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General Teaching Council
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for the involvement of teachers employed by local education authorities in central support services, in membership and registration on, and the work of, the General Teaching Council. [157866]
Jacqui Smith: From 1 June, all qualified teachers employed to teach in maintained schools and non- maintained special schools will be required to register with the General Teaching Council (GTC). Those that are employed by local education authorities in their central support services, but who are not deployed to teach pupils in schools, may be eligible to register voluntarily. The GTC is an independent organisation and it is for the Council to decide whether or how to involve teachers and others in their work.
Literacy and Numeracy (Camden)
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the data for the most recent figures which are available for (a) literacy and (b) numeracy in the London borough of Camden. [158017]
Ms Estelle Morris: The table shows the percentage pupils reaching the expected level or above in the Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 tests in Camden in 2000.
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| Reading | Writing | Spelling | English | Mathematics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key Stage 1: Achieving level 2 or above | 79 | 78 | 64 | -- | 87 |
| Key Stage 2: Achieving level 4 or above | 79 | 50 | -- | 72 | 70 |
| Key Stage 3: Achieving level 5 or above | -- | -- | -- | 64 | 59 |
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Teacher Support (Special Needs)
Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to help teachers support pupils with social and emotional difficulties in schools; and if he will make a statement. [157906]
Jacqui Smith: Support is provided through the special educational needs component of the Standards Fund. In 2001-02, we are supporting expenditure to a total of £82 million on SEN. This includes support for the training and professional development of teachers and others dealing with pupils with SEN. It also covers support for work with pupils with emotional, behavioural and social development difficulties as part of activity designed to promote inclusion. Support is also provided through the National Healthy School Standard, which includes emotional health and wellbeing as one of its eight key themes.
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The Government will shortly be publishing good practice guidance on promoting children's mental health in early years and school settings. The guidance will offer pointers and examples of good practice in the area of early identification and intervention for children and young people experiencing mental health problems in pre-school and school settings.
Departmental Policies (Amber Valley)
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Amber Valley constituency, the effects on Amber Valley of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [157127]
Mr. Wills: Details of the effects of a range of the Department's policies on the Amber Valley constituency and Derbyshire LEA have been placed in the Library.
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Departmental Policies (Eccles)
Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Eccles constituency, the effects on Eccles of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [157285]
Mr. Wills: Details of the effects of a range of the Department's policies on the Eccles constituency and Salford LEA have been placed in the Library.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much was spent on (a) criminal and (b) civil legal aid in (i) 1998-99, (ii) 1999-2000 and (iii) 2000-01; and what the projected figure is for 2001-02. [R] [157429]
Mr. Lock: I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the impact of the Legal Services Commission on people excluded from civil legal aid as a result of the Access to Justice Act 1999. [R] [157434]
Mr. Lock: The Lord Chancellor's Department has commissioned a joint research project involving the universities of Nottingham, Oxford and Surrey. This will be the first major comparative evaluation of the effects of conditional fees on personal injury litigation and will report towards the end of this year. The research will contribute to a better understanding of the range of methods available for supporting litigation where risks are substantially removed from the claimant. It will also inform us how the legal services conditional fee market is operating and developing. The researchers will create a database that can be used in conjunction with data collected in future for the purposes of policy evaluation and for future policy changes.
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much was spent on civil legal aid in relation to (a) social security, (b) employment, (c) landlord and tenant disputes, (d) immigration and nationality and (e) consumer issues in (i) 1998-99, (ii) 1999-2000 and (iii) 2000-01; what has been the change in the level of civil legal aid since the creation of the Community Legal Service, to civil legal aid in each of these areas; and what plans he has to increase the allocation of civil legal aid for these areas. [R] [157430]
Mr. Lock: This information is not available in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information is, however, available for expenditure on legal advice and assistance for 1998-99 and 1999-2000.
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Information for 2000-01 is not yet available.
Legal aid provision, whether under the previous or current legislation has never been allocated to specific case categories. Rather, the grant of legal aid has always depended on the merits of each individual application.
Community Legal Service
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the capacity of the community legal service to reduce (a) child poverty and (b) social exclusion; and how these policy aims were incorporated in the Legal Service Commission corporate plan for 2000 to 2004. [R] [157433]
Mr. Lock: One of the key aims of the community legal service (CLS) is to help tackle social exclusion through improving access to legal advice, information and representation. This is reflected in the Lord Chancellor's Department's strategic objectives and public service agreement targets.
In order to measure how effectively the CLS is tackling social exclusion through meeting previously unmet need for legal help and information, we have commissioned the legal services research centre to undertake a major long-term research project to measure and characterise levels of legal need in England and Wales. It will be known as the national periodic survey and will be based on a survey of 4,500 households, and it should provide a reliable source of information on how well the CLS is achieving its aims. The national periodic survey will be complemented by the local needs surveys carried out by the CLS partnerships.
The Lord Chancellor's Department is also producing a paper in collaboration with the Law Centres Federation which will set out how the CLS is helping to tackle social exclusion and the future role it can play.
The Legal Services Commission's corporate plan for 2000 to 2004, includes a section on the CLS. The opening part of the section is concerned with the overall purpose and objectives of the CLS and it refers to the key aim of helping to reduce social exclusion. The plan makes the link between the Lord Chancellor's Department's strategic objectives and the public service agreement targets and explains how the CLS will help to reduce social exclusion.
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There are no specific CLS initiatives or targets in relation to the category of child poverty, but this category is being taken forward under the overall heading of tackling social exclusion.
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