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Children in Care

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged up to three months entered local authority care in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [141835]

Margaret Hodge: The figures available provide a snapshot at March 31 2002. At 31 March 2002 there were 390 children aged nought to three months looked after by local authorities in England.

Data for 2003 is currently being evaluated and will be available in March 2004.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average age of a child entering local authority care was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [141838]

Margaret Hodge: The figures available provide a snapshot at 31 March 2002. The average age of the children looked after by local authorities at 31 March 2002 is 10 years and 6 months. Data for 2003 is currently being evaluated and will be available in March 2004.

Adoption

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of adoption placements were terminated within the first year in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [143349]

Margaret Hodge: In the year ending 31 March 2002, 7 per cent. of placements for adoption ended without the making of an adoption order.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken to reduce administrative delays in the system for placing children for adoption. [143363]

Margaret Hodge: The National Adoption Standards for England have set timescales to ensure that each looked after child has a plan for permanence agreed at the four month statutory review, and where adoption is the plan, timescales for finding an adoptive family.

The Adoption Register for England and Wales has been set up as a tool for helping to match children in need of adoption with approved adopters. It has been fully operational in England since April 2002 and in Wales since August 2002.

The Government are committed to supporting local adopter recruitment activity, and has developed an Adopter Recruitment Toolkit for adoption agencies. The Government continues to support national recruitment activity through National Adoption Week. The Government made a further £60,000 available to support National Adoption Week 2003 following a grant of £60,000 in 2002 and £50,000 in 2001.

Since 2001, adoption work in the county courts and above has been centralised in specialist Adoption Centres throughout England and Wales. The objective of specialist adoption centres is to improve the service for everyone involved in adoption by dealing with contested and uncontested cases quickly and efficiently in centres with specialist adoption judges and staff.

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Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many adoption placements have been completed in each local authority during each of the last five years. [143364]

Margaret Hodge: The table showing the number of looked after children adopted in each local authority in England, during the years ending 31 March 1998 to 2002, has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are awaiting adoption in each local authority area. [143365]

Margaret Hodge: The table showing the number of looked after children in England recorded on the Adoption Register for England and Wales who are awaiting a match with prospective adoptive parents at 10 December 2003, has been placed in the Library.

Antisocial Behaviour

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provisions have been made to include education programmes in strategies designed to cope with anti-social behaviour. [144093]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Education-related programmes play a crucial part in our drive to tackle anti-social behaviour in three ways.

The first is through the school curriculum, where pupils learn about socially responsible behaviour as part of Citizenship education. This is a statutory subject in secondary schools. Schools receive guidance on helping pupils to understand the impact of anti-social behaviour and deal with it assertively.

The second is through a range of measures to reduce truancy, improve pupil behaviour in schools and reinforce parental responsibility for their children's behaviour in schools. They include national truancy sweeps, fast track to prosecution for truancy, in-school Learning Support Units, multi-agency Behaviour and Education Support Teams, key workers for children at risk of crime, police in schools and positive activity programmes in the school holidays. In addition the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which comes into force at the end of February, will introduce penalty notices for truancy, parenting contracts for truancy and parenting contracts and orders for bad behaviour in schools.

The third is through services for young people beyond the school. The Connexions service provides access to personal development opportunities to broaden horizons and develop talents. The Youth service develops young people's ability to make responsible choices and engage constructively with their community. Both services help young people to develop their ability to cope with the issues which affect them and to avoid falling into anti-social behaviour.

Broadband

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on progress on the extension of broadband connection to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools. [144935]

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Mr. Charles Clarke: The Prime Minister announced in November 2002 that all schools should be connected to broadband by 2006.

There is good progress towards meeting this commitment. The most recent broadband connectivity statistics, from the end August 2003, reveal that 42 per cent. of all schools in England were connected to broadband at 2Megabits per second or faster (Mbps). 91 per cent. of secondary schools and 34 per cent. of primary schools were connected to broadband at this time.

CAFCASS

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which member of the CAFCASS Board has refused to resign. [144973]

Margaret Hodge: Judy Weleminsky is the member of the CAFCASS Board who declined to resign.

Child Care

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the definition is of approved child care. [144708]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 18 December 2003]: The Tax Credits Act 2002 allows parents using approved child care to claim for help with the costs of that child care through the tax credit system. Details of the types of care that are approved for this purpose can be found in the Inland Revenue leaflet—"WCT5—Help with the costs of child care". Copies of the leaflet can be found in the House of Commons Library.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many parents make use of approved child care. [145446]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 January 2004]: In 2002 the Department published the Repeat Study of Parental Demand for Childcare. This provides information about the use of early years and child care providers by parents with children aged 14 and under in England.

Just over half of families (52 per cent. or 2.76 million) had used either early years education or some other formal child care provider (registered childminders, creche/nursery provider, out of school clubs and holiday schemes) in the past year. Almost a third (32 per cent.) reported using this type of provision in the past week.

Child Protection

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how he proposes to recruit inspectors for departments concerned with child protection; and who will pay for them. [145027]

Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend is not responsible for the recruitment of inspectors. Recruitment and payment of inspectors are matters for the bodies which employ them.

Child Trust Fund

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what discussions he has had

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with financial companies about the assistance they can provide to schools to improve financial literacy, with particular reference to the child trust fund; [145712]

(2) if he will increase the amount of financial education given to children in the national curriculum, with particular regard to work related to the child trust fund; [145714]

(3) what discussions his Department has had with teachers' unions about the introduction of child trust funds and the need for increased provision of financial education in schools. [145718]

Mr. Miliband: The Department has had discussions with a range of companies about supporting schools to improve numeracy and financial literacy, but none specifically in relation to the child trust fund. Personal finance education is covered in the curriculum as part of the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship framework, and through subjects such as mathematics. Guidance issued in July 2000 encourages schools to involve local banks and building societies who may be able to provide resources or advice.

It is for schools to determine the amount of time to be given to specific topics within the curriculum and the Department has no plans to recommend to schools that the amount of financial education should be increased.

No discussions have been held between the Department and teachers' unions about the introduction of child trust funds and increased provision for financial education.

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