§ Mr. McAvoyTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many civil servants are undertaking the recently introduced master of business administration course for public servants; and what are(a) the grades and (b) the respective Departments of those undertaking the course. [7041]
§ Mr. FreemanThere are currently 45 civil servants undertaking the public sector MBA course on full and part-time programmes. A further 16 civil servants finished full-time programmes in September 1996. This total of 61 are distributed between Departments as detailed in the table. A number of students will begin part-time programmes in January 1997. Information on the grades of participating students is not held centrally, and has not been collected on the grounds that the variation in grading systems across Departments and agencies makes such data of limited value.
Department Full-time 1995 –96 Part-time 1995 –97 Full-time 1996 –97 Total MAFF 2 — 1 3 Cabinet Office — — 1 1 Central Statistical Office — 1 — 1 Crown Prosecution Service — 1 — 1 HM Customs and Excise — 1 1 2 Ministry of Defence 1 2 6 9 Department for Education and Employment 3 4 — 7 Department of the Environment — 2 1 3 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1 — 1 2 GCHQ — — 2 2 Department of Health 3 — 1 4 Health and Safety Executive — 1 — 1 Home Office — 3 2 5 Inland Revenue — 2 — 2 Overseas Development Administration 1 — — 1 Department of Social Security — 4 — 4 OFSTED — 1 — 1 Scottish Office — 1 — 1 Department of Trade and Industry 2 — 3 5 Department of Transport 1 1 2 4 Her Majesty's Treasury 2 — — 2 Total 16 24 21 61