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31 Oct 2005 : Column 803W—continued
CAFCASS
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many staff have been employed by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service in each year since its foundation. [18744]
Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). Anthony Douglas, the CAFCASS chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of current (a) public and (b) private cases remained unallocated to Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service officers for 10 weeks or longer. [18746]
Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). Anthony Douglas, the CAFCASS chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.
Child Abuse
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much public funding has been allocated to public education campaigns to prevent child abuse in each year since 1997; [22160]
(2) what plans she has for public education campaigns to prevent child abuse; [22161]
(3) what studies have been commissioned by her Department to assess the effectiveness of public education campaigns to prevent child abuse since 1997. [22162]
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Maria Eagle: The Department for Education and Skills has not engaged in any public education campaigns since taking responsibility for children's safeguards and welfare in 2003. We have no current plans to run any such campaigns. Our principal role is in increasing awareness of child abuse among people who work with children. We work closely on this with the NSPCC, ChildLine and a wide range of other voluntary organisations.
The Government's guidance documents Working Together to Safeguard Children (1999), What to do if you you're worried a child is being abused", and most recently Statutory guidance on making arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children under section 11 of the Children Act 2004" set out the roles and responsibilities of practitioners who work with children, and of a wide range of organisations, to promote children's welfare and safeguard them from harm. The Government plan to publish an updated version of Working Together" later this year.
The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme" aims to put in place a national framework to support the joining up of services so that every child can achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes. As part of this, Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) will be established from April 2006 with the objective of co-ordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of key local agencies in their work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Government are proposing in draft regulations and guidance that LSCBs should have a function of communicating the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area and raising awareness of how this can best be done.
Funding support for voluntary organisations has been provided under the Safeguarding Children and Supporting Families grant scheme and from April 2006, this will be available from its successor programme, the Children, Young People and Families Grant Programme. This new funding programme will support the Every Child Matters outcomes for children.
The Government have not commissioned any studies to assess the effectiveness of public education campaigns.
Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will fund public awareness campaigns aimed at ensuring that all adults are informed about what to do if they are concerned that a child is at risk of abuse or neglect. [22626]
Maria Eagle: The Department for Education and Skills has no current plans to run any public information campaigns. Our principal role is in increasing awareness of child abuse among people who work with children. We work closely on this with the NSPCC, ChildLine and a wide range of other voluntary organisations.
The Government's guidance documents Working Together to Safeguard Children (1999), What to do if you you're worried a child is being abused", and most recently Statutory guidance on making arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children under section 11 of the Children Act 2004" set out the roles and responsibilities of practitioners who work with children, and of a wide range of organisations, to promote
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children's welfare and safeguard them from harm. The Government plan to publish an updated version of Working Together" later this year.
Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) will be established from April 2006 with the objective of co-ordinating and ensuring the effectiveness of key local agencies in their work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Government are proposing in draft regulations and guidance that LSCBs should have a function of communicating the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area and raising awareness of how this can best be done.
Funding support for voluntary organisations has been provided under the Safeguarding Children and Supporting Families grant scheme and from April 2006, this will be available from its successor programme, the Children, Young People and Families Grant Programme. This new funding programme will support the Every Child Matters outcomes for children.
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Child Care
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding has been spent on under-three years (a) education and (b) child care in each of the last 20 years in real terms. [20320]
Beverley Hughes: We are unable to provide figures for years before 1993/94 other than at disproportionate cost. We are also unable to disaggregate spending for children aged under three years old from spending on early years and child care more generally.
The Government have invested over £17 billion on early years and child care services in England since 1997 (including Under 5s Sub Block funding to local authorities which includes support for free early education for 3 and 4-year-olds), as part of an unprecedented expansion of provision for young children and families. Details of Department for Education and Skills (and, for previous years, the Department for Education and Employment) funding on early years and child care since 1993/94 are as shown in the following table:
(24) £527 million for nursery vouchers was transferred into central Government spending in 1997–98 and returned to local government from 1998–99.
(25) From 2003–04 Nursery education was included in the Standard Spending Assessment, and paid through the Under 5s Sub Block (see far right column)
(26) Extended Schools Funding from the Sure Start ringfenced budgets included in child care to 2004–05, separated in funding plans.
Children's Service Directors
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list local authorities which have not yet appointed a director of children's services. [18992]
Maria Eagle: The Children Act 2004 requires all top tier or unitary local authorities to appoint a Director of Children's Services (DCS).
It is expected that most authorities will have appointed a DCS by 2006 and all by 2008 . So far 126 authorities have reported that they have appointed a DCS, of whom some 20 are designate or interim.
To the best of our knowledge the following authorities have yet to appoint a DCS:
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