HC Deb 13 April 1999 vol 329 cc159-60W
Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the range of bids accepted by his Department to deliver the Gateway and each of the four strands of the New Deal. [77684]

Mr. Andrew Smith

[holding answer 19 March 1999]: Responsibility for the subject of these questions 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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. Phil Willis, dated 13 April 1999:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about the range of bids accepted to deliver the Gateway and four options of the New Deal for 18–24 year olds. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.The New Deal is delivered in 143 areas, each with a local partnership whose method of delivery reflects local circumstances. Each partnership tendered and negotiated for its provision with different patterns of main and sub-contracts. Whilst I am unable, for reasons of commercial confidentiality, to provide details of individual contract prices, most should not vary greatly from the benchmark unit prices for each New Deal element set out in annex 1.It is important to note that the actual unit price depends not just on the prices which are agreed for these elements but, for example, on how long people stay and their success in terms of achieving outputs which attract a payment.The Employment Service will be reporting later this year on the overall financial performance of all Units of Delivery as part of our continuous improvement agenda.I hope this is helpful.

Annex 1: New Deal for 18–24 year olds 1998–99
Function Unit cost per entrant (£)
Gateway 228.26
Employment option 2,070
Full-time education and training option 2,300
Voluntary sector/environment task force options 2,750

Notes:

  1. 1. The figures represent GB-wide indicative planning assumptions and average unit prices.
  2. 2. The unit cost for Gateway is available for each Gateway entrant.
  3. 3. The total resource available will be dependent on the throughput of clients; these will differ between units of delivery.