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6 Oct 2003 : Column 1126W—continued
CAFCASS
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 1 September 2003, Official Report, column 719W, on CAFCASS, how many private law cases were unallocated (a) less than 10 weeks and (b) more than 10 weeks before a CAFCASS report is filed at court. [131177]
Margaret Hodge: CAFCASS's target is that at least 95 per cent. of requests in a month should be allocated 10 weeks before a report is filed at court. A benchmark of 10 weeks is used because this is the timescale required for an officer to complete relevant inquiries and meet the deadline for filing the report with the court. It also enables the service to be flexible when dealing with urgent cases that arise with shorter filing dates.
In July 2003, CAFCASS dealt with 3,200 private law cases. Of these, 385 cases were unallocated less than 10 weeks before a report was filed at court. This is 4.7 per cent. of the caseload and achieved the target. 1,236 private law cases were unallocated more than 10 weeks before a report was filed at court.
Child Abuse
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes have been instituted since the publication of the Laming Report to enable the free exchange of information between agencies in child abuse investigations. [127988]
Margaret Hodge: On 19 May, my hon. Friend the then Health Minister, Jacqui Smith launched a booklet for practitioners who have concerns about the welfare of children. "What To Do If You're Worried A Child Is Being Abused" was published jointly by six Government Departments and is aimed at all practitioners who come into contact with children, parents and/or families in the course of their work.
The booklet contains a short section on sharing information. This steers practitioners through the process of deciding whether to share information, and if so, what to share and with whom. It explains in a clear and concise way the issues involved in making decisions about sharing information. Copies of the booklet are available in the Library.
The Green Paper Every Child Matters and Keeping Children Safe—the Government's response to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report and the Joint Chief Inspectors' Report Safeguarding Children were published on 8 September, and copies are available in the Library.
The Green Paper sets out proposals for new information sharing systems to enable concerns to be registered at an early stage and flagged up to relevant staff working with children. The Green Paper also
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explains how front-line workers will become more closely integrated through arrangements such as Children's Trusts.
To take forward such information sharing systems, the Government provided £1 million to 10 'Identification, Referral and Tracking' (IRT) trailblazers involving 15 local authorities to test out approaches. We are putting in place a central team to learn lessons and develop a national framework for local information sharing systems. We will have early lessons from the trailblazers by December 2003, and more detailed information by late summer 2004. By the end of 2004, we aim to set out how the lessons from the trailblazers can be reflected across the country. As part of this, the Government will examine the potential benefits and risks of introducing ICT-based information sharing systems at local authority level.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to institute mandatory inquiries into unexpected child deaths. [127987]
Margaret Hodge: Paragraphs 117–121 of Keeping Children Safe—The Government's response to The Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report and Joint Chief Inspectors' report Safeguarding Children, sets out the Government's position in relation to recommendations made by the Victoria Climbie Inquiry and the Joint Chief Inspectors relating to Serious Case Reviews and inquiries into child deaths.
Child Law Reform
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer to the hon. and learned Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) of 1 September 2003, Official Report, column 718W, on child law reform, which Minister has overall responsibility for child law reform. [129713]
Margaret Hodge: My Department has lead responsibility across Whitehall for policy on children, young people and the family. As Minister for Children, Young People and the Family in the DfES, I will keep under review the legislation relating to children and young people for which this Department is responsible. A number of other Ministers are responsible for legislation that impacts, either directly or indirectly, on children. I will work with these Ministers with a view to ensuring that their legislation contributes to the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
Children and Young People's Unit
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what work the Children and Young People's Unit undertakes in Scotland in relation to reserved matters. [130528]
Margaret Hodge: In terms of domestic policy, the Children and Young People's Unit has an England only remit. In terms of international policy, the Unit has a remit to co-ordinate the UK's participation in a number
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of international initiatives relating to children and young people, notably the EU Open Method of Co-Ordination on Youth Policy and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The EU Open Method of Co-Ordination on Youth Policy relates exclusively to devolved policy issues—youth participation, local information services for young people, youth volunteering and youth research. Each Devolved Administration is responsible for implementing the obligations of this initiative, whilst the CYPU is responsible for overseeing implementation in England, for co-ordinating the UK's approach as a whole and for reporting UK progress to the European Commission.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covers both devolved and reserved issues. In the case of devolved policies (for example, health and social services, education, participation policy), the Devolved Administrations are responsible for observing the convention when making devolved policy decisions. In the case of reserved policies, the relevant Whitehall Department is responsible for observing the convention when making reserved policy decisions, and for consulting the Devolved Administrations as necessary. Examples of reserved policies covered by the convention are: asylum and immigration (Home Office), international development (DfID) and defence policies (MOD). The CYPU is responsible for co-ordinating the UK's approach as a whole across all policy leads (including the Devolved Administrations on devolved matters) and for reporting to the UN on UK implementation.
When undertaking this co-ordinating role for international initiatives, the CYPU works in accordance with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Concordats with the Devolved Administrations on International and EU Relations, with full and regular working-level contacts with the Devolved Administrations.
Children's Directorate
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many officials will work in the new Children's Directorate in his Department. [127895]
Margaret Hodge: The number of officials who will work in the Children and Families Directorate of this Department will be determined by decisions on what functions are required to secure the best possible outcomes for children, young people and families, how those functions can be best organised within this Department and the resources needed for them to be carried out. I will be considering recommendations on those issues soon.
Civil Servants
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many civil servants have been employed by his Department in each of the years 1997–98 to 2002–03; and what the median and weighted mean salary is for each of these years. [117761]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The numbers of civil servants employed in my Department as at 1 April for the years in question were as follows.
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| Number of civil servants employed | |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 4,170 |
| 2001 | 4,775 |
| 2000 | 4,303 |
| 1999 | 3,948 |
| 1998 | 3,838 |
The figures for 2003 are not yet available.
Median and weighted mean salary information could be produced only at disproportionate costs.
Comprehensive Schools
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has issued to local education authorities in respect of the minimum size of comprehensive secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [131290]
Mr. Miliband: The Department issues non-statutory guidance in Building Bulletin 82: "Area Guidelines for Schools". This document, which is currently being revised, gives recommendations on overall floor areas and the sizes of individual spaces in relation to the number of pupils.
Connexions
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget for 2003–04 for the Connexions service is for each (a) local education authority and (b) Careers Service area; and how many young people there are in each of those areas. [128953]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 11 September 2003]: The Connexions Service is provided nationally by 47 Connexions Partnerships. The budget allocations for each Partnership and the number of young people in each Partnership area is given below. The careers service functions are now subsumed within Connexions. How much is spent in each local authority area is a matter for Connexions Partnership to decide based on local needs.
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The 13–19 population data on which Connexions Service funding allocations are based use a combination of 13–15 year old pupils in school taken from the Annual School Census at January 2001 and the number of 16–19 year olds from the Estimated Resident Population Mid-2000 based on the 1991 Census by single year of age.
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