To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the voluntary sector and environmental task force options available as part of his proposals to provide employment for young people. [8595]

My right hon. Friends the Ministers for the Environment and for Employment, Welfare to Work and Disability Rights and the Minister of State, Home Office—my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael)—last week had an excellent launch of the voluntary sector and environmental task force element of the new deal, which will play a crucial part at local level in the consortiums to be developed and the programme to be laid out.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his welcome reply. Will the voluntary and environmental sectors be represented on the task force chaired by Sir Peter Davis? I believe that their involvement is crucial to its success.

The task force will play a crucial role in the development of the programme and its successful promotion locally. Together with the business sector and others, those sectors will be represented to ensure that a wide view is heard. We have also established an advisory group in which environmental and voluntary sector interests are well represented. They will work at regional and local level to help to develop the programme.

Does the Secretary of State agree that this scheme could do much good environmental work in Gloucestershire, such as maintaining dry-stone walls and specialist Cotswold stone buildings? Does he further agree that, if we were able to deploy young people on such schemes, the skills that they would have to learn to carry out those tasks, which might otherwise be lost, would be retained in rural areas?

I agree entirely. I welcome the commitment, and therefore the consensus, that the hon. Member brings to this matter.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what guidance he has given to primary schools on teaching literacy and numeracy. [8597]

Our White Paper "Excellence in schools" sets out in broad terms our strategies for raising standards in literacy and numeracy in primary schools. We will issue more detailed guidance on literacy to local education authorities and schools in the autumn. On numeracy, we will be guided by the work of the numeracy task force, which will offer its interim recommendations in November.

I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he agree that one of the most important things that parents can do to help their children as they grow up is to listen to them reading? What advice is he giving primary schools to encourage them to ensure that parents play their full part in the drive for higher standards?

My hon. Friend identifies an important area. A child's first teacher is his parent. Under the previous Government, four family literacy centres were established and were a great success. I am delighted to inform the House that the Government will this year support 265 courses in 64 local education authorities to carry forward that important work.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he will take to ensure that genuine reasons for refusing an opportunity to work or train are recognised; and if he will make a statement. [8599]

The Government recognise that there are occasions when a jobseeker has good cause for refusing an opportunity of employment or training. The Jobseekers Allowance Regulations 1996 make provision for that. Employment Service procedures ensure that a jobseeker has the opportunity to set out his or her reasons for refusing an offer before a decision is made.

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. May I draw his attention to the fact that in Glasgow high unemployment among young people continues, and it is not because they are workshy? What would happen if places were not readily available? Will my hon. Friend examine carefully the reasons for reducing benefit? The regulations are confusing and there is misunderstanding at local and national level. I hope that that will be sorted out before the new deal is in place to ensure that no injustice is done to any young person.

As my hon. Friend has rightly pointed out, unemployment is all too high, and there is all too much poverty in her constituency of Glasgow, Maryhill. We will do all that we can to ensure that a full range of high-quality options is available for her constituents under the new deal. As for sanctions, I believe that the rules are entirely clear, but I assure my hon. Friend that there will be no question of a sanction being imposed if an appropriate option is not available to one of her constituents.

Will the Minister elaborate on the remarks that he made the other day to his old soulmates at the Adam Smith Institute? Will he confirm that employers who participate in the scheme will have to give an undertaking that those whom they take on will not displace others who are working for them? Will those employers have to agree that there will be an overall increase in employment in their firms? Are these new-style planning agreements with businesses really the best way of increasing employment?

I relish the ideologically challenging character of the hon. Gentleman's question. He and I always welcome the play of ideas.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what recent representations he has received about standards in schools. [8600]

This Government's top priority is to raise school standards. Since we took office, my colleagues and I have met a wide range of individuals and organisations, and have taken full advantage of the opportunities to listen to their views.

