Training and Enterprise Councils

HC Deb 13 December 1993 vol 234 cc507-11W

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his policy in respect of the surplus revenue over expenditure which is being held by training and enterprise councils.

Miss Widdecombe

Training and enterprise councils —TECs—need reserves to protect the viability of their businesses. Beyond that, TECs are required to use their efficiency savings to further the objectives of their corporate plans and business plans. I know that many TECs have plans for spending their reserves effectively.

	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94
	Cash terms	Cash terms	Real terms	Real terms	Cash terms	Real terms	Real terms
	£ million	£ million	£ million	+/- Percent.	£ million	£ million	+/- Per cent.
Hampshire	32.00	34.13	32.87	2.71	35.63	33.23	1.11
Heart of England	10.50	12.18	11.73	11.71	11.89	11.09	-5.49
Isle of Wight	4.30	4.26	4.10	-4.59	4.34	4.04	-1.44
Kent	31.60	35.13	33.83	7.06	39.36	36.71	8.51
Milton Keynes/North Buckinghamshire	7.10	8.04	7.74	9.05	10.12	9.44	21.96
Surrey	13.0	13.83	13.32	0.14	14.07	13.13	-1.44
Sussex	24.20	27.16	26.16	8.08	26.95	25.13	-3.91
Thames Valley Enterprise	19.60	21.21	20.43	4.21	27.45	25.60	25.34
AZTEC	11.10	11.73	11.30	1.77	14.45	13.47	19.29
CENTEC	12.70	24.24	23.34	83.81	28.58	26.66	14.20
CILNTEC	9.10	22.62	21.78	139.38	27.06	25.24	15.87
LETEC	28.70	35.90	34.57	20.46	44.42	41.43	19.83
North London	10.40	18.92	18.22	75.20	21.98	20.50	12.54

Mr. Michael Forsyth

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Andrew Hunter, dated 13 December 1993. The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question about referrals to providers of training. The information you requested is set out in the attached table. I should explain that people who are unemployed for six months are interviewed by a Client Adviser (and at six month intervals thereafter should they remain unemployed). At this interview their employment needs are discussed with a view to helping them back to work by agreeing a referral to a job, training or other suitable opportunity, e.g. a Jobclub. I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much funding has been made available to each training and enterprise council each year, expressed in cash and real terms using prices from the first year's funding and as a real terms percentage increase or decrease on the previous year.

Miss Widdecombe

Funding made available to each training and enterprise council by the Department for the last three years, expressed in cash terms and real terms using prices from the first year's funding and as a real term percentage increase or decrease on the previous year, is shown in the following table:

