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Children At Risk Green Paper

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on how the Green Paper on children at risk will be taken forward; and what major issues attracted most comment during the consultation. [142413]

Margaret Hodge: The level of response to the Green Paper 'Every Child Matters' has been exceptionally high with over 4,500 responses received of whom over 3,000 were from children and young people. But as most the responses were received in the final week and just after the consultation period it is too soon to say what major issues attracted most comment. The majority of those that have been processed are broadly in support of the aims of the Green Paper.

I propose to publish a report in February which will set out the way forward.

Children in Care

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children taken into care in each of the past 10 years had mothers in prison service custody at the time at which they were taken into care. [144068]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children under 18 there were in the care of the local authority in (a) St. Helens and (b) Merseyside in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003. [145150]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown as follows for the years 2001 and 2002. Local and regional figures for looked after children for 2003 are due to be published in March 2004.

Number of children looked after at 31 March 2001 and31 March 2002

	2001	2002
St. Helens	270	260
Merseyside	2,425	2,405

Source:

SSDA903 survey

Children in Prisons

Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what advice he has issued to social services departments following the recent judgement that the Children Act 1989 applies to children in prisons. [144023]

Alan Johnson [holding answer 16 December 2003]: The duties of Councils with Social Services Responsibilities towards children, including those in prisons, are set out in the Children Act 1989 and its associated regulations and guidance.

A revised Prison Service Order 4950 Regimes for Prisoners Under 18 Years Old will be issued early in the New Year in two stages; the first by February 2004 and

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a further more thorough version subsequently, following a recent review of safeguarding procedures in prison services, on which work is still taking place.

The booklet What To Do If You're Worried A Child Is Being Abused, published in May2003, applies to all children and young people irrespective of whether they are living at home with their families and carers or away from home.

Education (North-west)

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are benefiting from the Sure Start programme in (a) St. Helens South, (b) St. Helens, (c) Merseyside and (d) the North West Region. [141474]

Margaret Hodge: The approximate numbers of children aged under 4 who live in areas covered by Sure Start local programmes, are as follows:

(a) 2,100 are eligible for services covered by the three Sure Start local programmes in St. Helens South constituency;

(b) 3,300 are eligible in the St. Helens local authority area;

(c) 20,000 are eligible in Merseyside (including Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and the Wirral local authority areas); and

(d) 76,000 are eligible in the North West Region.

Further Education

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many qualified further education lecturers were working in further education colleges in England on the last date for which figures are available. [144286]

Alan Johnson: The numbers of staff teaching in FE colleges in England in 2001/02 and holding a teaching qualification are shown in the following table.

	Fully qualified	Part-qualified	Total
Full-time staff	22,400	5,500	27,800
Part-time staff	18,200	13,700	31,800
Total	40,500	19,100	59,700

Source:

LSC Staff Individualised Record, 2001/02.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in what circumstances further education staff members can be (a) removed from post and (b) redeployed because they do not hold specific qualifications. [144793]

Alan Johnson: Following the enactment of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further Education colleges were established as independent corporations. As such, colleges are responsible for setting the pay and conditions of service of their staff.

The Further Education Teachers' Qualifications (England) Regulations 2001(http://www.legislation. hmso.gov.uk/si/si2001/20011209.htm) provide, as of September 2001, that new FE teachers must gain a

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teaching qualification appropriate to their role within a time limit. This requirement does not apply, however, to those who have previously worked either as an FE teacher, a teacher in a maintained school or an equivalent elsewhere in the UK or EEA. Where a teacher fails to obtain such a qualification it is for the employing corporation to decide what action it should take to meet its legal obligations within the regulations, it is for the employing college to decide what action it should take.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which further education staff have to hold a qualification in mathematics as a prerequisite for holding their positions. [144794]

Alan Johnson: Under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 the recruitment of all staff, including those teaching mathematics, is the responsibility of individual FE colleges. Colleges need to ensure all staff have appropriate skills to meet the needs of learners. In order to support the Skills for Life agenda, the Department's policy is that from September 2002, new teachers and subject support staff who wish to specialise in teaching adult numeracy obtain, within specified timescales, an approved specialist numeracy qualification in addition to their generic initial teacher training.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes there have been to the regulatory framework for further education in the past five years that require staff to meet specific qualification levels to entitle them to continue to hold their positions. [144795]

Alan Johnson: The Further Education Teachers' Qualifications (England) Regulations 2001 (http://www.leqislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2001/20011209.htm) provide, as of September 2001, that new FE teachers must gain a teaching qualification appropriate to their role within a time limit. This requirement does not apply, however, to those who have previously worked either as an FE teacher, a teacher in a maintained school or an equivalent elsewhere in the UK or EEA. Where a teacher fails to obtain such a qualification it is for the employing corporation to decide what action it should take to meet its legal obligations within the regulations, it is for the employing college to decide what action it should take.

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds in Stoke-on-Trent who started further education courses in each year since 1997 completed their course. [143249]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) calculate and publish retention (completion) rates by the year the qualification was expected to end as opposed to the year it was started. The proportions of qualifications completed at further education colleges in Stoke-on-Trent by 16–18 year olds in the three years to 2001/02 are shown in the following table.

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Retention rates in LSC funded provision for 16–18 year olds studying at FE colleges in Stoke-on-Trent by college and expected end yearPercentage

	Expected end year
College	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02
Stoke-on-Trent College	73	78	75
City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College	74	82	93

Source:

Individualised Student Record

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list initiatives launched by his Department in each of the past three years which required (a) higher education institutions, (b) further education institutions and (c) schools to make a formal response to his Department. [144279]

Alan Johnson: A list of the initiatives my Department has consulted on in the past three years can be found at www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/. Consultation on initiatives launched by the Department adheres to the guidance in the Cabinet Office code of practice on written consultation. There is no requirement for higher education institutions, further education institutions or schools to formally respond to initiatives the Department consults on.

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