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9 Feb 2004 : Column 1185W—continued
Access to Education
Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether he enforces the statutory guidance document on access to education for children and young people with medical needs of November 2001; [151853]
- (2) when he last had reason to intervene in a local education authority's failure to implement the statutory guidance contained within the access to education for children and young people with medical needs document of November 2001; how many times in each of the last two years he has had to intervene; and what plans he has to update these guidelines. [151854]
Margaret Hodge: In November 2001, the Department for Education and Skills, jointly with the Department of Health, published statutory guidance, "Access to
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Education for Children and Young People with Medical Needs", which sets out national minimum standards of education for those children and young people who cannot attend school due to illness. This is statutory guidance and local education authorities (LEAs) must have regard to it. The needs of this group of children and young people are often complex. There is therefore an expectation that LEAs should be sensible in their implementation of the guidance.
The DfES has been working to ensure that LEAs and schools are aware of their responsibilities under the guidance. The DfES has sponsored research on mapping best practice, including self evaluation tools for those working in the field. Also, Ofsted published last year a survey report on education provision for children with medical needs. A series of seminars is planned this year to disseminate the findings and recommendations of the Ofsted report and to further raise awareness of the statutory guidance.
The guidance flows from section 19 of the Education Act 1996, which places a duty on LEAs to provide "suitable education" for children of compulsory school age who cannot attend school because they are ill or excluded. The Secretary of State has not issued any directions to LEAs in the last two years for failing to provide suitable education for children who cannot attend school due to illness.
Feedback on the guidance from those working with children and young people with medical needs is that it has had a positive impact. There are therefore no current plans to update the guidance.
Children's Fund
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what grants have been made from the Children's Fund since it was set up. [152017]
Margaret Hodge: The Children's Fund programme was launched in November 2001 to fund the delivery of preventative services through 149 partnerships for 5 to 13-year-olds at risk. £187 million was made available to Children's Fund partnerships under in the 2000 Spending Review and £450 million in the 2002 Spending Review. The funding has mainly been distributed through the local partnerships. However, £21 million has been allocated to street crime initiative; £25 million to the development of the identification, and tracking project; £5.4 million for small grants to support for example child contact centres and £2.2 million for Young Recovery Projects.
Children's Homes
Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will provide the latest available figures for the number of places for children in privately-run children's homes in each county in England. [151315]
Margaret Hodge: Figures on the number of places for children in privately-run children's homes in each county in England are not collected by this Department. Information at 19 January 2004 is available from the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) and
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their most recent figures, collected by NCSC region, are shown in the table. Information is not available at county level.
| NCSC region | Number |
|---|---|
| North West | 1,000 |
| South East | 992 |
| London | 693 |
| South West | 660 |
| West Midlands | 658 |
| East Midlands | 287 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 272 |
| Eastern | 252 |
| North East | 166 |
| England | 4,980 |
Source:
National Care Standards Commission.
Children's Services
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much earmarked funding has been provided to local authorities for children's services in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [146732]
Margaret Hodge: For financial years 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06, planned funding to be provided to local authorities for children's services is as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 3,698,784 |
| 2004–05 | 4,020,538 |
| 2005–06 | 4,372,191 |
Figures given comprise all grants to be paid to local authorities for children's services and the Children's Social Services Formula Spending Share. Further information is available in the Local Authority Social Service Letter (2003) 7, copies of which are in the Library of the House. For planned expenditure on education services, I would refer the hon. Member to the Department of Education and Skills Annual Report for 2002–03, copies of which are also available in the Library of the House.
Correspondence
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will reply to the letter to Mr. Simon Rhodes, dated 15 July 2003, which was sent by special delivery on 17 July and signed for by his representatives on 18 July (Royal Mail's reference: SU 4643 1881 8GB). [151577]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Unfortunately, the letter in question does not appear to have reached the intended recipient in our Special Educational Needs Division. I offer my apologies to the hon. Member and his constituent for that and any difficulties it may have caused. However, since then Baroness Ashton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sure Start, has sent two detailed replies dated 21 October and 19 December 2003 to the hon. Member in response to points raised.
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Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he takes to ensure that documents received by Royal Mail special delivery are (a) recorded as such and (b) tracked within his Department. [151578]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: My Department has procedures in place for recording and tracking documents received by Royal Mail special delivery. Our procedures require a signature to be obtained from the end customer, as well as the mailroom, and then recorded for tracking purposes across Headquarter sites. However, procedures for special delivery documents at Sanctuary Buildings had been slightly different but have now been standardised in line with all the other Headquarter sites with immediate effect.
Deaths in Care
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died in care since 1992; and what proportion of these deaths have been of people from ethnic minorities. [147535]
Margaret Hodge: The estimated number of children who died in care in England during the ten year period 1 April 1992 to 31 March 2002 was 620.
We believe that quite a large proportion of the children who died in care were severely disabled children or children with chronic illnesses being looked after in hospices/hospitals because they are too ill to be at home.
Information on the number of children in care by ethnic origin has only been collected for the last 2 years from a one in three sample. The number of deaths to such children in ethnic minorities over that period are very small and therefore it is not possible to produce a reliable estimate of the proportion.
Tuition Fees
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements will be made for the repayment of fees by graduates who choose to leave the country and work overseas. [152412]
Alan Johnson: Well established procedures already exist for recovery of loans from graduates living and working outside of the UK. When taking out a loan, all students sign a declaration agreeing to repay, even if they move abroad, and SLC have a range of sanctions that can be imposed on any defaulters.
Higher Education
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what amount has been set aside for centres for excellence in learning and teaching. [153069]
Alan Johnson: £315 million is being made available by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, over the five year period from 2004–05 to 2008–09, for Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Failing Schools
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools were classified as failing in each year since 1996–97. [149874]
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Mr. Miliband [holding answer 22 January 2004]: The number of schools placed in special measures for each of the last seven years and in the first term of the current academic year is:
| Academic year | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| 1996/97 | 26 | 150 |
| 1997/98 | 42 | 210 |
| 1998/99 | 30 | 141 |
| 1999/2000 | 38 | 168 |
| 2000/01 | 23 | 100 |
| 2001/02 | 19 | 94 |
| 2002/03 | 35 | 99 |
| 2003/04(10) | |
|---|---|
| Secondary | 29 |
| Primary | 54 |
(10) May reduce pending final corroboration.
Over this period 1,137 schools have recovered from special measures. The number of schools in special measures was 515 at the end of the 1997/98 academic year. The total has now reduced to 318 at the end of autumn term 2003.
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