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15 Nov 2004 : Column 968W—continued
Sports Participation
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of people in England who participated in sport in each of the past 10 years. [197458]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 11 November 2004]: Year-on-year figures for the number of people who participated in sport in England in the past 10 years are not available.
Figures taken from the General Household Survey (CHS) for 2002 show that 43 per cent. of adults participated in at least one activity, excluding walking in
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the four weeks before interview compared to 46 per cent. in 1996. The figure, including walking, was 58 per cent. in 2002 and 64 per cent. in 1996. The apparent drop in participation may, in part, have resulted from a change in the wording of the question in relation to walking between the 1996 and 2002 surveys. Although in both surveys walks of two miles or more were asked about, the 2002 survey only asked for 'recreational walks.'
Figures taken from Sport England's Young People and Sport in England Survey (2002) shows that 86 per cent. of young people between the ages of 6 and 16 participated in at least one sport at least 10 times outside of school lessons in a year, compared with 87 per cent. in 1994.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Directors of Children's Services
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the responsibilities are of Directors of Children's services. [195490]
Margaret Hodge: Directors of Children's Services will be crucial to creating the clear line of accountability for services for children called for by Lord Laming, and will lead transformational change in the delivery of these services at the local level. The Director's responsibilities are set out in clause 18 of the Children Bill. These are: the local authority's education and social services functions for children, functions in relation to young persons leaving care, any functions relating to children delegated to the local authority by an NHS body under section 31 of the Health Act 1999, and some new functions conferred on authorities under the Bill, for example preparing a Children and Young People's Plan, and making arrangements to promote co-operation among local agencies to improve children's well-being. Formal consultation on statutory guidance on the role and responsibilities of the Director will begin shortly.
Admission Procedures
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is on the use of pre-11-plus tests by the parents' associations of wholly selective state secondary schools; how many such parents' associations have held such tests following the introduction of co-ordinated admissions procedures for secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [195109]
Mr. Miliband: It is for individual parents to decide what assessments they wish to make of their child's ability in order to inform later decisions on school choice and suitability for entry into the 11-plus. We do not have data on the number of parents' associations initiating such tests. However, pre-11-plus tests are not a requirement of coordinated admission schemes.
CAFCASS
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether (a) business managers, (b) regional managers and (c) frontline staff in the
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Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service were awarded extra payments for duties during 2003–04. [194215]
Margaret Hodge: Regional managers, business managers and frontline staff were given additional payments during 2003–04.
These additional payments are termed 'Additional Responsibility Payments'.
Payments were made for two main reasons:
2. To staff who undertook additional responsibilities: temporary promotion or providing cover for short/long term vacant posts.
Additional responsibility payments continue to be paid to staff who have taken on higher grade or additional responsibilities.
A total number of 35 CAFCASS staff members were awarded Additional Responsibility Payments during the period 1April 2003 to 31March 2004. The total sum paid by CAFCASS is £27,480.
CAFCASS is currently integrating terms and conditions for all staff transferred from the 117 predecessor organisations. During 2003–04, CAFCASS completed the harmonisation of frontline, administrative and first tier management staff.
All other posts, including Business Managers and Regional Managers who were employed on a fixed salary (not related to a pay scale) in 2001 were made an extra payment, pending the outcome of harmonisation.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of separation and divorce cases involving children aged under 16 years were resolved without a court hearing during (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [194216]
Margaret Hodge: Statistics are not available to show the percentage of separation and divorce cases involving children aged under 16 years that were resolved without a court hearing during (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.
The Office for National Statistics publication, Population Trends, shows that the numbers of divorcing couples with children under 16 were 79,277 in 2001; 80,997 in 2002 and 83,809 in 2003. However, there is no corresponding data for cohabiting couples who separate, nor is there any information about the ending of relationships of unmarried parents who are not cohabiting.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the level of staff sickness in the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service during 2003–04. [194217]
Margaret Hodge:
I understand from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service that the level of staff sickness absence for 2003–04 is estimated to be 3.6 per cent. CAFCASS is undertaking a review of the sickness levels to establish a more accurate figure for 2004–05.
