HC Deb 28 July 2000 vol 354 cc1045-6W
Caroline Flint

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in what ways his Department and executive agencies deliver services to meet the needs of the public as consumers, with particular reference to families. [124529]

Ms Hodge

[holding answer 5 June 2000]: The Department for Education and Employment has taken many steps to improve the way they deliver services to meet the needs of families, an example of this is that 49 of the 127 Employment Service Districts currently hold Charter Marks, a recognition of high quality public service. More specifically:

The Employment Service is creating greater access to employment opportunities by offering services outside of "normal office hours", some of which are available 24 hours a day. Examples include: Employment Service Direct—a national job inquiry line which is available to all jobseekers as a local rate telephone number, on week days and Saturday mornings; New Deal Information line—a national information line for New Deal inquiries from members of the public, employers and providers which gives a literature-only service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and personal advice during normal working hours; Internet—the Employment Service website (www.employmentservice.gov.uk) which carries a sample of ES job vacancies as well as information on other services provided by Jobcentres; Peterlee Call Centre—a pilot Call Centre for the Northern Region which gives advice on aspects of Jobcentre services to employers and jobseekers and is available from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 4pm on Saturdays.

The Government are also committed to improving radically the ways in which employers can notify their vacancies to the Employment Service and to making it easier for jobseekers to apply for jobs using the full-range of new technologies. During 2000, we will: create a jobs and learning bank, which will put jobs. jobseekers' CVs and information about careers and learning opportunities on the internet; expand nationwide the network of touch-screen jobpoints in Jobcentres and other locations so that jobseekers can search not only all job vacancies notified to the ES but also those carried by private agencies and newspapers; and develop links with the BBC and other potential partners to harness the potential of interactive television to link employers and jobseekers.

Other policies which provide services which are of direct benefit to families include: the National Childcare Strategy, which was delivered over 175,000 new child care places and has made available some £470 million from 1998 to 2003. It supports those who wish to take up opportunities of employment or training by providing good quality child care and helps people to access the best options for child care in their area through a national information line and website, Childcarelink; the work-life balance campaign, launched by the Prime Minister on 9 March, which aims to encourage employers, including those in the public sector, to recognise the benefits to their organisation of flexible working arrangements. The DfEE's work-life balance Challenge Fund will show employers how they can improve their business or service delivery at the same time as improving their employees' work-life balance.

My Department's strategy for encouraging parental involvement in their children's education includes the Parents' Website, launched in December last year, which gives information about all aspects of a child's education. In September we will be announcing the following further initiatives to help parents get involved in their children's learning: the Parents and Schools Magazine, for a continuing dialogue between teachers and parents, which will cover articles or topics of particular interest, like bullying and school uniform; QCA Topic Guides, on individual topics in the National Curriculum; the Parents' Guides to the National Curriculum, which will set out clearly for parents what children learn at each Key Stage. 'Parents Week' to raise parents' awareness of the educational benefits of the internet is also being planned for the autumn; the Family Literacy and Family Numeracy initiatives, in which children and their parents learn together, both supports parents in helping with their children's education and provides an opportunity to improve parents' own learning and skills.

My Department also provides a variety of other programmes designed to meet the needs of the families as consumers. They are: Sure Start, for which DfEE and the Department of Health have joint responsibility, is led by local partnerships with strong parental and community involvement to ensure that the needs of consumers are met; Early Excellence Centres which work with families to meet often complex needs through an integrated, high quality one-stop service for children and parents. There are now 29 pilot programmes offering a range of different models across England in inner city, urban and rural areas; the Connexions Service, which will be phased in from April 2001, will provide a radical new approach to guiding and supporting young people through their teenage years and in their transition to adulthood and working life. The Connexions Service will work with parents and carers to complement and support existing family arrangements, not replace them; as part of the Modernising Government agenda, my Department and its executive agency the Employment Service, have appointed a Consumer Champion at senior management level to champion the consumer cause in the development of policy and delivery of services.