§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many advisers have been recruited to date, and how many more will be recruited by 2005, to operate the Connexions Service; and if she will make a statement. [3365]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe 12 Partnerships that went live on 1 April 2001 are in a transition stage, building up their personal adviser staff from partner organisations, including the Careers Service and Youth Service and by recruitment of new staff. It is very early days, but preliminary figures reported by Partnerships at the end of May 2001 indicate that 991 full-time equivalent personal advisers were in post.
The Connexions service will be rolled out nationally during 2002–03, but it has always been recognised that the service, including the number of personal advisers, would build up gradually over time. Significant additional funding—£177 million above the Careers Service baseline in 2000-01—has been announced for 2002–03. How this will translate into additional personal advisers will depend on a range of factors including locally determined rates of pay and the additional resources that Partnerships are able to secure from partner organisations. Funding for future years will be determined by the outcome of the CSR2002 exercise.