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28 Jun 2004 : Column 58W—continued
Sexual Health
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been provided to the sexual health advisory organisation Brook in each of the last five years. [179660]
Angela Smith: Health and Social Services Boards have provided the following funding to Brook in the last five years:
| H&SSB | 2003–04 | 2002–03 | 2001–02 | 2000–01 | 1999–2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern | 67,481 | 56,925 | 55,072 | 62,728 | 52,420 |
| Northern | 21,095 | 20,580 | 20,040 | 19,551 | 19,074 |
| Southern | 0 | 1,732 | 1,072 | 1,292 | 1,500 |
| Western | 385 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 88,961 | 79,237 | 76,184 | 83,571 | 72,994 |
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In addition, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has provided one off funding to the organisation as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | 4,000 |
| 2001–02 | 9,000 |
| 2000–01 | 6,450 |
| 1999–2000 | 10,000 |
Traffic Volumes
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what volume of traffic used the (a) A2 Bangor to Belfast road and (b) Bangor ring road, County Down (i) in the last period for which figures are available and (ii) in each of the last five years. [179954]
Mr. Spellar: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Member in response to this question.
Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin to Lady Hermon, dated 24 June 2004:
You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about the volume of traffic using the A2 Bangor to Belfast road and the Bangor Ring Road in the last five years. I have been asked to reply as the issue raised falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive.
The following table indicates the average daily two-way traffic flow figures recorded at a number of our permanent counter sites along these routes for the years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Figures for 1999 are only available for the City Airport site on the A2.
| Location | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A2 at City Airport | 49,490 | 45,810 | 42,730 | 49,540 | 49,890 |
| A2 at Cultra | — | 36,290 | 35,680 | 35,820 | 35,320 |
| A2 at Springhill | — | 24,330 | 23,770 | 23,600 | 22,740 |
| Bangor Ring Road at Clandeboye | — | 20,900 | 21,070 | 19,670 | 20,230 |
I hope this information is helpful.
West Belfast Festival
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public funding has been allocated through Northern Ireland Departments to the West Belfast Festival in each of the last three years. [177913]
Angela Smith: The amount of public funding allocated to Féile an Phobail, often described as the West Belfast Festival, over the past three years through Northern Ireland Departments is shown in the following table:
| Amount (£) | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 258,030.41 |
| 2002–03 | 358,138.26 |
| 2003–04 | 317,321.28 |
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EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Child Poverty
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the Secretary of State for Work and Pension's answer of 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 12, on child poverty, what extra resources the Government is putting into counselling; and what steps it takes to encourage people to resolve relationship difficulties in the interests of their children. [179443]
Margaret Hodge: There are number of ways in which the Government encourage people to resolve relationship difficulties in the interests of the child. For the financial year 2004–05, the Marriage and Relationship Support (MARS) grant programme provided £4.9 million to a wide variety of voluntary sector organisations providing marriage and relationship support. The MARS grant funds activities aimed at helping people establish, maintain and develop successful relationships with their partners. This includes encouraging people to resolve relationship difficulties in the interests of their children.
Sure Start local programmes and Children's Centres through the range of family support and counselling services they provide often also provide opportunities for couples to discuss relationship issues. Similarly, a Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) officer might be involved at court directions hearings in providing assistance to children and their families to help them reach agreement on arrangements for their children, primarily in respect of contact and residence.
Teachers (Abuse Allegations)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what recent assessment he has made of the change in the number of sexual abuse allegations against teachers; [180000]
(2) what assessment he has made of the rate of convictions in cases of allegations of (a) sexual, (b) physical and (c) verbal abuse against teachers since 1991; [180014]
(3) what assessment he has made of the effects on teacher recruitment of increased rates of false abuse allegations against teachers. [180016]
Mr. Miliband: Information about the number of allegations of sexual abuse against teachers and the rate of convictions in respect of allegations of sexual, physical, or verbal abuse against teachers since 1991 is not available. Consequently it is not possible to make assessments of this kind.
My Department has no evidence that the issue of allegations against teachers is a factor that affects recruitment to the profession. Nevertheless, the issue of false or unfounded allegations against teachers, and other education staff, is one that we take very seriously. My Department currently funds a network of 25
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regional coordinators who work with local education authorities, police and social services to improve the way allegations are dealt with, and we are actively seeking to identify ways of further speeding up the process and weeding out false or unfounded allegations as quickly as possible.
Adoption Register
Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the operation of the Adoption Register. [176524]
Margaret Hodge: The Adoption Register's current contract expires in August 2004. The Department will shortly begin a competitive tendering exercise to continue operation of the Register for up to a further three years.
Child Care
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many childcare places were available for children aged under eight years old in each region in each year since 1997. [180789]
Margaret Hodge: The Department is unable to provide details of childcare places available for under eight year olds prior to March 2003. However, the table below provides a regional breakdown of the number of childcare places registered by OfSTED and available for under eight year olds at March 2003 and March 2004.
| Region | Number of childcare places available for under 8s at March 2003 1 | Number of childcare places available for under 8s at March 2004 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern England | 95,889 | 112,417 |
| East Midlands | 83,130 | 93,318 |
| London | 131,829 | 149,995 |
| North East | 40,318 | 48,814 |
| North West | 140,923 | 165,430 |
| South East | 177,974 | 199,830 |
| South West | 96,533 | 106,493 |
| West Midlands | 113,945 | 126,999 |
| Yorks and Humberside | 87,281 | 99,389 |
(27) Net Places=The number of places added to stock, taking into account closed places in year.
Children's Services
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to reduce the amount of regulation in the provision of children's services. [179761]
Margaret Hodge: My Department has embarked on an ambitious programme of reform in the provision of children's services. We want professionals to work together to improve local delivery, while ensuring that children receive high quality of care and education.
The Green Paper, "Every Child Matters" sets out our commitment to achieving more coherent and effective children's services, reducing the amount of regulation where possible. The strategy therefore aims to encourage integrated planning, commissioning and delivery of children's services, with easier access to specialist services and duplication minimised through the development of a Common Assessment Framework and the use of lead professionals to bring together
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packages of support from multi-disciplinary teams to meet the needs of children, young people and their families.
As part of these wider reforms, my Department has introduced the Children Bill into the House of Lords in March of this year. Regulation is being kept to the minimum necessary to achieve a robust integrated framework of services with clear lines of accountability, inspection and intervention. But we do still intend to regulate where this is needed to sharpen arrangements to safeguard children, eg in the establishment of statutory Local Safeguarding Children Boards to replace the current non-statutory Area Child Protection Committees.
The provisions are intended to strengthen local flexibility to meet local needs. So for example, a new power for local services to pool budgets will enable more flexible pooling of funds between local partners and make it easier for agencies to work together in the commissioning and delivery of services. The Bill also pursues the streamlining of statutory planning requirements by removing the requirement for a plan to cover services for children in need. We have committed in debate to moving towards a single plan for children's services and our intention is to lift most statutory education planning requirements at the same time.
My Department is committed to reducing bureaucracy—and is working jointly with the Cabinet Office Regulatory Impact Unit to identify unnecessary bureaucracy to promote more efficient, streamlined processes. This work necessarily includes a consideration of the regulatory framework within which children's services are delivered and will aim to deliver a practical set of key outcomes with stakeholders to deliver the changes needed to reduce bureaucratic burdens.
My Department is committed to evaluate any measures that are implemented, either through the Children Bill or through policy more generally and will look again at anything which proves to be unnecessarily bureaucratic in practice.
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