§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many and what percentage of members of(a) each local learning and skills council and (b) the National Learning and Skills Council declare a record of political activity, broken down by party. [80990]
§ Margaret HodgeAppointments to the LSC have been made through fair and open competition, in complete accordance with guidance issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA). Working with the LSC we have sought to attract applications from individuals with a wide range of appropriate experience, regardless of any political affiliation they may have. Information is provided in the table below and shows those Council members who have declared a political interest. This does not necessarily mean that individuals are or have been politically active; they have simply declared an affiliation to a political party. These figures exclude the 397W Executive Directors of LLSCs since they were not required to declare political activity when applying for these posts.
398W
Local LSC Labour Conservative Liberal democrat Others North East County Durham 1 — — 1 Northumberland 1 — — — Tees Valley 4(1) 1 — — Tyne and Wear 3(1) — — — East Midlands Derbyshire 6(2) — — — Leicestershire 3 — — — Lincolnshire and Rutland 1 — 1(1) 1 Northamptonshire 1(1) 1(1) — — Nottinghamshire 3(2) 1 — — Yorkshire and Humberside South Yorkshire 4(2) — — — North Yorkshire — 2(2) — — Humberside 1(1) — — — West Yorkshire 3(1) — — — West Midlands Birmingham and Solihull 5(1) — — — The Black Country 2(1) — — — Coventry and Warwickshire 2(1) — 1 — Herefordshire and Worcestershire 2(1) — — — Shropshire 2 — 1(1) 1 Staffordshire 4(1) — — — North West Cheshire/Warrington — — 1 — Cumbria 2(1) — — — Lancashire 4(1) — — — Greater Manchester 4(1) — — — Greater Merseyside 4 — 1(1) — South West Devon and Cornwall — — 1(1) — Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole — — 2(1) — Gloucestershire 2 — — — Somerset 1 1 1(1) — Wiltshire and Swindon 1(1) 2(2) 1 — The West of England 2(1) — — — East of England Bedfordshire and Luton 4(1) — — — Cambridgeshire — — 1(1) 1 Essex 3(1) 2(1) 1 — Hertfordshire 1 1(1) — — Norfolk 2(1) 1 — — Suffolk 3(2) 1(1) — — South East Berkshire None Declared Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and IOW 1 — — — Kent and Medway 2(1) 3(1) — — Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and Bucks 3(1) — — — Surrey 1 1(1) — — Sussex 2(1) — — — London London Central 3(1) 3 — — London East 4(2) — — — London North 3(1) — — — London South 2 1(1) — — London West 3 — — — Figures in brackets show the number of local authority councillors.
399WOf the 15 members appointed to the National Council, 6 declared political activity with the Labour Party, 1 of whom is a local councillor. There were no declarations with respect to other parties.