§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many further education places he expects to be offered to participants in the Government's New Deal schemes following his decision to make available extra money to allow further education colleges to recruit students in the New Deal group above their targets. [33579]
§ Dr. HowellsThe £6.05 million made available by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State may benefit up to 12,000 unemployed people in England who might otherwise be unable to access further education.
§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what plans he has in respect of the balance of funding between employers and the public purse in respect of further education provided through franchised arrangements with partnership organisations; [33577]
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of increasing to 50 per cent. the contribution made by partnership organisations to franchised schemes managed by further education colleges on the subject availability of those schemes and the number of places provided on them. [33578]
§ Dr. HowellsWe are seeking a fairer balance between state and employer contributions to the cost of employer-led provision in further education, against the principle that employers should be meeting at least half the cost. Last November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State asked the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) to make arrangements to secure next year an extra £20 million in employer contributions. In response, for 1998–99, the FEFC has decided to reduce by one third the rate of funding available for college provision delivered for an employer, normally on the employer's premises, either by direct or collaborative provision, in the expectation that colleges will seek a greater contribution from employers. There will still be significant public funding for such provision. We have had no evidence that this change will have an impact on subject availability.
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§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what allowance he has made in the annual funding of further education colleges to accommodate the 500,000 extra students planned to enter further education by 2002. [33576]
§ Dr. HowellsWe are taking forward our plans to expand further education opportunities in the context of the Department's Comprehensive Spending Review.
§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the financial surplus or deficit of further education institutions in England at the end of the current academic year; and what were the figures for(a) 1995, (b) 1992 and (c) 1987. [33583]
§ Dr. HowellsThe Further Education Funding Council's current estimate of the expected net deficit of the further education sector this academic year (1997–98) is £3 million.
The net deficit incurred by the further education sector in 1994–95 was £93 million. It is not possible to give figures for 1992 and 1987 on a comparable basis.
§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the total number of staff who left further education colleges during 1996–97 through(a) redundancy, (b) retirement and (c) premature retirement within categories (i) teaching staff, (ii) support staff and (iii) management staff. [33606]
§ Dr. HowellsInformation on the number of redundancies in further education colleges is not available. The number of retirements during financial year 1996–97 from further education colleges is set out in the table.
Type of retirement Total Age 460 Infirmity 710 Premature 3,630 Total 4,800 Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
These figures are produced from the Teachers' Pension Scheme: they include some management staff, but no support staff.