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23 Jun 2003 : Column 549W—continued

Children's Centres

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children's centres have opened in each year since 1997; where they are located; what links they have with pre-school learning in disadvantaged areas; and if he will make a statement; [110774]

Margaret Hodge: In the 2002 Spending Review Settlement the Government announced plans to reach, by March 2006, at least 650,000 pre-school children living in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged wards in England through integrated children's centres. We are making available £435 million over the next three years to achieve this. The children's centres will provide integrated care and early education for young children together with health and family support services.

These centres are intended to bring together and build on the practice learned from other initiatives. This means that, where possible, they will develop from Sure Start local programmes and other existing services such as Early Excellence Centres and Neighbourhood Nurseries.

Guidance was issued to eligible local authorities in February 2003 on developing strategic plans for developing their children's centres. Since then, regional Sure Start teams based in the Government Offices have been providing support and advice on how to put these plans together.

The first centres to be named children's centres will be announced in June 2003. These early designations will be existing settings that already meet the core offer for children's centres now. They will provide models to guide the development of new services. Local authorities are due to submit their strategic plans by 15 October 2003 and we expect further announcements to follow throughout the autumn.

Criminal Records Bureau

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the letters his Department has received from Essex County Council regarding the Criminal Records Bureau over the last six months, and the dates of his replies. [118754]

Mr. Miliband: The Chair of Essex's Education Committee raised issues about the Criminal Records Bureau at the North of England Education Conference in January. I wrote to the Leader of the Council about those on 21 January and, subsequently, to the Chair of the Education Committee in response to an enquiry from her dated 29 January. The Leader of the Council acknowledged my letter on 18 February.

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Early Years Education

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what percentage of three-year-olds have access to early years education in (a) rural areas and (b) urban areas; [116338]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 3 June 2003]: The information is not available in the form requested.

In January 2002, 98 per cent. of three-year-old children in Shropshire received early years education in a private, voluntary, independent, special or maintained establishment.

In every local education authority area, there is an early education place for every four-year-old whose parents want one in either the maintained, private or voluntary sector. We have made the commitment that by April 2004, six months ahead of our original target, all three-year-olds whose parents want one, will have access to a free, part-time early education place.

The latest local authority figures on early year's education in England were published in the Departments Statistical Bulletin 08/2002 "Provision for children under five years of age in England: January 2002" in December 2002. An electronic copy of which is available in the Library and on the DfES website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.

Further Education Funding Council

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Further Education Funding Council published its final accounts; from where copies can be obtained; and if he will make a statement. [120016]

Alan Johnson: The Further Education Funding Council's accounts for 2000–01, its final year of operation, were laid before Parliament on 24 July 2002 and published by the Stationery Office on 10 April 2003. Copies are available from the Stationery Office.

The delay in finalising the FEFC's accounts was due to the complexities of winding up a large NDPB and arranging for the redeployment of the organisation's assets.

Independent Schools

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of children of compulsory school age in each local education authority area attended independent schools in each of the last five years. [118853]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

Learning and Skills Council

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Learning and Skills Council published their Annual Accounts; whether these were published on schedule; and if he will make a statement. [120018]

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Alan Johnson: The first Annual Report and Accounts of the Learning and Skills Council, to 31 March 2002, were laid before Parliament on 8 April 2003 and were subsequently published by The Stationery Office. This timetable was in accordance with the Learning and Skills Act 2000.

The Act also requires that the LSC send copies of its statement of accounts to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills and the Comptroller and Auditor General before the end of August following the financial year to which the statement relates. The LSC's statement of accounts was delivered on 29 November 2002.

The LSC agreed with the Comptroller and Auditor General that they would deliver their accounts to a revised timetable to provide time for FE colleges to deliver assurances on the proper use of LSC funds.

Minister for Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the responsibilities of the Minister for Children which have been transferred from the Department of Health; and what matters concerning child protection have not been transferred. [120384]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 19 June 2003]: Responsibility has been transferred from the Department of Health for social services policy for children, and for policy relating to teenage pregnancy. The transfer of social services policy responsibilities includes child protection policy. However all staff working with children have a role in keeping children safe, including staff in the NHS. The Department of Health will have responsibility for child protection matters in so far as they relate specifically to health services, working in close co-operation with the Department for Education and Skills.

National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much revenue funding will be allocated to support implementation of the National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06; [120395]

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Mr. Miliband: The agreement is about making better use of the existing £25 billion which is spent each year on schools as well as deploying extra resources cost effectively. The overall increase in funding for schools and local education authorities is £2.7 billion in 2003–04. Our plans allow for a further increase of £1.4 billion between this year and 2004–05 and a subsequent increase of £2.1 billion in 2005–06. The amounts available to individual primary and secondary schools up and down the country to support the agreement will inevitably vary according to a number of factors, including pupil numbers, teachers' pay and the way in which school budgets are determined. For 2004–05, we are working with representatives of schools and local education authorities (which will consider the position of schools with licensed deficit budgets) to ensure that every school receives a reasonable per pupil settlement.

Online Information Services

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what online information services for young people receive funding from his Department; and what the level of funding is for each service. [120527]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department for Education and Skills funds Connexions Direct, a telephone helpline and internet service for 13–19 year olds at a cost of £2.2 million in 2003–04. Connexions Direct complements the face to face delivery of services provided by local Connexions partnerships by offering remote information, advice and support to young people on a wide range of issues that constitute barriers to learning.

The Connexions Direct website currently provides a range of information for young people. To enhance this, the Department has commissioned Ufl to produce a single national course database covering post 16 learning opportunities. The funding for this is £100,000 in 2003–04.

The Department is also leading on the development of a customer-focused, cross-Government young people's internet portal, which aims to provide easy access to everything young people want and need to know on the web, from Government and non-Government sources. The portal is due to be launched in September 2003, and the budget for 2003–04 is £163,000.

In addition, the Department supports websites providing targeted information for young people. The Children and Young People's Unit (CYPU) website provides information for 0–19 year olds on various aspects of the Unit's work ranging from the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child to the Youth Advisory Forum. The budget for 2003–04 is £600,000. CYPU is also contributing to the development of the Youth Portal. The Connexions Card website provides information for young people aged 16–19 on the benefits of using the card. The budget for 2003–04 is £200,000.

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