Conferences

HC Deb 20 March 1998 vol 308 cc754-6W

Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the conferences held by his Department since 1 May 1997, giving in each case the(a) purpose and (b) estimated cost. [27784]

Dr. Howells

[holding answer 5 February 1998]: Details of the conferences held by the Department since 1 May 1997, giving (a) their purpose and (b) their estimated cost, are shown in the table.

Title	Purpose	Cost (£)
Employment Service—Way	A planning conference for ES	27,280
Ahead Conference (May	staff
1997)
Launch of White Paper	The national launch of the	15,386
'Excellence in Schools'	Excellence in Schools'
(7 July 1997)	White Paper
Skills and Enterprise Network	To disseminate information	7,100
Conference (9–10 July	and network with those
1997)	working in the field of
	labour market information
Excellence in Schools—White	A series of seven regional	129,000
Paper (9–18 September)	conferences held in
	London, Birmingham,
	Newcastle, Sheffield,
	Bristol and Manchester to
	consult on the proposals
	contained in the Excellence
	in Schools White Paper
Disabilities Services National	To promote Employment	550
Conference (August 1997)	Service disability services
New Deal—Consultation	A series of consultation	88335
Conferences (August 1997)	conferences for potential
	'New Deal' partners
Additional New Deal—	A further consultation	27,000
Consultation Conference	conference for potential
(September 1997)	'New Deal' partners
Employment Service—Way	A further series of planning	47,335
Ahead Conference	conferences for ES staff
(September 1997)
Emotional and Behavioural	A series of regional	12,000
Difficulties	workshops for practitioners
(September-October 1997)	and specialists in emotional
	and behavioural difficulties,
	to disseminate good
	practice
National Literacy Strategy	To encourage Local Education	49,888
Conference (20 October	Authorities and the
1997)	Department of Education
	and Employment to work
	together on the national
	literacy strategy and to
	launch the bidding guidance
	and discuss content
Special Educational Needs—	Series of regional consultation	31,000
Green Paper Conferences	conferences
(October 1997)
Disability Discrimination Act	Series of regional conferences	32,000
(October-November 1997)	covering disability in the
	context of the Disability
	Discrimination Act
Early Years Development	A series of conferences to	35,000
Plans—Conferences	advise Local Educational
(October-November 1997)	Authorities on developing
	Early Years Development
	Plans
Qualifying for Success	A series of conferences to	115,000
(October-December 1997)	consult schools and Higher
	Educational Institutions on
	the proposals for reforming
	16–19 qualifications

Title	Purpose	Cost (£)
Careers Service Conference	A guidance through	100,000
(3–4 November 1997)	partnership conference for
	chief executive and
	chairmen of Careers
	Service, disseminating good
	practice, the event included
	a Ministerial announcement
	on the future of the
	Careers Service
National Vocational	To promote National	128,121
Qualifications/Scottish	Vocational Qualifications
Vocational Qualifications	and Scottish Vocational
International Conference	Qualifications abroad, to
(4–5 November 1997)	interested countries
National Vocational	A conference aimed at	38,600
Qualifications—Awarding	working towards a united
Bodies (2–3 December	approach to qualifications
1997)
Race for the Future	A conference to encourage	24,000
(December 1997)	employers to take action to
	develop race equality
	policies within their
	organisation
UK Skills Conference	To celebrate the achievements	4,932
(3 December 1997)	gold medal award of the
	UK team at the Youth
	Skills Olympics
Towards Equality (Disability	A conference concentrating on	20,000
on the Agenda)	the broad issue of what is
(5 December 1997)	being done within the
	United Kingdom to move
	towards equality for people
	with disabilities
Employment Zones	A working conference for	20,000
(28 January 1998)	Employment Zones
	prototype partners to
	exchange ideas before
	going live. The conference
	included a ministerial
	speech
Equal Opportunities	A conference promoting equal	10,200
Conference (29 January	opportunities and best
1998)	practice in Industry
	Training Organisations/
	National Training
	Organisations
National Year of Reading	A conference to celebrate the	85,161
(30 January 1998)	launch of the National Year
	of Reading
National Training	A conference National	7,817
Organisations Partner	Training Organisations
Conference (25 February	amongst the business sector
1998)
School Governors Conference	Providing the opportunity for	12,500
(12–14 February 1998)	OFSTED, Local
	Educational Authorities,
	Department for Education
	and Employment and
	School Governors to work
	together to raise standards
	in schools
Numeracy Matters	A conference to discuss the	49,000
(11–12 February 1998)	preliminary report of the
	numeracy task force, which
	was published for
	consultation in January
	1998