Will the Minister join me in congratulating all the schools in my constituency of Southend, West on their efforts to improve education standards? Will she reassure, in particular, grant-maintained and selective schools that the new Government will do nothing to damage their efforts? Finally, will she undertake to examine the Essex common schools funding formula carefully? At present, the formula works in favour of small schools to the detriment of large schools, particularly Westborough primary school in my constituency, which has 784 pupils.

I am delighted to congratulate all schools that raise standards in the hon. Gentleman's new constituency, and indeed in all constituencies. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate schools that do well in Basildon as well.

My hon. Friend will have read about the case of the 15-year-old girl who appears to have been expelled from a school in Nottinghamshire. Does she share my concern about the fact that a young girl has apparently been expelled simply for complaining about education standards in the school? Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the agenda for raising education standards must be listening to the voice of consumers—parents and students?

My hon. Friend will understand that, until we receive a report on the incident, it is inappropriate for us to comment here. We have asked for such a report. I understand that the school has now broken up for the holidays, but that the child and her parents will appeal to the governors to ensure that the case is brought to a satisfactory end, as I hope it will be. They should have that right of appeal, and I think that the most sensible option is to let the appeal take its course and to hope that the matter can be resolved locally. That is where it should be resolved. I know that the governing body, together with the head teacher, will want to put the educational interests of the child at the forefront of its decisions.

Does the Minister agree that, if we are to raise standards in our schools, we need high-quality teachers? Is she aware that, in the past 12 months, 16,000 heads, deputies and teachers left the profession early? Is she further aware that, over the past five years, there has been an 11 per cent. reduction in the number of people entering the profession? Finally, is she aware that, because of the inadequacies in the Chancellor's Budget for education, there will be further cuts in the teacher work force next year? Taken together, those facts are a ticking time bomb. How does the Minister intend to prevent it from exploding

I share the hon. Gentleman's concern about the shortfall in teacher recruitment figures, which I have discussed with him. We need our best graduates in teaching—people who are good leaders and good teachers and who want to take their share of responsibility for educating the next generation.

When considering standards in schools and the quality of teachers, will my hon. Friend have regard to the quality of the buildings in which teachers and children have to teach and learn? In particular, will she have regard to the primary school in Wrenthorpe in my constituency, which is an old building? We need new buildings for people to teach and work in.

I agree with my hon. Friend that the condition of school buildings plays its part in our mission to help to raise standards. He will welcome the statement by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor which put £1 billion over four years into building capital. We have much to make up, given what we inherited from the Conservative Government. I assure my hon. Friend that we take seriously our obligations to make sure that our children learn in satisfactory circumstances. As he knows, we have made a good start with this year's financial settlement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to charge students in higher education for all or part of their tuition fees; and if he will make a statement. [8602]

I refer the hon. Member to the statement that I made in the House yesterday.

Does the Secretary of State agree that his announcement yesterday about students paying for tuition fees will not put money into our universities immediately? Does he agree with Sir Ron Dearing's analysis that, to try to combat the 6.5 per cent. deficit over the next two years, which is the legacy of the previous Administration, he will need to find £100 million for next year and £250 million for the following year, simply to stand still? If the right hon. Gentleman agrees with Sir Ron, will he guarantee to provide that funding?

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that there is a shortfall and that it arises from the previous Government's settlement for higher education in the next two years. As part of the fundamental spending review undertaken by the Government, we shall address how best to meet that deficit and how to ensure that, between now and the resumption of a revenue stream for higher and further education, we can sustain standards and quality.

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the way in which he presented the issue of fees and maintenance yesterday. In particular, I thank him for the way in which he made plain his intention that no one would be prevented from undertaking higher education by these charges. He gave the limits for qualifying home income for places that would be provided free of cost. Will the household income of current part-time students who receive pay be looked at on the same basis? Has any thought been given to whether part-time students will be eligible for student loans?

