House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 19 Jan 2006 (pt 39)

19 Jan 2006 : Column 1599W—continued

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Agency Regulation

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to reform the regulation of all agencies that supply (a) teachers and (b) non-teaching staff for schools and colleges. [43741]

Ruth Kelly: We plan to introduce a new mandatory Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check for all newly appointed school employees. This will in effect require agencies to carry out such checks in order to meet the requirements of the employer. We will also consider the case for taking further steps, including introducing a formal requirement on all supply agencies to have a CRB disclosure for all staff who work in schools, FE institutions and local authority education services.

Child Care

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what targets she has set for increasing the number of people working in child care; and what progress has been made towards meeting these targets. [43809]

Beverley Hughes: There are no set targets for increasing the number of people working in child care, but work force growth is needed to support the continuing expansion of the child care sector. Recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of good quality staff to support this expansion is essential and we are helping child care employers to do so. Our 2002/03 Childcare and Early Years Workforce Survey shows that the child care work force overall has grown from 238,500 in 1998 to 279,100 in 2002/03, an increase of 17 per cent.

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Child Protection

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria Ministers have been using to assess teachers' appeals against appearing on List 99; who drew up the criteria; and when they were last revised. [43779]

Ruth Kelly: My statement, and the accompanying report, of earlier today set out clearly the Government's analysis of, and response to, issues concerning child protection and List 99, together with the action we are currently taking.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individuals who have worked with children through employment by an agency have been (a) on List 99 and (b) on the sex offenders' register since the establishment of each. [44470]

Ruth Kelly: My statement and accompanying report explain the work underway to establish how many people on the list of registered sex offenders are currently employed in schools in England and Wales. We are carrying out work with local Multi Agency Protection Panels, which include the police.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether her Department imposes a legal obligation on agencies employing those who work with children to carry out a check on an applicant's previous history of sexual offences before (a) allowing them to join the agency and (b) offering them work. [44471]

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many people on List 99 have limited permission to work (a) with some types of children and (b) in certain types of school; [43773]

(2) if she will publish the guidelines used by the Children's Safeguard Unit in advising her on cases in which she has discretion in relation to List 99. [43769]

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will ensure that, as part of her review on safeguarding children, measures are taken to ensure that nobody will be allowed to be a teacher who (a) has been convicted of and (b) has accepted a caution for downloading child pornography, and has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register. [42958]

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people on the sex offenders' register have (a) been registered as a foster parent and (b) worked as a foster parent in each of the last eight years. [44474]

Ruth Kelly: Details of individual foster carers are not recorded centrally. However, in deciding whether to approve a prospective foster carer, fostering service providers are required under the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 to consider a range of information about that individual. This includes: an enhanced criminal record certificate (or, where this is not available, details of any criminal offences of which the

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person has been convicted, including spent convictions and cautions); particulars of any previous approval or refusal of approval to foster or adopt, or to register for childminding or day care, relating either to that individual or to any other members of the household; and details of any criminal offences in respect of which other adult members of the household have been convicted or cautioned.

The regulations require that in cases where an individual, or any other adult member of the household, has committed a specified offence—including an offence against a child—that individual shall not be considered suitable to act as a foster carer, unless the provider is satisfied that the welfare of a particular child requires it and either: the individual (or a member of the household) is a relative of the child; or the individual is already acting as a foster carer for the child.

Fostering service providers are also required under the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 to maintain a register of their foster carers, including carers' details and the terms of their approval.

Children's Centres

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children's centres have been established in each year for which figures are available; and how many places have been available at each centre. [43795]

Beverley Hughes: Local authorities were asked to start planning the development of children's centres inFebruary 2003 and 67 centres were designated in 2003–04. An additional 163 centres were designated in 2004–05, and we expect a further 600 centres to be designated in 2005–06. Local authorities are still developing plans for children centre delivery for 2006–08, and a breakdown of numbers of centres to be opened in these years is not centrally available. However, by the end of this period we expect 2,500 to be designated.

Children's centres are expected to reach 650,000 children under the age of five by March 2006. Local authorities should ensure that all families are aware of the services that the children's centre can provide for them. All children's centres will deliver integrated childcare and early learning as part of the core offer.

The Government intends to develop 3,500 Sure Start children's centres by 2010. This will mean every community in England will have a children centre coordinating a range of integrated services for pre-school children and their parents.

Children's Trusts

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children's trusts were established in each year for which figures are available; [43940]

(2) how many local authorities have established children's trusts; and if she will make a statement. [43941]

Beverley Hughes: All local authorities, primary care trusts and their partners are setting up a children's trust in their local area—they are on target to meet the Government's expectation that most areas will have a

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children's trust by April 2006, and all by 2008. 35pathfinders and many other local areas have already established their children's trust arrangements, and some 135 local authorities say that their directors of children's services have been or are being appointed.

Criminal Records Bureau

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how the Government decide whether someone is eligible for the Criminal Records Bureau enhanced disclosure checks; and if she will make a statement. [44413]

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is necessary to request a criminal record check from the Criminal Records Bureau before employing a new teacher. [42575]

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