HC Deb 20 December 1999 vol 341 cc403-4W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of administration in providing education and training for 16 to 19-year-olds by(a) schools, (b) further education colleges, (c) sixth form colleges and (d) TECs. [103577]

Mr. Wicks

The administration costs of each of these sectors are made public through the Revenue Outturn Statement from Local Education Authorities and annual reports/accounts produced by the Further Education Funding Council for England and TECs. However, the information requested on the administration costs of education and training provision for 16 to 19-year-olds is not identified separately.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of administration of the provision of education and training for 16 to 19-year-olds under his proposals by(a) schools, (b) further education colleges, (c) sixth form colleges, (d) the National Learning and Skills Council, (e) local learning and skills councils, (f) local life-long learning partnerships and (g) sixth form colleges maintained by the Learning and Skills Council. [103576]

Mr. Wicks

We have not made separate estimates of the costs of providing education and training for 16 to 19-year-olds by sector. However, the new arrangements for learning and skills will cut through the present duplication and bureaucracy and will secure savings of at least £50 million a year across post-16 learning, which will be invested in improving the quality of learning.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the significant differences between the updated Transition Plan for Post-16 Education and Training published on 26 November and the draft published on 30 June; and what is the reason for these differences. [102926]

Mr. Wicks

The joint DfEE/DTI National Transition Plan, first issued alongside the White Paper, is a working document that is intended to evolve and develop as discussions with partner organisations take place. The Plan has been updated to take account of partners views and to set out in more detail the steps needed to set up the Learning and Skills Council, subject to Parliamentary approval.

There is a new section which lists the progress made since the launch of the White Paper; an overarching plan which summaries the key milestones; and a new annex which details the groups which have been set up to support arrangements.

We intend to produce further regular updates over the next year.