I thank my hon. Friend for his remarks. As I said yesterday, we need to examine how equity between full and part-time students can be obtained. We will consider that as part of the development of the White Paper in the autumn. Those considerations will include the disregards against the gross income of a family or individual, which include at the moment the discounting of mortgage but not rent, and the discounting of some forms of domestic help. It will cause great disquiet to the House when it realises that those discounts are provided against gross income, and it will want us to deal with such anomalies, as well as with the general thrust of my statement yesterday.

Following yesterday's statement, will the Secretary of State confirm that, under his proposals, the loan available to an individual student will be equivalent to the total amount of loan and grant currently available to that individual student, plus an enhancement that would be sufficient to pay the means-tested tuition fee that he proposes to introduce? If that is the position, is it not true that any increase in resources for higher education during the next three years—the length of a course for students starting from next September—would have to come from extra public expenditure or publicly guaranteed expenditure in the form of loan disbursements? Given everything that he said yesterday about the importance of his proposals in releasing new resources for higher education, will he now be more specific about what he plans in terms of extra resources for British universities?

I am happy to answer the right hon. Gentleman's questions, especially as he has put them more gently than he did yesterday. With one addition—that, for those with hardship, there will be a supplementary loan available of £250 a year—I can confirm that his figures are correct. In the first year—if we are in a position to implement the proposals from next September—we would raise around £125 million. That would be displaced by the introduction of the loan scheme. It will therefore be necessary to consider additional resources in the light of my reply to the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in what ways he will ensure that options offered to young unemployed people are suited to their individual needs. [8603]

The individual needs and circumstances of every eligible young person will be addressed in the up to four months gateway period before they start a new deal option. The Employment Service will work in partnership with professionals and agencies to ensure that young people receive independent careers advice and help in tackling particular social and other problems that are holding them back from training or work.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. I commend to him a partnership that already exists in Slough, led by Mars and other local companies and engineered by our local authority, which is beginning to provide opportunities very like those to be provided by the welfare-to-work programme. What has been a concern among that group, however, is that the Employment Service was very reluctant to join the partnership. How will he ensure that the Employment Service does work with other partners to ensure the quality of experience for each individual, because the policy will require a major cultural change in the Employment Service, which has been not about providing services to individuals but about meeting phoney targets?

I was interested to learn of the initiative in my hon. Friend's constituency. We want to build on the best practice that is already out there in terms of partnership to help young and long-term unemployed people. My hon. Friend is right to say that successful delivery of the new deal in partnership does involve a change in the task that the Employment Service was given by the previous Administration. It means a culture shift. That is accepted by the people who work for the Employment Service, and a programme is being driven forward by the chief executive. The Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, East (Mr. Howarth), and I have addressed meetings of employment centre staff throughout the country to ensure that they are fully engaged in the shift that is needed to ensure that the Employment Service helps our young people to take the great opportunities that will be offered in the new deal.

What consideration has been given to ensuring that young unemployed people in the countryside are successfully included in the scheme, thereby reducing the immense pressures on young people to move from the countryside into cities in search of work?

As well as the 27 regional consultation meetings which are being held by the end of the first week in August, there will be local consultation meetings in September and October in each locality so that we can ensure that the new deal design is sensitive to the needs of the client group in the areas in which the programmes are carried forward. The pathfinder districts where the new deal will start early, in January, will include rural areas to ensure that we learn from that experience.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to ensure that information technology is used effectively for adult learning. [8604]

We are increasing information and advice to employers. In addition, the new university for industry will encourage and develop a wide range of learning opportunities, including many that are information technology based.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he agree that, if we are to use information technology effectively in adult education, we must also increase support and training to teachers and further education lecturers? If he does agree, can he explain to the House how he intends to increase teacher confidence in exploiting technology to meet student needs?

My hon. Friend will be glad to know that I met the Teacher Training Agency this morning to discuss this subject, and I was encouraged by its enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge on the use of information technology in schools for education. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is discussing with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport how best to deploy lottery money in order to fund the Teacher Training Agency for the use of IT. We recognise that it is crucial if we are to make a success of this great boon to learning.

