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Children Bill
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how proposals in the Children Bill [Lords] on information exchange and proposed new systems developed by local authorities will deal with children who enter and leave the jurisdiction of England from or to other parts of the UK; and what discussions his officials have had with officials from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland on this matter. [192915]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 25 October 2004]: Clause 12 of the Children Bill, now before Parliament, sets out proposals for databases, to be established at local, regional or national level or a combination thereof, containing information about all children in England. The databases are a tool to facilitate early intervention and help ensure effective action to meet the needs of children before a crisis develops. Practitioners working with children will be able to see who else is working with a child and if a concern about a child has been recorded. This will prompt them to get in touch with other practitioners and, together, gain a better, all-round picture of the child's needs and how they might best be met.
Our intention is that children entering England from other parts of the UK will be included on the databases following their first contact with the health or education service or another children's service. Although the databases will not contain detailed case data, they will include basic identifying data and contact details of professionals who are or have recently been working with a child, and an indicator if a professional has a concern about that child and therefore wishes to be contacted by others. We recognise the desirability of having effective mechanisms for transfer of such data between the databases in England and any appropriate systems in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Clause 29 of the Children Bill contains provisions for Wales which parallel those for England. My officials will work closely with the Welsh Assembly as databases are implemented in both countries to ensure data can be transferred.
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Although Scotland does not yet have parallel provisions in legislation, a number of information-sharing pilots in Scottish local authority areas are under way and officials from the Scottish Executive are keeping in close touch with my officials as the proposals are developed.
My officials are also in contact with officials in the Department for Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland to improve mutual understanding of the position in respective countries and will continue to develop these links as the DHSSPS develops its Strategy for Children in Need for children's services.
Children's Commissioner
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role children and young people will have in the selection of a Children's Commissioner for England. [194132]
Margaret Hodge: I confirm that the Government intend to involve children and young people in the selection of the Children's Commissioner. A Government amendment to the Children Bill was tabled on 26 October 2004, which would require the Secretary of State, to the extent and in such manner as he saw fit, to involve children in the appointment of the Children's Commissioner.
Contact Centres
Mrs May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 25 October 2004, Official Report, column 977W, on contact centres, how much funding was announced in March for establishing supervised contact centres; if he will list the 14 new centres; and what the cost of each is expected to be. [194886]
Margaret Hodge: Funding has been made available to establish 14 new supervised contact centres. This funding was announced in March 2004, just before the start of the current financial year. £2.5 million of the total £3.5 million DfES/Sure Start joint investment fund is designated to support the operation of these new services in the period up until March 2006. The 14 supervised centres and the amounts allocated to each are as follows:
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Education Maintenance Allowances
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many and what percentage of young people starting post-16 education in 2004 have been awarded education maintenance allowances in (a) Kirklees and (b) England; [194068]
(2) how many students have been awarded education maintenance allowance in (a) Kirklees and (b) England in 2004; and how much each was awarded. [194069]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: By the end of September 1,292 young people from the Kirklees local authority area had received an EMA Notice of Entitlement, of which 987 had enrolled for EMA at a school or college and 899 had received an EMA payment. The percentage of 16-year-olds awarded EMA in Kirklees as a proportion of the total estimated number in full time education is 24 per cent.—987 enrolled on EMA compared to an estimated 4,120 16-year-olds in full-time education. These figures continue to improve as those who applied late have had their applications assessed and are enrolled for payment.
Nationally, it is estimated that just over half (50.5 per cent.) of 16-year-olds in full-time education will be eligible for EMA. By the end of September 150,000 16-year-olds had received an EMA Notice of Entitlement, 113,000 had enrolled for EMA with their school or college, and 103,600 had received an EMA payment. The numbers enrolled for EMA at the end of September represents about 22 per cent. of the estimated 16-year-old population in full-time education (506,310). The percentage of those on EMA receiving the full £30 award is 78 per cent., with 10 per cent. receiving the £20 rate and 12 per cent. the £10 rate.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance is provided to procuring authorities within the education system about the treatment of PFI arrangements in the accounts of public bodies. [193890]
Mr. Miliband: For schools PFI projects, the appropriate guidance is the Treasury Taskforce Technical Note 1: How to Account for PFI Transactions.
Social Inclusion
Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to improve social inclusion for children and young people with complex health needs. [193338]
Margaret Hodge:
The children's national service framework sets standards for children's health services and social services, and how these services should interface with education. The NSF addresses the particular needs of children who are often at risk of achieving poor outcomes and devotes an entire standard to services for disabled children and children and with complex health needs.
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The children's national service framework addresses the needs of the 'whole child' and recognises that services must promote social inclusion for all children to enable them to participate in childhood, family and community activities. Children with complex health needs and their families are also expected to receive the information that enables them to make decisions about how their services are designed and delivered. From September 2005 and over the following three years, joint area reviews of children's services between Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and other inspectorates, will assess the extent to which NHS and local authorities are able to demonstrate that their services are improving and promoting inclusion.
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Teachers' Pay (Lincolnshire)
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average full-time equivalent gross pay of teachers in the state sector in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) North Lincolnshire was (i) across all grades and (ii) at each grade in each year since 1997. [194183]
Mr. Miliband: The following table gives the gross average salary, across all grades and for each grade, of full-time regular qualified teachers in the maintained schools sector in North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire local education authorities in each year from 1997. The latest information available is for 2003.
(9) There were no assistant heads prior to 2001.
Source:
Database of Teachers' Records
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