hon. Member to show how these short-term visitors have been drawn from England, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish figures to show how many overseas students the British Council has handled for management-related courses in each of the past three years; and if he will show the allocation for England, Scotland and Wales.
§ Mr. RidleyThis information is readily available only for placements under the technical co-operation training
52Wtechnical colleges, and (e) other; and how these figures compare with the years 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79 and 1979–80.
§ Mr. RidleyRecords are not available for all the categories requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The following numbers of students receiving support from the Overseas Development Administration were, however, on courses in Britain at 31 December each year:
programme funded by the Overseas Development Administration. Under this programme the following placements were made in general management courses, excluding industrial training:
1979–80, 87; 1980–81, 72; 1981–82, 85 so far.
All these placements were on courses in England.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Lord Privy Seal how many overseas students the British Council has handled from all sources in each of the past five years; and if he will show the numbers for principal placements within local authority areas inside Great Britain.
§ Mr. RidleyThe total number of students and trainees handled by the British Council in each of the past five years was as follows:
1976–77 18,504 1977–78 18,699 1978–79 16,027 1979–80 18,140 1980–81 14,839 Information on the geographical location of the courses on which these students were placed is not immediately available, and my right hon. Friend will write to the hon. Member when it has been assembled.