§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many university students his Department and associated agencies has supported or sponsored with a work placement in the last year; what his policy is on work placements; what plans he has to develop such schemes; and what his policy is on paying their university fees. [98543]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggIn 2002 my Department has sponsored:
12 sandwich students;
2 Windsor Fellows;
1 Kings Fund student;
3 students on work experience;
16 Ethnic Minority Summer Development Programme participants;
1267W2 undergraduates employed on either part-time or vacation-only contracts.
Our policy is to support work placements as a means of enabling students to gain valuable experience of the workplace. We are currently considering the possibility of developing an additional work experience programme for students at higher education institutions around the Department's four sites. The Department does not normally pay the university fees of students on work placements.