HC Deb 11 May 1999 vol 331 cc80-1W
Mr. Drew

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what decision he has reached on the proposed intervention in Hackney Education Authority; and if he will publish lists of organisations which may be invited to bid for work as service providers in failing local education authorities. [84049]

Ms Estelle Morris

On 19 March my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to Hackney to inform them that, following Ofsted's second critical report, he was minded to direct the Director of Education to contract out the School Improvement Service (SIS) and the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS—formerly the Language and Learning Service) and asked them for their views. KPMG were appointed to draw up specifications for this work and also advise on the case for contracting out the ICT, Finance and Personnel Services. KPMG have now reported and I am today announcing the next steps for Hackney.

I am also publishing the list of organisations who may be invited to bid for work as service providers in failing LEAs and a list of those who may be used for consultancy work. Discussions are continuing with a number of organisations which may be added to the service provider list in the near future.

My right hon. Friend has written to Hackney today to confirm that we have accepted KPMG's advice that the next steps will involve contracting out the work of the School Improvement Service and the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service. The Government are inviting a number of organisations to bid for this work. We aim to have a contractor in place shortly to take on the functions of the SIS. The functions of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service will transfer to the contractor on 1 April 2000 by which time the LEA will have reorganised this service to take account of the fact that most of the funding for extra teaching support now goes directly to schools.

Following advice from KPMG, my right hon. Friend has decided that ICT, Finance and Personnel should not be added to the package at this stage as the LEA has taken a number of important steps to improve the delivery of these services—including making key appointments and drawing up rigorous action plans. We will monitor these services very carefully and will not hesitate to add them to the contract if improvements are not delivered quickly.

Six organisations will be awarded framework contracts for possible consultancy work relating to LEA interventions. They are KPMG, Lorien, Capita, Office of Public Management, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen/Birmingham LEA.

Ten organisations succeeded in gaining places on the current list of those who may be invited to bid for contracts as service providers in LEAs. They are Arthur Andersen/Birmingham LEA/APS Keele, Cambridge Education Associates, Nord Anglia, Hampshire LEA, The Education Partnership, Capita, CfBT, Essex LEA/Windsor and Co., Include and CEM Consortium.