HC Deb 29 November 2000 vol 357 cc652-3W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has for extending the tolerance margin for recruitment deficits in further education into the first year of operation of the Learning and Skills Council. [140398]

Mr. Wicks

I expect the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to continue, in its first year of operation, with tolerance margin arrangements currently operated by the Further Education Funding Council for England. It will be for the LSC to consider appropriate arrangements for future years.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will estimate(a) the latest annual running costs of the (i) Further Education Funding Council and (ii) Training and Enterprise Councils, (b) the anticipated initial cost of the first year of operation of the Learning and Skills Council and its local councils and (c) the anticipated wind-up costs of the FEFC and TECs together with the establishment costs of the LSC and local LSCs. [139168]

Mr. Wicks

[holding answer 21 November 2000]: For the financial year 2000–01, the Further Education Funding Council's (FEFC) running costs are set at £26.7 million. TEC statutory accounts for 1998–99, the latest available year, show Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) staff and other operating costs to be £271.8 million.

The running costs for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2001–02 have yet to be finalised, but will be announced in the Annual Letter of Guidance to the LSC which will be placed in the Library of the House shortly. We expect the new streamlined structure of the LSC to release annual savings of at least £50 million on running costs in steady state, compared to the bodies that the LSC replaces.

It is too early to say what the wind-up costs of the FEFC and TECs will be because of uncertainty about potential staffing and premises costs associated with winding up these bodies.

We estimate that the cost of setting up the LSC over the next two years will be between £60 and £65 million. These costs include the development of new IT systems, premises and a significant investment in staff training and development.