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29 Mar 2004 : Column 1177W—continued

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Asylum-seeking Children

Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been under the care of the London Borough of Hounslow since 1998; and how many in that time left care having reached 18 years of age. [162501]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 22 March 2004]: Information on unaccompanied asylum seeking children being 'looked after' (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989) by local authorities was collected for the first time in 2002. On 31 March 2002, there were 15 children (rounded to the nearest five) under the age of 18 years looked after by London Borough of Hounslow. 2003 data will be available at the end of March 2004.

Careers Service

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is on the provision of a careers service for young people; and if he will make a statement. [163649]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 March 2004]: Responsibility for providing young people with the advice and support they need to make informed learning

29 Mar 2004 : Column 1178W

and career choices is shared between Connexions and schools. Schools provide the underpinning skills young people need to investigate options and manage transitions through learning into work, through a planned programme of careers education in years nine-11 (to be extended to years seven and eight from September 2004). This is complemented by support from Connexions at key decision-making and transition points. All young people aged 13–19 have access to Connexions, with the level of support provided in each individual case being differentiated according to need.

In order to assure ourselves that the current arrangements are robust—in particular in light of changes to the 14–19 phase of education announced in January last year—we have initiated a review of careers education and guidance which will report in Summer 2004.

Child Care

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list by local authority area how many children are (a) aged under five years old and (b) aged under eight years, and the number of registered child care places. [161984]

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is shown in the table. Statistics on the number of childcare places registered in England were published on 19 February 2004 in a report by OfSTED "Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 31 December 2003". The report is available on the OfSTED website, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.

Number of children⁽⁵⁾ aged under five and eight years old and the number of registered childcare places^{(6) , (7) , (8)}