Is the Minister aware of the concern among many employers at the lack of IT training on courses for national vocational qualifications? Given that IT is now part and parcel of almost every profession, what measures are the Government taking to increase the IT element in such courses?

The hon. Gentleman is quite right to say that IT is at the centre of so many disciplines. I was shocked to discover the appalling mess in which the previous Government left the IT sector after 18 years. It was a total shambles and was very patchy. I suspect that that is because most of the previous Ministers did not know how to turn on a computer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what role he plans to give to local education authorities in supporting schools to raise standards. [8605]

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has for the role local education authorities should have in supporting schools to raise standards. [8607]

The White Paper "Excellence in schools", published on 7 July, sets out the key task of self-improvement within schools, but supported by the local authority with advice and the spread of best practice. The provision of a development plan worked out with the schools which will be submitted to the Department will deal with the way in which, by collaboration rather than conflict, we can ensure that each plays its part in raising standards for the future.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. I am sure that he will agree that the Tory years of cuts have left many classrooms poorly equipped with new technology and with scruffy and inadequate books and library areas. In poorer areas particularly, parents do not have, and cannot afford, the top-up necessary to help in that regard.

I assure my hon. Friend that the inspection will cover the availability of the equipment, books and material that are so crucial to raising standards and enabling teachers to do their job. My Department wrote to the directors of education on 18 July asking them to consider equipment and technology in the bids that they will put in for a share of the £250 million a year that was allocated by the Chancellor in the Budget on 2 July.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the most important areas of co-operation between local education authorities and schools is that of special educational needs? Is he aware that in my constituency of Wyre Forest there is good co-operation between schools and the LEA?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising an important and often neglected area in the education system. In the autumn, we will publish a Green Paper so that we can develop consultation with schools, special needs co-ordinators and parents on the best way to ensure that we place resources at the right level and at the right time for intervention to be most effective. We want to overcome, where that is possible, the special needs of the youngsters and to reinforce the work already taking place in our schools. It is time that we placed as much emphasis on those with special educational needs as we place on the small elite group who, with our help, continue to flourish in our education system.

Does the right hon. Gentleman believe that requiring the star-performing London Oratory to submit an annual improvement plan to the poor-performing Hammersmith and Fulham education authority will contribute to improving standards in that school?

I want to make it clear that, over recent times, Hammersmith and Fulham education authority has been doing an excellent job in supporting and raising standards in its area, including at the Phoenix school, which is a classic example of how a fresh start can give a school the opportunity to offer, to the children who inevitably attend it, the sort of education which, regrettably, Conservative Members seem to think can and should be available only to a very few.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is an increasing belief that his White Paper on schools was simply a series of pious aspirations? Why did he decide to publish his White Paper, but delay until later in the year publication of the detail of his proposals for the future structure of schools? Does he understand that it will not be acceptable to publish that consultation document in the middle of the school holidays and then say that those interested in the future structure of schools had had adequate time to react to his proposals?

A representative of the previous Conservative Government talking about stages, levels and timing of consultation really takes the biscuit. The right hon. Gentleman sheds tears about people who are on holiday and therefore not available for consultation. He would do better to examine what the White Paper is all about—standards and excellence in schools; concentrating on the future, not the past; and a new agenda uniting all those who want to move away from past conflict and division. That is why, in consulting on any further changes, we will ensure that we work with the grain and consensus. I appeal to the right hon. Gentleman not to be so griping and sour in everything that he says and does.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, when standards have been raised, especially in the working-class base where they need to be raised, and when literacy and numeracy have been improved, as an earlier answer suggested they would be, more and more young people will want to go to university? Until yesterday, one feature that distinguished us from the Tories was our stance on tuition fees and similar issues. There seemed to be a blurring of the edges yesterday. May I ask my right hon. Friend, as modestly and quietly as I can, to take sufficient time before the publication of the White Paper and the introduction of the Bill to listen to the many voices from the Labour Benches about financing? Can he assure us that we have not heard the last word yet?