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Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) public and (b) private cases had been unallocated in each of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service regions as at 31 August. [194223]
Margaret Hodge: CAFCASS' foremost priority is to reduce further the number of unallocated cases, and the service is currently developing a strategy across England and Wales to do so. The information requested for the Regions and Wales is as follows:
Public Law unallocated at 31 August 2004:
The number of public law live (allocated and on-going) cases at the end of August 2004 was 11,136.
Private Law unallocated less than 10 weeks before filing date at 31 August 2004:
The number of private law live (allocated and on-going) cases at the end of August 2004 was 6,952.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the period of delay was in allocating public law cases in the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service in each of the last three financial years. [197072]
Margaret Hodge: CAFCASS does not collect information in the form requested. CAFCASS was set six key objectives when it was established in 2001. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were subsequently devised to measure CAFCASS' performance against these objectives.
For 2002–03 and 2003–04, the public law allocations KPI was as follows:
In 2002–2003, 69 per cent. of cases were allocated within seven days, and in 2003–04, 65.5 per cent. of cases were allocated within seven days.
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For 2004–05, the CAFCASS objectives and KPIs were revised, as follows:
By March 2005, 70 per cent. of allocations during the month for section 31 (care and supervision) cases should be within two days from receipt of request.
For the first six months of 2004–05, the average achievement was 52.7 per cent.
At least 98 per cent. of all public law allocations each month for all case types should be within 28 days from receipt of request.
For the first six months of 2004–05, the average achievement was 92.3 per cent.
For the first six months of 2004–05, the average achievement was 2.3 per cent.
CAFCASS has made progress in reducing the backlog of public law cases. In July 2003 there were 718 unallocated cases (5.7 per cent. of the workload); in September 2004 there were 281 unallocated cases (2.3 per cent. of the workload). A new board was appointed in April 2004 and a new chief executive was appointed on 1 September. CAFCASS has been given an additional £12 million this year and we expect to see improvements in performance.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service is making in preparing guidelines on contact; and when they will be published. [197073]
Margaret Hodge: A draft version of CAFCASS' guidelines, entitled "Contact Principles, Practice Guidelines and Procedure", was issued on 16 August 2004 for public consultation. This consultation period ends on 22 November 2004. CAFCASS will then consider the responses to the draft document and it expects to publish a final version in the first half of 2005.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many weeks it was taking to complete private law cases in each CAFCASS region on 31 July (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [197135]
Margaret Hodge: Prior to 2004/05 CAFCASS did not collect data about the time taken to complete particular cases. However, there is now an expectation that private law reports are completed within 10–12 weeks of the request date to CAFCASS. In general CAFCASS teams that are unable to meet this requirement make arrangements with their courts to extend the timetable for preparing reports in specific cases.
At regional level and for Wales the times taken to complete reports, for the period 1 April to 31 June 2004, were as follows:
East Midlands—four teams met the 10–12 week standard and one team met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable;
Eastern—three teams met the 10–12 week standard and two teams met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable;
Greater London—four teams met the 10–12 week standard, one team met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable, one team met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable, one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable;
North East—one team met the 10–12 week standard, two teams met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable and one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable;
North West—two teams met the 10–12 week standard, four teams met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable, four teams met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable and one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable;
South East—five teams met the 10–12 week standard, one team met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable and six teams met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable;
South West—two teams met the 10–12 week standard, three teams met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable, one team met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable, two teams met the agreed extended over 17 weeks timetable;
West Midlands—three teams met the 10–12 week standard, two teams met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable and three teams met the extended 15–16 weeks timetable;
Yorkshire and Humberside—10 teams met the 10–12 week standard and two teams met the extended 13–14 weeks timetable;
On a case-by-case basis timescales may be extended by the courts where the needs of the case require it. This approach would apply across all regions and is not related to resource issues.
CAFCASS has been given an additional £12 million this year to improve performance. A new Board was appointed in April 2004 and a new Chief Executive was appointed on 1 September. They are committed to driving forward improvements in the Service.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total costs for the running of CAFCASS were in each financial year for which figures are available since 2000. [197137]
Margaret Hodge: The total costs for the running of CAFCASS in each financial year for which figures are available since 2000 are as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 81 |
| 2002–03 | 89 |
| 2003–04 | 99 |
We have increased CAFCASS's budget to £107 million for the financial year 2004–05.
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