LEA name	Children aged under five years old	Children aged under eight years old	Number of registered childcare places
England	2,863,700	4,688,500	1,392,800
North East	134,000	223,700	58,800
Hartlepool	5,100	8,700	2,100
Middlesbrough	8,000	13,300	4,700
Redcar and Cleveland	7,300	12,400	2,800
Stockton-on-Tees	10,100	16,900	4,400
Darlington	5,600	9,300	3,400
Durham	25,200	42,300	9,800
Northumberland	15,500	26,000	8,100
Gateshead	10,500	17,200	4,000
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	13,900	22,600	7,100
North Tyneside	10,100	16,800	4,400
South Tyneside	8,000	13,600	3,900
Sunderland	14,700	24,600	4,100
North West	384,800	636,900	195,700
Halton	7,100	11,500	4,000
Warrington	11,400	18,700	8,300
Cheshire	36,700	61,400	23,500
Cumbria	24,400	41,100	11,100
Bolton	16,200	26,700	7,700
Bury	10,900	18,000	7,300
Manchester	25,400	40,600	12,900
Oldham	15,000	24,200	7,400
Rochdale	13,300	21,800	6,800
Salford	12,100	19,900	6,200
Stockport	15,800	26,300	7,900
Tameside	12,500	20,700	6,300
Trafford	11,900	19,300	8,400
Wigan	17,000	28,300	7,800
Blackburn with Darwen	10,400	17,000	4,100
Blackpool	7,400	12,400	4,000
Lancashire	63,300	105,200	31,000
Knowsley	9,000	15,100	3,500
Liverpool	24,000	39,200	9,600
St. Helens	9,800	16,500	3,800
Sefton	14,200	24,500	5,300
Wirral	17,000	28,500	8,800
Yorkshire and Humberside	285,300	471,800	120,800
East Riding of Yorkshire	15,800	26,700	8,400
Kingston Upon Hull, City of	14,200	23,900	4,700
North East Lincolnshire	9,200	15,500	2,800
North Lincolnshire	8,500	14,200	3,200
York	9,100	14,800	5,300
North Yorkshire	29,100	49,100	17,900
Barnsley	12,100	20,500	3,500
Doncaster	16,600	27,400	4,900
Rotherham	14,600	24,200	4,700
Sheffield	28,300	46,600	12,900
Bradford	33,600	53,700	10,800
Calderdale	11,800	19,400	6,500
Kirklees	25,100	40,900	11,000
Leeds	39,700	65,600	19,200
Wakefield	17,600	29,300	5,000
East Midlands	234,600	388,500	121,000
Derby	13,500	21,900	6,800
Derbyshire	39,600	66,500	17,400
Leicester City	18,900	30,200	8,400
Rutland	1,800	3,000	1,200
Leicestershire	33,800	55,900	20,000
Lincolnshire	33,500	56,400	18,600
Northamptonshire	38,600	63,200	19,000
Nottingham	15,000	24,200	7700
Nottinghamshire	39,900	67,200	21,900
West Midlands	312,300	513,200	151,800
Herefordshire	9,200	15,400	5,800
Worcestershire	29,600	49,300	18,000
Telford and Wrekin	10,200	16,800	5,600
Shropshire	14,700	24,700	8,500
Stoke-on-Trent	13,400	21,800	5,700
Staffordshire	43,600	72,500	25,800
Warwickshire	28,200	46,700	16,000
Birmingham	69,300	111,000	28,100
Coventry	18,300	29,900	8,500
Dudley	17,100	28,400	6,200
Sandwell	17,900	29,200	5,600
Solihull	10,900	18,600	7,000
Walsall	16,100	26,300	5,200
Wolverhampton	13,800	22,600	5,800
East of England	315,300	518,000	156,800
Luton	13,200	21,100	4,000
Bedfordshire	24,000	39,100	12,300
Peterborough	10,100	16,600	6,600
Cambridgeshire	31,800	51,900	20,000
Southend-on-Sea	9,500	15,600	4,100
Thurrock	9,800	15,700	3,500
Essex	75,800	124,800	33,900
Hertfordshire	63,900	104,100	34,600
Norfolk	39,900	66,900	20,100
Suffolk	37,300	62,200	17,700
London	472,400	742,800	182,500
Inner London	189,500	290,200	69,200
City of London	300	400	400
Camden	12,100	18,500	5,100
Hackney	16,900	25,500	3,800
Hammersmith and Fulham	10,300	15,500	3,600
Haringey	14,800	23,000	3,900
Islington	10,900	16,800	5,100
Kensington and Chelsea	10,000	15,000	4,200
Lambeth	17,800	27,200	6,400
Lewisham	17,300	27,000	6,300
Newham	20,400	32,300	5,500
Southwark	17,100	26,600	7,600
Tower Hamlets	15,300	23,500	3,800
Wandsworth	16,400	24,500	9,500
Westminster	9,900	14,400	4,000
Outer London	282,900	452,600	113,300
Barking and Dagenham	12,300	19,900	3,100
Barnet	20,100	32,300	8,000
Bexley	13,000	21,400	5,100
Brent	16,300	25,600	5,700
Bromley	18,200	29,200	9,100
Croydon	21,900	35,600	9,500
Baling	18,800	29,700	7,800
Enfield	18,100	29,000	6,100
Greenwich	15,500	24,100	6,200
Harrow	12,000	19,500	4,900
Havering	12,200	20,600	4,600
Hillingdon	15,600	25,500	6,300
Hounslow	13,900	21,800	4,500
Kingston-upon-Thames	9,100	14,300	4,400
Merton	12,300	19,200	5,200
Redbridge	15,400	25,000	5,400
Richmond-upon-Thames	11,800	17,900	6,400
Sutton	11,200	18,200	4,500
Waltham Forest	15,200	23,800	6,500
South East	462,000	757,400	261,900
Bracknell Forest	7,300	11,900	4,400
Windsor and Maidenhead	8,100	12,900	5,200
West Berkshire	8,600	14,100	5,600
Reading	8,600	13,600	5,200
Slough	8,100	13,000	2,300
Wokingham	8,900	14,600	6,300
Milton Keynes	14,200	23,000	8,300
Buckinghamshire	30,000	48,600	17,200
Brighton and Hove	12,900	20,500	7,100
East Sussex	25,700	42,900	14,100
Portsmouth	10,700	17,100	6,600
Southampton	11,700	19,100	6,800
Hampshire	70,400	116,600	42,200
Isle of Wight	6,200	10,700	3,400
Medway	15,800	26,100	7,900
Kent	76,900	127,600	38,300
Oxfordshire	35,000	56,600	22,100
Surrey	61,500	100,200	36,500
West Sussex	41,400	68,300	22,400
South West	263,000	436,200	143,500
Bath and North East Somerset	8,800	14,300	4,500
Bristol, City of	22,700	35,700	10,100
North Somerset	10,300	17,100	4,900
South Gloucestershire	14,700	24,500	7,700
Cornwall	25,600	42,600	12,200
Isles of Scilly	100	200	100
Torbay	6,000	10,300	2,400
Plymouth	12,800	21,100	6,500
Devon	33,900	57,600	20,000
Bournemouth	8,000	13,100	4,600
Poole	6,900	11,500	3,200
Dorset	18,100	30,900	9,000
Gloucestershire	31,600	52,100	20,500
Somerset	26,500	44,200	15,900
Swindon	11,000	18,100	6,700
Wiltshire	26,000	42,900	15,200