As quietly and gently as I can, I tell my hon. Friend that there will never be a last word on any subject with him in the Chamber. I assure him that we shall listen and respond. We shall lift the cap on access to higher education that the previous Government brought in. We shall ensure quality and standards for those for whom education will be available because of the new access when it would not have been available had we not found an alternative income stream. We shall ensure that those from families earning more than £35,000 a year, who will not receive help with the payment of fees, will be supported in fulfilling the expectations and aspirations that will no doubt come from their parents, given the level of income that they are drawing on.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures he proposes to take to ensure money that saved from the abolition of the assisted places schemes is ring-fenced to reduce class sizes of five, six and seven-year-olds. [8606]

We intend to channel funds to local education authorities through specific grant to ensure that resources are dedicated to delivering on our pledge to reduce class sizes.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for explaining that, but he has not clarified the issue of ring-fencing. My education authority in Dorset is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, not the Labour party. County councillors have the right to decide how to spend that money. The Government have made a pledge to reduce class sizes. How will they fulfil that manifesto pledge without ring-fencing the money and telling county councils that they can spend it only on reducing those class sizes?

I apologise for not addressing that clearly enough in my original reply. I said that we would channel the funds through specific grant, which is a technical way of saying that the money will be ring-fenced. The money can be used only to reduce class sizes for five, six and seven-year-olds. We make no apology for that requirement. We made that pledge to the British electorate during the campaign, and we intend to honour it in government.

Will the Minister join me in deprecating the comment of the Conservative candidate in Uxbridge, who, when told that one in five children in the area were in classes of more than 30, claimed that it had no direct bearing on Uxbridge?

I join my hon. Friend in condemning the Conservative candidate in Uxbridge, who is clearly prepared to turn his back on the needs of five, six and seven-year-olds in that constituency. There is no doubt in my mind that, after the by-election next Thursday, I shall be able to work with my colleague Andrew Slaughter to ensure that we can deliver on the class size pledge to those young children in Uxbridge, where one in five are presently in classes of more than 30. We shall deliver on that pledge in Uxbridge and in the rest of the country.

Last Friday morning, the Minister promised a technical consultation to work out how the Government's pledge of classes of a maximum of 30 could be put into practice in small Victorian primary schools in rural areas that teach across an age range. Will he promise that a cost assessment will accompany that consultation? If the practicalities of how the pledge will be delivered in rural areas have yet to be worked out, there will clearly be attendant costs that the Minister has not taken into account.

The Government have made it clear that we shall honour the pledge that we gave to the electorate during the election campaign. The hon. Lady is right. Within a matter of weeks, we shall issue our consultation paper, which will show how we intend to honour the commitments made in the White Paper. That consultation document will address the issues the hon. Lady raised last Friday and again today.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he plans to announce his new programme for lifelong learning. [8608]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will set out his plans for lifelong learning in a White Paper to be published in the autumn.

Does my hon. Friend agree that lifelong learning must suffuse our whole education system? Does he also agree that it must play a part in the decisions announced yesterday on the Dearing report? Will he assure me that every business that has a good scheme for lifelong learning will be consulted, and that we shall look at best practice in all universities nationally and internationally before we make our decisions?

There are some excellent schemes for education and staff development in many of our leading firms. I would very much like lifelong learning to include proposals on how best small and medium enterprises, as well as everyone else involved in manufacture and education, can access those centres of excellence. I hope that that information can be disseminated throughout society.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to raise standards in schools. [8609]

The White Paper "Excellence in schools", published on 7 July, sets out in detail the Government's proposals for raising standards in schools and summarises what we aim to achieve over the lifetime of this Parliament.

