§ Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what grants have been made by the Connexions service to voluntary organisations working with young people for each region in which it operates. [103678]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisConnexions Partnerships make both grant awards and contract payments to voluntary organisations. The latest available data are for the nine months to December 2002. It reflects the different stages of development of the 41 Connexions Partnerships that were operating for all or part of the period. Information from Partnerships suggests that grants awards and contract payments will increase further towards the end of the financial year to March 2003.
Region Grant awards £k Contract payments £k Total payments to voluntary organisations £k Eastern 149 0 149 East Midlands 138 85 223 London 345 778 1.123 North East 28 0 28 North West 1,141 0 1,141 South East 0 128 128 South West 154 532 686 West Midlands 61 369 430 Yorkshire and Humberside 58 553 611 Total 2,074 2,445 4,519
§ Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what targets he has set the Connexions service for the level of grants it should be making to voluntary organisations working with young people. [103679]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThere are no targets for the level of grants that Connexions Partnerships should make to voluntary and community organisations.
900WUnder most circumstances, we would expect Connexions Partnerships to enter into a contract with each of their service providers, including voluntary and community organisations. However, in some cases the need for a contract may present a barrier to an organisation's involvement, particularly in the case of some small voluntary or community groups. In such circumstances, Partnerships can allocate up to £30,000 to an organisation as a grant award in any 12-month period. The total amount awarded in this way is subject to an overriding limit of 5 per cent. of the Partnership's DIES grant allocation, although this may be exceeded with the agreement of the local Government Office. While Partnerships are strongly encouraged to make use of this facility, priorities and structures inevitably vary between and within areas, and it is for this reason that we do not set targets.
§ Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by Connexions, in each region, on(a) purchasing property, (b) renting property and (c) construction and refurbishment work in each year it has been operational. [103680]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe information requested is not collected in the detail and format requested. The following table gives the expenditure of Connexions Partnerships by region for 2001–02 and the first nine months of 2002–03 recorded as "Premises Costs" in their accounts. This expenditure will include items such as rent, purchase of property, refurbishment, construction, fixtures, fittings, local taxation etc.
Region Number of partnerships 2001–02 Premises costs 2001–021 £ million) Number of partnerships 2002–03 Premises costs 2002–032 (£ million) Eastern 1 207 5 1,307 East Midlands 1 267 5 1,113 London 2 184 5 1,877 North East — — 3 953 North West 3 1,438 5 2,643 South East 1 637 3 862 South West 2 1,258 6 1,654 West Midlands 3 1,459 6 2,586 Yorkshire and Humber 2 899 3 696 Total 15 36,349 41 413,691 1 12 months 2 9 months 3 Reflects the total annual expenditure for the 15 Partnerships that were operating for all or part of the year. 4 Reflects the total expenditure for the 9 months to December 2002 for the 41 Partnerships that were operating for all or part of the period. Although a further three Partnerships began operations during October and November 2002 they were not required to produce accounts for December, so no information is available for them.