§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list all the helplines, or schemes which include a helpline service, for which her Department provides any funding, stating which are(a) independent organisations, (b) run by her Department or agencies of her Department or (c) of another classification; how many calls each received in each of the last five years; and how much money each received from her Department in each of the last five years. [9799]
§ Mr. Robin SquireUntil the merger of July 1995, the Education and the Employment Departments operated independently, and will continue to do so for publicity purposes until the end of this financial year.
Records are not held centrally of helplines funded by the former Employment Department, including some set up in partnership with the former Department for Education.
Details of education helplines funded in the last five years are as follows:
Helplines run by the DepartmentGrant-maintained SchoolsA six-week information helpline pilot in 1993, set up by the Department, received 2,500 calls at a cost of £25,000. The service was then provided by the Department's own staff, receiving a further 2,098 calls in 1993, 1,960 calls in 1994, and 1,540 in 1995. As servicing the helpline is part of many other duties, costs for operating this service following the pilot cannot be separated out.Nursery EducationA nursery education helpline was set up by the Department in November 1995. To date, 5,000 calls have been received at an estimated cost of £16,000.Helplines run by Agencies for the DepartmentThe Teacher Training Agency set up a helpline for individuals wishing to go into teaching in August 1995. To date, around 7.980 calls and more than 3,530 letters have been received at a cost of £115,000.The Funding Agency for Schools set up a helpline for schools in January 1996, in response to the recent survey of the condition of school buildings. Costs have yet to be finalised.