House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 24 May 2004 (pt 10)

24 May 2004 : Column 1318W—continued

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Joint Custody

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many separated parents have joint custody of their children; and if he will make a statement. [173556]

Margaret Hodge: Since the Children Act 1989 was implemented in 1991, "custody" of a child has ceased to be a concept in the law of England and Wales. Under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 a court has the power to make a residence order, being

"an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom a child is to live".

Section 1(5) of the Children Act provides that a court cannot make an order unless it considers that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all ("the no order principle"). It follows that, if parents are agreed on the arrangements for their child, then it may be that the matter never comes before a court, or that, if it is before a court, the court considers that it is better for the child that no order be made. In other cases, such as those where there is no agreement between the parents, it is open to the court to make a residence order, if it considers that it is in the best interests of the child to do so. Such an order might be a "shared residence" order (so that the child lives with both parents, at different times, usually spending around half his time with each). The following table shows the latest available judicial statistics (2002). During 2002 a total of 103,191 section 8 orders were made in private law.
Disposal of selected applicants in private law in all tiers of court, 2002

Nature of application Applications withdrawn Orders refused Orders of
no order Orders
made

Parental responsibility 773 290 132 8,240

Section 8

Residence 1,536 158 431 30,006

Contact 2,373 518 945 61,356

Prohibited steps 300 40 77 8,889

Specific issue 207 33 67 2,940

Nature of application	Applications withdrawn	Orders refused	Orders of no order	Orders made
Parental responsibility	773	290	132	8,240

Section 8
Residence	1,536	158	431	30,006
Contact	2,373	518	945	61,356
Prohibited steps	300	40	77	8,889
Specific issue	207	33	67	2,940

Connexions

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects on the private sector of his Department's decision to reduce the amount it will offset against Connexions partnerships' VAT costs. [172650]

Margaret Hodge: We have recommended that partnerships look to improve their tax efficiency. It does not automatically follow that this will have any effect on sub-contracting to private providers. The Department is monitoring how partnerships are dealing with the reduction in VAT transitional funding and we have made it clear that we expect them to continue to involve the private sector. We know that the lead body model is the most tax efficient and an increasing number of areas are adopting this, leaving private sector careers contracts in place.

24 May 2004 : Column 1319W

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received from private providers of Connexions services concerning his Department's decision to reduce the amount it will offset against partrnership's VAT costs. [172671]

Margaret Hodge: In total my Department has received 12 representations from private providers about the decision to reduce the amount of transitional support to Connexions partnerships.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his Department's policy to ensure that Connexions partnerships commit themselves to maintaining the pension benefits of private providers' staff if a partnership opts to shift from a sub-contracting operational model to a system of direct delivery and to incorporate the private providers' staff. [172676]

Margaret Hodge: Connexions Partnerships are private companies with obligations to their individual boards. As such the Department is unable to become involved in individual decisions about pension benefits for Connexions staff. This includes where a partnership opts to shift from a sub-contracting operational model to a system of direct delivery and to incorporate the private providers' staff. We would however expect Connexions partnerships to give due regard to any incoming staff and to make every effort to ensure that they are not disadvantaged in any way.

Departmental Annual Report

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the production of his Department's latest annual report cost; how many copies were printed; how many copies of it were sold at its cover price; to whom copies of the report have been provided free of charge; and how many copies were provided free of charge. [171137]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: While the Department pays for some production costs of its annual report, these only cover the design and typesetting. The costs of printing are met directly by the publisher, The Stationery Office (TSO) and do not fall to the Department. The Department buys in copies from the TSO to distribute internally and to our partners.

The costs for the Department for Education and Skills 2004 Report was:

£

Typesetting and design 17,500

Buying in copies from TSO 12,000

Total 29,500

	£
Typesetting and design	17,500
Buying in copies from TSO	12,000
Total	29,500

Other costs of printing and publication are met directly by the publisher, The Stationery Office Limited (TSO), and do not fall to Government. It is also for TSO to decide how many are printed. As the report was published on 30 April, there is no meaningful information yet available on numbers of copies sold by TSO.

24 May 2004 : Column 1320W

The number of copies distributed free of charge was:

Number of copies

Vote Office 150

Paper Office 50

HMT 10

Ofsted 15

DfES internal

Parliamentary Office 22

Library 20

Press Office 25

Labour Attachés 50

SoS, Ministers, Special Advisers 9

Board, DGs, Directors 32

DMs and policy contributors 125

Total 508

	Number of copies
Vote Office	150
Paper Office	50
HMT	10
Ofsted	15

DfES internal
Parliamentary Office	22
Library	20
Press Office	25
Labour Attachés	50
SoS, Ministers, Special Advisers	9
Board, DGs, Directors	32
DMs and policy contributors	125
Total	508

The report is also available on the departmental website free of charge at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/deptreport2004/.

Disabled Children

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many families of disabled children have been provided with short breaks through the Quality Protects programme; what proportion that represents as a total of such families; and if he will make a statement. [170610]

Margaret Hodge: £60 million was earmarked for services for disabled children and their families for the years 2001–04 through the Quality Protects programme. This funding was mainstreamed into local authority budgets from 2004–05. We do not count the number of additional children supported by the Quality Protects grant. The Children in Need Census 2003, collected information of any disabled child receiving resources from the Local Authority Social Services Department within the Census week, and identified a total of 4,560 disabled children as receiving short term breaks from a total of 29,700 receiving a service. There are approximately 320,000 disabled children in England, including 110,000 severely disabled children.

Education Services (Essex)

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in state primary schools was in (a) the County of Essex in each year from 1980 to 1997 and (b) the County of Essex and the unitary authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock in each year from 1998 to 2003. [173326]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The requested information is given in the table.
Maintained primary schools⁽⁴⁾: average class size⁽⁵⁾—position in January each year 1980 to 2003

Average size of one teacher classes

Essex LEA 3 Southend-on-Sea⁽⁷⁾ Thurrock 4

1980 27.1 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1981 26.8 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1982 26.7 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1983 26.4 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1984 26.5 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1985 26.6 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1986 27.1 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1987 26.5 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1988 26.1 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1989 26.0 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1990 26.1 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1991 26.7 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1992 26.6 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1993 26.8 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1994 26.9 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1995 26.9 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1996 26.9 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1997 27.3 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1998 27.6 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾—

1999 27.7 28.4 27.6

2000 27.4 28.0 26.9

2001 26.9 28.0 26.4

2002 26.5 28.0 25.5

2003 26.6 27.9 26.3

¹ Includes middle schools as deemed.
² Classes as taught during a selected period on the day of the census.
³ Definition of the local education authority area changed in 1999 as a result of government office reorganisation.
⁴ Applicable from 1999—after local government reorganisation.
⁵ Not applicable.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census

24 May 2004 : Column 1322W

	Average size of one teacher classes
	Essex LEA 3	Southend-on-Sea⁽⁷⁾	Thurrock 4
1980	27.1	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1981	26.8	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1982	26.7	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1983	26.4	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1984	26.5	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1985	26.6	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1986	27.1	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1987	26.5	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1988	26.1	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1989	26.0	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1990	26.1	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1991	26.7	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1992	26.6	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1993	26.8	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1994	26.9	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1995	26.9	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1996	26.9	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1997	27.3	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1998	27.6	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—
1999	27.7	28.4	27.6
2000	27.4	28.0	26.9
2001	26.9	28.0	26.4
2002	26.5	28.0	25.5
2003	26.6	27.9	26.3

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