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28 Oct 2004 : Column 1359W—continued

Triads

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment the Government have made of the level of Triad activity in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [191841]

Mr. Pearson: The Police Service of Northern Ireland is aware of the presence of a Triad group in Northern Ireland and that it is involved in organised crime.

The Organised Crime Task Force is creating an Organised Immigration Crime Expert Group to assist and advise on how organised immigration crime might be tackled.

Tuberculosis

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on tuberculosis prevention in the Province. [188603]

Angela Smith: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Northern Ireland is low with 67 cases in 2002 and a crude rate of 3.9 per 100,000 population. Rates are over three times greater in England and Wales, and the Republic of Ireland.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's Regional Advisory Committee on Communicable Disease Control has a TB subcommittee which keeps prevention and surveillance issues constantly under review.

The Chief Medical Officer issued a letter to the health service on 30 April 2002 endorsing and enclosing the updated clinical guidelines on control and prevention of TB of the British Thoracic Society's joint tuberculosis committee. They highlight the importance of early treatment and contact tracing and provide extended advice on TB in schools. The BCG programme continues to be offered to all school children from age ten to 14.

Violent Patients

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how resources are to be provided for dealing with violent patients following the implementation of the new general practitioner contract in the Province. [194078]

Angela Smith: To facilitate implementation of the new general practitioners contract, resources have been allocated to the Health and Social Services Boards to fund the commissioning of a range of services, including services for patients who are violent.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Children's Centres

3. Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Government are investing on average in each of the current round of children's centres. [194094]

Margaret Hodge: We have already announced 71 children's centres and will shortly be announcing more. There will be up to 2,500 by March 2008, which will include
 
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one for each of the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged areas. We are working up plans to provide a children's centre in every community.

Higher Education

19. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in Coventry went on to higher education in 2004–05. [194110]

Dr. Howells: Latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that 1,685 students from Coventry LEA have so far been accepted to entry for full-time undergraduate courses in 2004/05. Final figures for 2004/05 will be published by UCAS in late January.

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on access to higher education. [194104]

Dr. Howells: The Government are determined to improve opportunities for people of all backgrounds. The Aimhigher programme helps young people in disadvantaged areas to gain the qualifications and aspire to university. Our reforms to student finance will broaden access and help poorer students. And the Office for Fair Access will ensure that universities charging higher fees encourage applications from all backgrounds through their plans for outreach and financial support. Admissions, however, are a matter for universities and must be based on merit.

A-Levels

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will extend targeted support to those learners wishing to attain the equivalent of two good A-levels. [191367]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: From September 2004 Education Maintenance Allowance became available to young people who had reached the compulsory school leaving age and were entering full time education in 2004/05. EMA is available for both academic and vocational courses up to level 3.

Our advanced apprenticeship programmes for young people offers training to technician and skilled craft level. And as resources allow, we have committed to expanding training programmes for adults as well at that intermediate level, particularly in those areas that employers tell us are their priorities by region and by sector. To support younger adults up to age 30 to get these higher level qualifications, we are piloting financial support of up to £30 a week through a new Adult Learning Grant. The new grant has been piloted since September 2003 in over 80 further education providers across 10 Learning and Skills Council areas. From September 2004 Adult Learning Grant has been extended right across the North East and South East regions alongside trials of the new entitlement to free tuition to reach a first level 2 qualification.

Child Care

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average cost of providing a child care place is in (a) London and (b) England. [192098]

 
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Margaret Hodge: This information is not routinely collected centrally. The General Sure Start Grant distributed to local authorities includes funding to provide for new childcare places. Local authorities currently receive £642 for each newly created place in a disadvantaged area and £342 for places created in other areas. This is an average revenue cost and covers places created with childminders, in Out of School settings and in full day care setting. This is based on the average estimated costs for all types of provision nationally.

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of qualified child care workers in (a) London and (b) England. [192101]

Margaret Hodge: For 2004–06, we have given £129.9 million to local authorities in England to help them recruit, train and develop their early years and child care workforce. We have also worked closely with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) nationally to raise the profile of the child care sector, so that all local LSCs and local authorities now have shared targets for training child care workers to levels 2 and 3. We also support this local activity with our national child care recruitment campaign that has been running since 2000 and has generated over 25,000 responses to our national campaign order line. The new National Professional Qualification for Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL), launched September 2004, aims to foster the highest calibre of leadership in children's services. As well as raising standards within the early years profession, the NPQICL aims to raise professional status in the sector and attract more good people into the profession.

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the average salary of child care workers in (a) London and (b) England. [192102]

Margaret Hodge: The 2002/03 Childcare and Early Years Workforce survey shows an average salary of around £7,500 a year for annually paid childcare workers in London. This is based on an average working week of 25 hours. The survey shows an average salary of around £5,100 a year for annually paid staff in England, based on an average working week of 26 hours.

In England hourly paid staff earn on average, a little over £5.70 per hour. Grossing up based on the average hours per week worked (26), this equates to a little over £7,600 p.a. In London hourly paid staff earn on average, around £7.10 per hour. Grossing up based on the average hours per week work (25), this equates to a little over £9,300 p.a.

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the ratio of child care places to children of pre-school age is in (a) London and (b) England. [192104]

Margaret Hodge: The available information is shown in the table. Statistics on the number of child care places registered in England were published on 22 July 2004 in a report by Ofsted "Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 30 June 2004". The report is available on the Ofsted website, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.
 
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Number⁽⁸⁾ of registered child care places⁽⁹⁾ and children⁽¹⁰⁾ aged under five years of age and under eight London Government Office Region and England

	London	England
Childminders	41,000	322,100
Full day care	69,300	483,600
Sessional day care	28,800	270,600
Out of school day care	49,600	332,400
Creche day care	5,700	40,000
All child care places	194,300	1,448,600
Children aged under five years old	476,000	2,848,200
Children aged under eight years old	748,200	4,667,100

⁽⁸⁾ Rounded to the nearest 100
⁽⁹⁾ Position as at 30 June 2004
⁽¹⁰⁾ Position at mid-year 2003

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