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Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the performance
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indicators and outcomes set for Sure-Start (a) in England and (b) on the Isle of Wight in each year since the programme's establishment. [189322]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 16 September 2004]: The Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for Sure Start since the Spending Review 2000 (SR2000) are set out as follows. No targets have been set centrally for the Isle of Wight.
(a) SR2000 (covering the period from 2001 to 2004)
PSA1Reduce the proportion of children aged 03 in the 500 Sure Start areas who are re-registered within the space of 12 months on the child protection register by 20 per cent. by 2004.
PSA2Achieve by 2004 in the 500 Sure Start areas, a 10 per cent. reduction in mothers who smoke in pregnancy.
PSA3Achieve by 2004 for children aged 03 in the 500 Sure Start areas, a reduction of five percentage points in the number of children with speech and language problems requiring specialist intervention by the age of four.
PSA4Reduce the number of 03 year old children in Sure Start areas living in households where no one is working by 2004.
(b) SR2002 (covering the period from 2003 to 2006)
PSA1In fully operational programmes, achieve by 200506 a [x] 1 per cent increase in the proportion of babies and young children aged 05 with normal levels of personal, social and emotional development for their age.
PSA2In fully operational programmes, achieve by 200506 a 6 percentage point reduction in the proportion of mothers who continue to smoke during pregnancy.
PSA3In fully operational programmes, achieve by 200506 a [x] 1 per cent increase in the proportion of children having normal levels of communication, language and literacy at the end of the Foundation Stage and an increase in the proportion of young children with satisfactory speech and language development at age two years
PSA4In fully operational programmes, to achieve by 200506 a 12 per cent. reduction in the proportion of young children (aged 04) living in households where no one is working.
(c) SR 2004 (covering the period from 2005 to 2008)
PSA1Improve children's communication, social and emotional development so that by 2008 50 per cent. of children reach a good level of development at the end of the Foundation Stage, and reduce inequalities between the level of development achieved by children in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged areas and the rest of England.
PSA2As a contribution to reducing the proportion of children living in households where no one is working, by 2008:
i. increase the stock of Ofsted-registered childcare by 10 per cent.;
ii. increase the take up of formal childcare by lower income working families by 50 per cent.;
iii. introduce, by April 2005, a successful light-touch child care approval scheme
1 Actual target levels for SR2002 PSAs 1 and 3 will be set when fuller results from the Foundation Stage Profile are available.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the Sure Start programmes in Buckinghamshire. [189852]
Margaret Hodge:
There is one Sure Start programme in Buckinghamshire, Sure Start Wycombe. The programme was initially a Sure Start mini local programme and became a fully-fledged programme in June 2003. The programme covers three wards: North
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Oakridge, Central Castlefield and South Booker and provides Sure Start services to 825 children under four and their families in the catchment area.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he plans to publish the Green Paper on young people provisionally entitled Things to Do and Places to Go; what proposals are likely to be included; and who will be consulted. [189826]
Margaret Hodge: We intend to publish the Youth Green Paper in December. The paper will set out a new offer for young people covering things to do and places to go; personal advice and support, particularly for young people at risk of poor outcomes; support for parents and families; opportunities for volunteering and mentoring; and the chance for young people to have more of a say.
In developing the paper, we are currently consulting other Government Departments and a wide range of key stakeholders including representatives from Local Government, schools, Connexions, the voluntary and community sectors, the private sector and young people and parents. In addition, the Green Paper will itself be a consultative document, on which we will be seeking comments from a very wide range of people.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 18 May 2004, Official Report, column 872W, on Colombia, if he will list the two unofficial statistics on the number of internally displaced people in Colombia in the last three years assessed by his Department to be the most accurate; and if he will make a statement. [175500]
Mr. Rammell: I would like to apologise to the hon. Member for the late reply to his question.
In my reply I alluded to the difficulty in establishing totally accurate statistics of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Colombia. In gauging the extent of the problem we compare figures provided by the Colombian Government with those provided by reputable Colombian NGOs, including Consultoria Para Los Derechos Humanos Y El Desplazamiento (CODHES) or Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement in English. This comparison enables us to monitor trends in IDP figures, increasing or decreasing, and helps in our efforts to establish the reason for such changes. The CODHES figures for 2001 were 341,925 (Colombian Government figure is 327,606) and in 2002 were 412,553 (Colombian Government figure is 379,289). However it would not be reasonable to expect that either set of figures were 100 per cent. accurate.
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 18 May 2004, Official Report, column 872W, on Colombia, what steps (a) his Department took, (b) his Department initiated and (c) were taken by non-governmental organisations to assess the veracity of the
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Government statistics showing a marked decline in internally displaced people in Colombia in 2003; and if he will make a statement. [175501]
Mr. Rammell: In my reply I alluded to the difficulty in establishing totally accurate figures of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Colombia. To do so we compare figures of IDPs from different, respected sources and thereby try to gauge trends. We supplement the assessment of such data by our Embassy in Bogota seeking to establish the true picture through discussions with the Government of Colombia, NGOs, international organisations working in Colombia such as the UN, ICRC, the church and civil society. The respected Norwegian Refugee Council is one of these interlocutors. Embassy officials also travel around the country to assess the situation at first hand, although such travel can be restricted by security concerns. There is no guaranteed, comprehensive means of checking the accuracy of figures of IDPs. The marked decline in numbers of IDPs in 2003 referred to new displacements in that year.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether (a) his Department and (b) agencies for which it is responsible (i) have a set retirement age which applies to all or most personnel and (ii) have a maximum age beyond which applications for employment will not be considered; and what the age is in each case. [186085]
Mr. Alexander: In the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) all officers have a set retirement age of 60 years. However, if band A (clerical) officers wish to postpone their retirement they may do so up to 65 years and band B (junior management), band C (middle management) and band D (senior management) may do so up to 63 years.
Members of the Diplomatic Service are recruited up to 52 years to allow time for training and tours of duty at home and abroad before retirement. Members of the FCO Home Civil Service cadre are recruited up to 57 years to allow time for a normal tour of duty in a home job before retirement.
The FCO is not responsible for any agencies.
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