	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94
	Cash terms	Cash terms	Real terms	Real terms	Cash terms	Real terms	Real terms
	£million	£ million	£ million	+/-Per cent.	£ million	£ million	+/-Per cent.
North West London	5.80	10.03	9.66	66.54	13.8	12.57	30.17
SOLOTEC	18.90	20.12	19.38	2.52	21.94	20.47	5.63
South Thames	22.10	32.92	31.70	43.45	44.06	41.10	29.63
West London	9.80	17.27	16.63	69.71	19.79	18.46	10.97
Bedfordshire	12.60	11.72	11.29	-10.42	13.40	12.49	10.70
Cambridgeshire	6.60	6.37	6.13	-7.05	7.87	7.34	19.58
Essex	28.50	35.49	34.18	19.92	35.10	32.74	-4.21
Greater Peterborough	8.40	9.30	8.96	6.62	11.06	10.31	15.17
Hertfordshire	19.20	24.81	23.89	24.44	26.16	24.40	2.10
Norfolk/Waveney	23.90	22.57	21.74	-9.06	25.84	24.10	10.90
Suffolk	14.70	15.54	14.97	1.81	16.93	15.79	5.49
Avon	28.60	28.84	27.77	-2.89	32.21	30.04	8.18
Devon/Cornwall	52.50	52.47	50.53	-3.75	59.32	55.33	9.50
Dorset	15.20	16.53	15.92	4.73	19.28	17.98	12.97
Gloucestershire	12.80	13.92	13.41	4.73	15.21	14.19	5.85
Somerset	12.50	13.75	13.24	5.93	14.08	13.13	-0.84
Wiltshire	12.30	14.66	14.12	14.78	15.90	14.83	5.04
Birmingham	46.70	49.77	47.93	2.63	48.99	45.69	-4.67
Central England	10.90	11.71	11.28	3.46	11.81	11.01	-2.34
Coventry/Warwickshire	26.20	25.38	24.44	-6.71	30.91	28.83	17.95
Dudley	11.20	11.72	11.29	0.77	12.92	12.05	6.77
HAWTEC	10.30	11.81	11.37	10.42	13.64	12.72	11.86
Sandwell	11.40	11.99	11.55	1.29	13.44	12.53	8.56
Shropshire	13.40	14.68	14.14	5.50	14.91	13.91	-1.61
Staffordshire	34.00	35.60	34.28	0.83	37.66	35.12	2.44
Walsall	10.60	9.99	9.62	-9.24	10.52	9.81	1.96
Wolverhampton	11.50	12.12	11.67	1.49	12.52	11.68	0.04
Greater Nottingham	20.90	20.98	20.20	-3.33	24.36	22.72	12.47
Leicester	25.40	26.21	25.24	-0.63	27.05	25.23	-0.05
Lincolnshire	19.20	20.70	19.93	3.83	26.89	25.08	25.80
North Derbyshire	11.20	10.58	10.19	-9.03	11.96	11.16	9.51
North Nottinghamshire	17.50	17.12	16.49	-5.79	17.58	16.40	-0.53
Northamptonshire	12.80	13.76	13.25	3.53	14.45	13.48	1.72
South Derbyshire	17.80	18.33	17.65	-0.83	19.20	17.91	1.47
Barnsley/Doncaster	27.30	25.08	24.15	-11.53	31.21	29.11	20.52
Bradford and District	19.20	20.75	19.98	4.08	22.21	20.71	3.66
Calderdale/Kirklees	21.40	21.39	20.60	-3.74	29.15	27.19	32.00
Humberside	37.60	37.77	36.77	-3.26	39.68	37.01	1.76
Leeds	22.50	21.34	20.55	-8.66	25.41	23.70	15.33
North Yorkshire	17.40	17.56	16.91	-2.81	18.75	17.49	3.42
Rotherham	12.50	12.54	12.08	-3.39	13.96	13.02	7.78
Sheffield	25.70	23.38	22.52	-12.39	28.77	26.83	19.16
Wakefield	12.60	12.54	12.08	-4.16	14.05	13.10	8.51
Bolton/Bury	13.50	14.38	13.85	2.58	15.89	14.82	7.04
Manchester	39.10	39.31	37.86	-3.18	42.58	39.71	4.91
METROTEC	12.00	11.29	10.87	-9.39	12.13	11.31	4.03
Oldham	9.10	9.19	8.85	-2.74	9.80	9.14	3.30
Rochdale	7.80	8.87	8.54	9.51	10.32	9.63	12.72
South and East Cheshire	11.10	12.83	12.36	11.31	15.27	14.25	15.29
Stockport	9.90	10.47	10.08	1.85	11.86	11.06	9.72
CEWTEC	22.30	20.96	20.19	-9.48	24.75	23.09	14.37
Cumbria	18.60	17.68	17.03	-8.46	18.82	17.56	3.11
ELTEC	18.00	18.80	18.10	0.58	21.85	20.38	12.58
LAWTEC	26.80	28.35	27.30	1.87	31.51	29.39	7.64
Merseyside	40.10	51.00	49.11	22.48	64.80	60.44	23.06
NORMID	11.82	14.57	14.03	18.71	16.32	15.22	8.48
QUALITEC	9.60	9.83	9.47	-1.39	11.89	11.09	17.19
Durham	34.70	30.09	28.98	-16.49	33.52	31.27	7.90
Northumberland	15.30	15.28	14.72	-3.82	16.72	15.60	5.98
Teeside	35.50	33.48	32.24	-9.18	38.19	35.62	10.47
Tyneside	45.80	40.45	38.95	-14.95	49.47	46.15	18.46
Wearside	21.40	18.47	17.79	-16.88	22.61	21.09	18.55

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what criteria determine the amount of funding for individual training and enterprise councils.

Miss Widdecombe

A training and enterprise council —TEC—negotiates with the Employment Department for the allocation of funds for training programmes based on its business plans for the year. When allocating funds, the Department takes account of a range of factors, including the quality of training to be provided, the balance of training between occupations, the expected demand for places by unemployed people, and contributions from employers towards the cost of training. The Department will also take efficiency savings made by a TEC into account when negotiating prices for training.

Mr. Hunter

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will place in the Library a list of the directors of each training and enterprise council and the companies or organisations they represent.

Miss Widdecombe

Yes. I am doing so for all training and enterprise councils— TECs—in England. Information for the TECs in Wales is for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales to supply.

Directors of TECs are chosen to represent the range and diversity of the local labour market and not a particular company or organisation.

I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as this has been done.

Mr. Henderson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total budget for training and enterprise councils in England and Wales for(a) 1992–93 and (b) 1993–94; and what is the planned budget for 1994–95.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

The budget for training and enterprise councils—TECs—in England for 1992–93 was £1.536 million. The total budget for 1993–94 is £1.738 million, including allowance payments for training and work participants, excluded from the 1992–93 budget.

Details of TEC budgets in 1994–95 will not be known until contract negotiations with councils are finalised in the spring of 1994.

Budget information relating to Wales is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.