I thank my hon. Friend for his answer. How does he intend to include as many parents as possible in our crusade to raise standards in education, bearing in mind the wide range of abilities among parents? I am thinking not only of special needs children, but of special needs parents. How do we involve all parents in the crusade?

My hon. Friend is right to emphasise the important role that parents play in raising standards, particularly in the basics of literacy and numeracy. We intend to introduce home-school agreements which will lay down clearly the rights, responsibilities and duties of schools and parents. We believe that, by adopting that approach, we shall be able to engage parents in the important process of improving the education that their children receive.

I understand that the minimum requirement to enter teacher training college is now three grade Cs at A-level. If that is right—perhaps the Minister can confirm it—is not the requirement rather low? Would we not have a better-educated teaching profession if we raised the standard required for those wishing to enter teacher training colleges?

The hon. Gentleman is right. We have inherited a legacy of neglect as a result of 18 years of Conservative Government; and recruitment to teacher training illustrates that point well. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will shortly write to the School Teachers' Review Body and, in the process, he will draw that body's attention to the need to retrain, recruit and motivate teachers. We shall take positive steps to do that because we recognise that the only way in which we shall improve the quality of the education our children receive is by raising the quality of classroom teaching.

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most effective ways in which to raise standards in schools, as shown by academic research, is to cut class sizes? In this connection, is it not a disgrace that the Conservative party has consistently tried to block the Government's attempts to do that, to the detriment of the vast majority of children?

There is no doubt in our mind that, by reducing class size, we shall improve the quality of education that our children receive. That is why we are pledged to reduce class sizes to 30 or fewer for every five, six and seven-year-old. Those young children have been the innocent victims of the previous Government's neglect of the education service. We do not intend to turn our backs on those young people. We shall reduce class sizes so that what is presently the privilege of a few will become the right of the many.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to ensure universal nursery education; and if he will make a statement. [8610]

Local education authorities will set out in their early-years development plans how they will provide, by September 1998, three terms of pre-school education to all four-year-olds whose parents want it.

Is the hon. Lady aware of the strong support in Eastbourne and elsewhere for both the playgroup movement and private nursery provision? Is it not a tragedy that, as a result of the scrapping of the nursery voucher system, for party political and dogmatic reasons, many parents in my constituency will not be able to have access to such diversity of provision, which was the centrepiece of the previous Government's policy?

I share with the hon. Gentleman's constituents my admiration for much of that done by the voluntary and independent sectors in providing good-quality early-years education for our young children. His Government's voucher policy particularly threatened the voluntary sector. As a result, we have abolished the voucher scheme and replaced it with planned provision to ensure that all the money that is available for early-years education can be spent on young children and not on bureaucracy.

Does my hon. Friend recognise that parents with young children throughout the country welcome the steps being taken by the Labour Government to make nursery education available as of right to all four-year-olds, and look forward to the day when, after 18 years of neglect, the Labour Government are able to make nursery education also available to three-year-olds?

I am grateful for my hon. Friend's comments. He is absolutely right. There has been evidence for a long while that the best way to give children a good start in education is to give them the best start in early-years education. The tragedy has been that whether a child received such education depended on where they lived, not whether they needed it. Parents will welcome our pledge at long last to do what Labour local authorities have been doing for a very long time: ensuring that all four-year-olds whose parents want it have good-quality early-years education. Parents will also welcome it if we move quickly to ensure that such education is available for three-year-olds as well.

Given the Government's clearly stated aim to create partnerships between LEAs, the voluntary sector and the independent sector, which the Liberal Democrats support, what does the Minister make of difficulties faced by some voluntary sector providers, such as the Bradway playgroup in my area, in getting registered to provide places in an area which, historically, has had little or no LEA provision? Will she look at that urgently?