⁽⁵⁾ Mid year estimates 2002.

⁽⁶⁾ Registered places are not the number of places occupied, nor the number of children who may benefit from receiving places through providers offering sessions at different times of the day. The number of registered places is likely to be higher than the actual number of registered places as not all providers will immediately inform Ofsted that they have ceased their provision. For about 7 per cent. of providers, the database does not hold the number of registered places. In these cases, the number of places has been estimated and included in the figures shown.

⁽⁷⁾ Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Due to rounding, data may differ from that published by Ofsted.

⁽⁸⁾ Includes childminders, full day care and sessional day care, out of school care and crèches.

29 Mar 2004 : Column 1180W

29 Mar 2004 : Column 1181W

Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to register sitting services as accredited child care providers. [161988]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 18 March 2004]: Sitter services are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in Scotland, and we are actively investigating the role they could play in England. We believe they can be very useful as a means of enabling parents, especially lone parents, to work atypical hours, and for providing parents of disabled children with child care in their home or with respite care. In particular, using a sitter service to provide home-based child care removes the need for the parent to act as employer. The availability of such a service could also make it much easier for 24 hour service sector employers to recruit and retain employees.

Currently, sitter services do not have to be registered under the Children Act. However, as announced in the Budget, we shall be consulting in the early summer on extending the scope of accredited child care through a new light touch voluntary scheme, to be implemented by April 2005. Accreditation would enable eligible parents to gain working tax credit support for their child care costs, such support currently not being available for users of sitter services. Child care carried out in the parents' home will be considered as part of this consultation.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the (a) availability and (b) affordability of quality child care. [162621]

Margaret Hodge: The National Childcare Strategy was established in 1998 to ensure that accessible, affordable and quality child care for children up to the age of 14, and 16 for those with special needs, is available in every area.

We have funded a substantial expansion in child care provision of the public, private and voluntary sectors, with a wide variety of types of child care—nurseries, childminders, before and after school provision increasingly delivered alongside early education and other family services—to ensure diversity and choice for parents. To ensure quality National Standards for Under Eights day care and child minding were introduced from September 2001. They set a national benchmark below which no provider may fall. Responsibility for registration and inspection transferred from local authorities to the Early Years Directorate of Ofsted at that time.

By December 2003, more than 920,000 new child care places had been created since 1997, benefiting over 1.6 million children. This means that we have met our target of creating new places for 1.6 million children by March 2004, and are on track to create places for over 2 million by 2006.

At January 2004, 300,000 lower and middle income families were benefiting from the child care element of the new working tax credit, 120,000 more than benefited under the previous arrangements through working families tax credit—and over six times as many as the 47,000 who benefited from the child care disregard under the previous administration's family credit.

29 Mar 2004 : Column 1182W

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