§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many personal advisers Connexions employed, broken down by region, in(a) 2001, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003. [130717]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 17 September 2003]: The information in the following table shows the number of full time equivalent personal advisers working for the Connexions Service by region in the first years of operation.
983W
The number of full time equivalent personal advisers working for Connexions December 2001 December 2002 June 2003 PAs Number of Partnerships PAs Number of Partnerships PAs Number of Partnerships England 1,872.4 15 6,086.2 44 7,251.6 47 South East 118.0 1 606.9 5 862.1 6 London 252.2 2 841.7 6 910.3 6 East of England 42.8 1 398.6 5 614.6 6 South West 272.0 2 735.4 6 658.7 6 West Midlands 328.1 3 784.3 5 1,009.5 5 East Midlands 63.4 1 488.2 5 528.0 5 Yorkshire and Humber 300.0 2 800.5 4 898.0 4 North West 495.9 3 1,082.8 5 1,220.6 5 North East 118.0 0 347.8 3 549.8 4 Notes:
1. The figures include those staff directly employed by the Partnerships and those seconded to Connexions from local partner agencies.
2. In addition to personal advisers, Partnerships also employ other delivery staff whose main role is customer contact in support of the personal adviser role, but who are not qualified to give the in depth advice and guidance expected from a personal adviser. In 2001 there were 438.7 full time equivalent other delivery staff in the 15 Partnerships rising to 2,206.8 in the 42 partnerships in 2002 and 2,456.0 at the end of June 2003.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills by how much Connexions services are reducing their support, in terms of personal adviser time, for young people from(a) schools and (b) colleges. [130718]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 17 September 2003]: Connexions offers a service to all young people aged 13–19 differentiated on the basis of need. It is not reducing personal adviser time in schools or colleges. There have been significant year-on-year increases in funding since Connexions was introduced in 2001–02. In 2000–01, before the start of Connexions, Careers service and New Start budgets totalled £243 million; in 2001–02, the first year of Connexions, the total budget was £320 million. In 2002–03 this rose to £420 million and in the current year to £455 million.
One service offered by Connexions is for career guidance to be available to all 13 to 19-year-olds. The Ofsted report "Connexions Partnerships: the first year 2001–2002" found that the implementation of the Connexions Service had maintained, restored and, in some instances, enhanced the provision of Careers Education and Guidance in schools and colleges.