I am not aware of the particular playgroup to which the hon. Gentleman refers, but if he thinks that it is appropriate that I look at the matter, I shall of course be happy to do so. It is very important that all providers reach the standards that we expect as providers of early-years education for young children. That is clearly set out in the learning outcomes. I should have thought that, if providers reach those standards, they should be talking to the local authority. If they have a part to play in the provision of early-years education, integrated with child care, the early-years development plan is the arena in which they can make their voices heard.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has had from small business representatives about the new deal proposals for providing employment for young people. [8611]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have received a wide range of representations. Representatives of small business were also among those who attended the Chancellor's new deal breakfast seminar at the end of last month and the national and regional consultation meetings which are now under way.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that, in former mining areas such as mine of north-west Leicestershire, the expansion plans of small and medium enterprises are often slowed or stalled by skill shortages? Does he agree that, if those SMEs were to follow the advice of the Federation of Small Businesses and get involved with our new deal plans, they would often find just the right people to allow their development to continue?

My hon. Friend is right. Small and medium businesses, in constituencies such as his and elsewhere, have a great opportunity to match their unmet labour needs with the enormous potential of our young people, which the previous Administration so tragically allowed to go to waste.

In contrast to the experience of the rest of Europe, why have small businesses in Britain been so successful in helping to reduce the level of youth unemployment?

The representations that we receive daily from small businesses and small business representatives in support of the new deal show that much more can be achieved. The extra support and training available through the new deal will, for many small businesses, make the difference between being able to take on extra employees and not being able to take them on. We want them to take on new employees, because the new deal is about jobs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to establish a university for industry. [8613]

My right hon. Friend hopes to announce our plans for developing the university for industry very shortly.

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the key to improving skills and training is to bring together business, industry, education institutions and training providers with Government Departments to identify strategic priorities? What advice can he give businesses in my constituency which wish to become involved with the university for industry?

We are consulting widely on the form and shape that the university for industry will take. Survey after survey has shown that one of the great weaknesses of British industry is the quality of its management. If the management of small and medium enterprises can begin to access the best of our larger and more successful firms and the better of our smaller firms, that will benefit everyone, especially those in the manufacturing sector that my hon. Friend mentioned.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of new sixth forms which will open this autumn. [8615]

We consider every sixth form application on its merits and will continue to do so.

Does my hon. Friend accept that establishing new sixth forms is not the best use of resources? Is he aware of the problems in Tameside, where the previous Government approved a new sixth form for Audenshaw high school in spite of the excellent provision in Tameside college, Ashton sixth form centre and Hyde sixth form centre? It would have been better to use the resources in all the local authority schools in Tameside instead of establishing a new, unnecessary sixth form at Audenshaw high school.

I was sorry that I had not seen the application before it was agreed by the previous Administration, but we pay special care and attention to every application that is made to the Department for an additional sixth form in any school anywhere in England. We shall continue to do so, because we are well aware that resources are precious and that unnecessary duplication should not happen. We shall be careful when deciding which schools are allowed to have sixth forms in future.

Before considering new sixth forms, will the Minister look carefully at the funding formula as it affects existing sixth form colleges? My constituency contains two excellent sixth form colleges, but the funding formula is in danger of adversely affecting them. Will the Minister move towards greater convergence in the funding formula for sixth formers, whether in school or in sixth form colleges?

The right hon. Lady is right, and we must look carefully at that formula. The Further Education Funding Council deals with sixth form colleges, which are separate from sixth forms in schools, and we must examine the relationship between them carefully. At every opportunity, we seek excellence and best practice. Whether those factors are provided in a sixth form in a school or in a sixth form college, our decision will be based on that information and our desire to raise standards.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on his proposals to increase training and employment opportunities for young people. [8616]

Through the new deal and Target 2000 we shall increase, and put into the mainstream, opportunities for young people to prepare and equip themselves for the world of work, so that they are empowered to play a full and productive part in society.

