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21 Jun 2004 : Column 1206W—continued

CABINET OFFICE

Emergency Planning

Mr. Flook: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the budget was in each of the last three years for each local authority in the South West responsible for emergency planning; and what the budget is in each case for 2004–05. [177193]

Mr. Raynsford: Budget estimates of expenditure on emergency planning as reported by each authority in the South West region are tabled as follows.
Budget estimates of net current expenditure on emergency planning £000

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Bath and North East Somerset UA	82	123	255	251
Bournemouth UA	70	70	70	79
Bristol UA	118	120	252	197
Caradon	14	15	12	5
Carrick	0	0	0	1
Cheltenham	3	0	13	19
Christchurch	22	23	18	16
Cornwall	277	276	356	369
Cotswold	13	18	13	15
Devon	259	268	339	460
Dorset	240	285	290	290
East Devon	32	54	44	50
East Dorset	8	9	8	9
Exeter	23	29	28	26
Forest of Dean	0	15	8	16
Gloucester	15	15	11	11
Gloucestershire	307	341	392	236
Isles of Scilly	55	59	65	56
Kennet	61	58	27	70
Kerrier	0	0	0	0
Mendip	0	0	0	0
Mid Devon	25	21	27	26
North Cornwall	0	0	0	0
North Devon	22	50	38	42
North Dorset	30	11	5	7
North Somerset UA	53	70	122	78
North Wiltshire	18	21	7	22
Penwith	0	0	0	0
Plymouth UA	157	152	156	185
Poole UA	21	22	23	92
Purbeck	17	16	15	15
Restormel	0	0	0	0
Salisbury	7	7	6	6
Sedgemoor	13	36	36	33
Somerset	180	230	229	259
South Gloucestershire UA	89	91	100	88
South Hams	37	39	42	43
South Somerset	20	17	5	3
Stroud	10	12	15	23
Swindon UA	88	92	92	4
Taunton Deane	2	2	2	2
Teignbridge	1	1	1	2
Tewkesbury	14	25	22	12
Torbay UA	163	129	126	147
Torridge	17	10	9	14
West Devon	0	0	0	8
West Dorset	33	23	23	25
West Somerset	0	0	0	0
West Wiltshire	2	4	7	6
Weymouth and Portland	14	13	9	16
Wiltshire	183	224	257	252

Note:
The data are taken from the RA (budget) form; these forms are completed each year by individual local authorities.




 
21 Jun 2004 : Column 1207W
 

Regulation

Mr. Norman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the current members of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability. [178834]

Mr. Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Ms Munn) on 27 May 2004, Official Report, column 1731W.

The full list of Cabinet Committees and their membership can also be found on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/cabinet/index.asp

Mr. Norman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether tax matters considered by the Chancellor in the course of normal Budget processes may in any circumstances require clearance from the Panel for Regulatory Accountability. [178838]

Mr. Alexander: As announced in Budget 2004, the new requirements of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability will not change the long-standing arrangements through which tax matters are considered by the Chancellor in the course of normal Budget processes.

Working Time Directive

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many employees in his Department have (a) signed a formal opt out from and (b) are exempt from the Working Time Directive; and how many employees in his Department have recorded hours, including any accruing on a flexitime basis, in excess of the maximum allowed under the Working Time Directive in the last month for which figures are available. [178362]

Mr. Alexander: 338 staff, including 267 staff in the Cabinet Office's Executive Agencies, have signed a formal opt out form. No staff have been declared as exempt from the provisions of the Working Time Regulations. Local managers are responsible for monitoring and managing hours worked. However, this information is not collected centrally.

The Department is committed to reducing the number of staff who are required to work in excess of 48 hours per week (by adjusting working hours or re-designing jobs) to an absolute minimum commensurate with meeting our operational needs.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Asthma

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action his Department is taking (a) to ensure awareness of asthma issues in educational establishments and (b) to encourage them to develop appropriate policies. [178049]

Margaret Hodge: The Department, with the Department of Health, has produced 'Supporting pupils with medical needs—a good practice guide' to help schools draw up policies to support pupils with their medical needs, including asthma. We have reminded schools of the importance of following the good practice
 
21 Jun 2004 : Column 1208W
 
guide. Charles Clarke has recently written an introductory letter to Asthma UK's 'School Pack', and we have informed schools where they can get hold of copies of this pack. The Department is in discussion with Asthma UK and other organisations on how we can work together to raise awareness in schools of common childhood conditions.

Child Abuse

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will update the guidance in DfES Circular 10/95, 'Protecting Children from Abuse'; and if he will make a statement. [178810]

Margaret Hodge: My Department consulted widely about new guidance to replace that contained in its Circular 10/95 earlier this year. The consultation attracted a large response and the draft guidance is being rewritten to reflect those comments. We will publish revised guidance as soon as possible.

Child Care

Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent progress has been made in establishing (a) children's trusts, (b) children's centres and (c) neighbourhood nurseries. [176523]

Margaret Hodge: 35 Children's Trusts Pathfinders have been established to develop the best ways to join up children's services. Pathfinders have all created their governance arrangements and boards and have begun to integrate planning and commissioning of services in their local area. Several Pathfinders have also developed pooled budgets using Section 31 of the Health Act 1999. The Pathfinders are helping us to further the objectives set out in the Green Paper to develop services around the needs of children by integrating the planning and commissioning of services and delivering them through joint budgets.

Other non-Pathfinder local authorities and their partners have also begun to develop Children's Trusts as part of their movement towards the Green Paper "Every Child Matters" agenda.

67 children's centres have been designated so far. Further announcements will be made from early July onwards as we work towards our target of establishing 800 centres by 2006.

We were committed to opening 900 neighbourhood nurseries by April 2004. In fact, 1,139 neighbourhood nurseries are now open offering 39,235 new day care places in disadvantaged areas for children under 4. By March 2005 we expect to have created around 48,000 places under this initiative—exceeding the original target of 45,000 places.

By April 2004 we had created over 1 million new child care places providing child care for 1.8 million children as well as ensuring, six months ahead of schedule, that every 3 and 4-year-old can access a high quality part-time free nursery education place in the first term following their third birthday.
 
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Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role he plans for co-operatives in providing child care. [178907]

Margaret Hodge: Day care in England is provided by private, voluntary and public sector organisations. Some of these may be co-operatives. Both social and economic enterprise should be encouraged and I would encourage any group of people considering a co-operative approach to child care provision to seek early discussions with their local authority about how such child care might fit with the local strategic plan.

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