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Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what budget has been allocated to CAFCASSin each of the last two years; and how many staff have been employed by the Service in each of the last two years. [201862]

Margaret Hodge: The budget for CAFCASS has increased steadily since its formation in April 2001.

CAFCASS's budget allocation in 2002–03 was £84.5 million (on a cash basis and including £4 million unspent from 2001–02). The baseline budget for 2003–04 was £95 million. In addition, £2.5 million was provided to help with the transition from cash to resource accounting.

The total cost for the running of CAFCASS in the financial year 2003–04 was £99 million.

The budget allocation for 2004–05 is £107 million, representing an increase of £12 million over the baseline budget.

The total numbers of staff (full-time and part-time) employed at 1 April 2003 and 1 April 2004 were as follows:
1 April 2003

Number
Full time1,306
Part time578
Total staff1,884

In addition, there were 406 self-employed CAFCASS practitioners on 1 April 2003.
1 April 2004

Number
Full time1,360
Part time558
Total staff1,918

In addition, there were 441 self-employed CAFCASS practitioners on 1 April 2004.

The discrepancy between the total figures given here (1,884 and 1,918) and those quoted in the CAFCASS 2003–04 Annual Report (1,879 and 1,932) is because CAFCASS subsequently undertook a data cleansing exercise of its management information systems and redefined the criteria used for employed staff. Furthermore, CAFCASS had included Board members and agency staff in its historical data.

Children in Care

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether she plans to conduct a review of the effect of her Department's policies upon children in care; and if she will make a statement; [208097]

(2) whether she plans to conduct a review of the effect of her Department's policies upon children in care; and if she will make a statement. [208098]


 
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Margaret Hodge: The Government is committed to improving the level of stability in the lives of looked after children, their educational support, and the outcomes they achieve. We have invested significantly in services for this group and continue to do so. The effect of policies on looked after children is monitored systematically through a variety of routes. We collect and publish a wide range of data from local authorities on an annual basis about services to and outcomes achieved by looked after children. Secondly, the draft proposals for the new joint area reviews of children services established by the Children Act 2004 mean that reports will focus specifically on this vulnerable group of children—both on the way services are working together to meet their needs within an area, and on the results achieved. We are also reviewing the National Minimum Standards used by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) to inspect and register services for children, including those for fostering and adoption agencies and for residential child care, to consider if they could be better focused around outcomes for children.

City Technology Colleges

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many city technology colleges there are; how much the (a) private and (b) state sector contributed to their costs in the last year for which figures are available; and what the total costs per student were in (i) City Technology Colleges and (ii) other state schools in that year. [208016]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: There are 14 City Technology Colleges (CTCs) one of which is a City College for the Technology of the Arts. The CTCs have reported that they have received over £1.2 million from private sector sponsorship in cash or kind during the 2003/04 academic year. During the same period the Department has provided £76.6 million to CTCs by way of recurrent grants and £2.2 million for approved capital projects. The CTC Unit of Funding for pupils under school leaving age in the 2003–2004 academic year was £3,717. This was uplifted by 30 per cent. for post 16 pupils.

There is no equivalent per-pupil funding figure either directly to other state schools from LEAs or to LEAs, since in both cases the funding covers different responsibilities. The CTC unit of funding includes elements of funding for tasks/services that an LEA would normally provide for its schools but a CTC has to provide for itself. It excludes any area cost weighting which might also be received by a particular school.

The funding for to LEAs in England via Education Formula Spending and Revenue Grants was £4,290 per pupil aged 11–15 in the academic year 2003/04 (based on financial year figures from 2003–04 and 2004–05). This is a wider definition than the CTC unit of funding since it includes funding for all an LEAs responsibilities in relation to children aged 11–15, and the area cost adjustment.

Departmental Equipment

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many items of electrical equipment were used by her Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item. [205729]


 
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Mr. Stephen Twigg: This information could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by her Department on (a) new furniture and (b) hired furniture in each year since 1997. [205609]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The cost of furniture spent in my Department in each year since 1997 is as follows:
£
1997–982,189,057
1998–99677,873
1999–2000967,415
2000–012,201,357
2001–022,640,728
2002–031,167,656
2003–042,185,628

Unfortunately the information cannot be split between new furniture and hired furniture.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost of refurbishments in her Department was in each year since 1997; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005–06. [205670]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The cost of refurbishments carried out in my Department in each year since 1997 is as follows:
£
1997–98(26)—;
1998–992,970,093
1999–20003,928,406
2000–014,604,749
2001–023,683,494
2002–035,290,833
2003–043,384,202


(26) his information can only be provided at disproportionate costs.


The estimated outturn for 2004–05 is £1,500,000 and the planned expenditure for 2005–06 is not known at this present time.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by her Department on lighting in each year since 1997. [205874]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: This information could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many departmental mobile telephones were used by Ministers, special advisers and officials in his Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997; at what cost; how many such telephones were lost or stolen in each year since 1997; and what the replacement costs were in each case. [202175]

Derek Twigg [holding answer 6 December 2004]: The total number of mobile phones in use at December 2004 was 1,140. Information on the number of mobiles in
 
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use in any given year, as opposed to the number purchased in each year, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The information on use of mobile phones by Ministers, special advisers and officials on a year by year basis could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The replacement cost of mobile phones lost and stolen has been calculated at current prices and the total cost of mobile services is given for each year.
£

Lost/stolenReplacement costTotal cost
1997–981204.45170,045.78
1998–9900168,298.72
1999–20001204.45218,889.09
2000–013613.35329,196.99
2001–023613.35374,248.87
2002–034817.80353,955.78
2003–0491840.05270,547.63
2004–0571431.15


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