Does the Minister accept that thousands of young people are languished on the dole queue with no opportunities for training or developing skills during the years of Conservative government, and who are looking to the new Government to give them early, fairly immediate opportunities to improve their quality of life and increase their talents and skills, both for their own sake and for that of their families and of this country? What can he suggest to the House to give those people some immediate hope, some aspirations for the coming 12 months?

The new deal that we have proposed offers the quality options of work, primarily with private sector employers, or on the environmental task force or in the voluntary sector and, for those who lack basic skills, the opportunity of full-time education and training for up to 12 months. That is in addition to the measures set out by the Chancellor for sustainable growth in the economy, to enable us to repair the social damage and the wasted lives to which my hon. Friend rightly referred.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the introduction of his proposals for providing employment for young and long-term unemployed people. [8617]

The new deal for 18 to 24-year-olds will begin in a number of "pathfinder areas" in Britain in January next year, and will be introduced nationally next April. The help for people aged 25 or over who have been unemployed for at least two years will start in June 1998.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. Is he aware that yesterday, in my constituency of Peterborough, I presented the new deal to the chamber of commerce, where it was most warmly welcomed? Is he also aware that Shackleton Associates, also in my constituency, is already operating a highly successful pilot scheme? Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Labour party, not the Conservative party, is now the party of business and enterprise?

Yes, indeed. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the positive reception that our new deal proposals are receiving from the business community, just as they are from the people of this country as a whole. If this country is to become, as it should, a one-nation Britain, that requires a whole-nation effort. [Laughter.] Conservative Members who are laughing should join that effort and become part of the solution, rather than part of the problem, which is what their party's Administration was.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the report by the Policy Studies Institute that was mentioned in the press some days ago? It said that the previous Government's proposals for getting unemployed people into work had been extremely successful, especially what I think was called the workfare proposal, whereby people went into work for a number of weeks while remaining on benefit? At the end of the period, that had achieved a far higher percentage of unemployed people getting permanent jobs than had many other such schemes.

I think that the hon. Lady has misnamed the study referred to in the report. If I recall correctly, the report praised the work trial initiative, which enabled long-term unemployed people to have trial placements with employers while still in receipt of benefit, so that their fitness for employment, and the employers' keenness to take them on, could be assessed. That had a measure of success and, as I have been saying in response to my hon. Friends, I would see us, through the new deal, building on what works well in the community at present. The range of choices that will be made available, coupled with the incentives to employers both for 18 to 24-year-olds and for the long-term unemployed who are 25 or older, means that the new deal will surely be even more successful than the initiative that the hon. Lady mentioned.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the imposition of a requirement to be available for work on Sundays in order to qualify for jobseeker's allowance. [8618]

People receiving jobseeker's allowance do not have to be available for work on a Sunday, providing that they can agree a pattern of availability for work with their Employment Service adviser which means they are available for the number of hours required, usually for 40 hours a week, and gives them reasonable prospects of securing employment. If, for example, a clergyman were to propose that his pattern of work should be such that he would not need to be available for work on a Sunday, we should look askance at that.

Will the Minister make his view crystal clear to all officers dealing with jobseeker's allowance, because there is a growing feeling that people who have to turn down jobs on moral grounds because they potentially involve work on Sundays are being denied their jobseeker's allowance?

It is made clear in the jobseeker's regulations that genuinely held religious or conscientious reasons for declining an offer will be accepted as a good cause. However, I take the hon. Gentleman's point. It is important that all Employment Service staff react with sensitivity to the genuine conscientious concerns of unemployed people.

I can assure the Minister that to lead the people of God in worship on a Sunday is not work—work is the rest of the week. We have had assurances that people would not be penalised if they were concerned about Sunday work. Can I plead that there be no restrictions at any level? If there are restrictions, we shall be moving towards not only the millennium but the mark of the beast.

It certainly would not be work to listen to either a speech or a sermon from the hon. Gentleman. I can give him the assurance that he seeks.

On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

No. I am sorry, but points of order are always taken after statements.