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23 Jan 2006 : Column 1934W—continued
Speech Therapy
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on speech therapy services for children in (a) West Yorkshire, (b) Wakefield District and (c) Normanton constituency; and whether she has plans to increase the allocated resources. [41097]
Mr. Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for commissioning services, including speech therapy services for children, to meet the health needs of their local population. In the current financial year, PCTs in West Yorkshire received resource revenue allocations totalling £2.3 billion, with the two PCTs covering Wakefield receiving a total of £364.8 million. By 2007–08 the total resource allocation to PCTs in West Yorkshire will have increased to £3.0 billion, with the two Wakefield PCTs receiving £489.2 million.
State Schools
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils of (a) primary school and (b) secondary school age in the Bristol local education authority area are educated within the state school system. [42977]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information is given in the following table.
n/a = not applicable, no schools of this type.
(98) Age as at 31 August 2004.
(99) Excludes dually registered pupils.
(100) Includes pupils with other providers.
Source:
Annual Schools Census
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1935W
Sure Start
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) which (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) public sector organisations delivered services in Mini Sure Start programmes in each year for which information is available; [43835]
(2) in which constituencies Mini Sure Start programmes are located; [43837]
(3) how many (a) children and (b) adults participated in Mini Sure Start programmes in each year for which figures are available; [43838]
(4) how many Mini Sure Start programmes were established in each year for which figures are available; [43839]
(5) what target she has set for expanding the number of Mini Sure Start programmes; and what progress has been made in meeting this target. [43840]
Beverley Hughes: 50 Mini Sure Start programmes were approved in 2002, four of these subsequently became Sure Start Local Programmes. There are no plans to develop further Mini Sure Start programmes. We expect all of the 46 remaining mini programmes to develop into children's centres and to contribute to our target of 3,500 children's centres across the country by 2010. The Department does not keep data on which private, voluntary and public sector organisations have delivered Mini Sure Start programmes or how many children and adults have participated in the programmes. However, each programme typically covers between 150 and 170 children under 4 in their catchment areas. We are unable to provide the information requested by constituency, but the following table provides a breakdown by local authority.
(101) The mini programmes in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk have combined to form one mini programme—The Fen Border collaboration.
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1936W
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people work in the (a) Sure Start regional teams and (b) Sure Start Task Force. [43946]
Beverley Hughes: There are 104 full-time equivalent staff in the Sure Start and Children's Fund regional teams. Their role is to oversee and support the delivery of Sure Start and the Children's Fund by local authorities.
There are currently 11 consultants in the Sure Start taskforce. They support particular local authorities with particular issues related to the delivery of Sure Start. They are engaged for a specific number of days a year and their contracts come to an end in March.
Teaching Literacy
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will ensure the National Framework for Teaching Literacy takes into account the report and recommendations of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Reading commissioned by the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. [42327]
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1937W
Jacqui Smith:
As part of the evidence for his independent review of early reading, Jim Rose is considering the findings of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training. Along with other relevant source material, he will take the Inquiry's recommendations into account when he prepares his final report, and this will, in turn, feed into the Primary National Strategy's revision of the Framework for teaching literacy.
23 Jan 2006 : Column 1938W
Truancy
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the truancy levels were in schools in (a) the Ruislip-Northwood constituency, (b) the London borough of Hillingdon, (c) Greater London and (d) England in each year since 1995. [40717]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested on unauthorised 1 absence is shown as follows:
(102) Unauthorised absence includes other forms of absence such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy. Truancy forms only one part of the unauthorised figures.
(103) Regional and National figures from 2001/02 onwards are published to 2 decimal places.
(104) 2004/05 figures are provisional.