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13 Feb 2006 : Column 1570W—continued
School Meals
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the amount of Brazilian beef procured for school meals during the last year for which figures are available. [47471]
Maria Eagle: The Department does not collect this information.
School Nursing
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much funding was allocated to school nursing in each of the past 10 years; [24428]
(2) what action she is taking to ensure school nurses have sufficient (a) time and (b) resources to provide a full range of services for children. [24430]
Mr. Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
Historically, allocations for school nurses were not determined centrally and until the September national health service work force census, the school nurse establishment was not identified separately from other services for children. The 2004 census showed there were 2,409 (91,619 full-time equivalent) qualified nurses working in the school nursing service.
The Choosing Health White Paper made a commitment to provide new funding for school nursing so that by 2010, every primary care trust (PCT) working with children's trusts and local authorities, will be resourced to have at least one full-time qualified school nurse working with each cluster of primary schools and its related secondary school. Roll out will start from 2006–07 in the 20 per cent. of PCTs with the worst health deprivation indicators (spearhead PCTs). There are 3,122 secondary schools.
The identified funding for school nurses is £20 million in the 2006–07 allocation, and £42 million in 2007–08. The majority of the funding is prioritised for spearhead PCTs in 2006–07, with the allocation for 2007–08 shared among all PCTs.
Our aim is to ensure there is sufficient work force capacity to provide high quality health services in schools. There is scope to reinforce the school nurse role by drawing in other workers and the chief nursing officer has been leading work to modernise the school nurse's role. In the new year, we will be publishing updated material entitled, 'School Nurse Development Pack', which will outline the principles of a modern role and will enable school nurses to expand their knowledge, skills and competencies to further develop their child-centred public health role.
School Staff (Child Protection)
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) teachers and (b) other school staff have been cautioned for having indecent pictures of children on their computers in each of the last five years. [48541]
Jacqui Smith
[holding answer 7 February 2006]: The information is not available in this form.
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Schools
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of additional (a) secondary and (b) primary schools that will be required in Aylesbury Vale to meet planned expansion of housing. [43305]
Jacqui Smith: The Government have announced, in the run-up to the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007, and in response to Kate Barker's review of Housing Supply, a cross-cutting review into supporting housing growth to effectively co-ordinate across departments the strategic delivery of local and regional infrastructure necessary to support additional housing.
DfES rely on local authorities for planning additional schools in their area. This is because local authorities are in the best position to asses, in the light of existing schools1 provision, whether additional (a) secondary and (b) primary schools are required in areas of planned expansion of housing.
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the level of debt carried by schools in Cambridgeshire. [50713]
Jacqui Smith: Based on latest section 52 outturn statements received from local education authorities for the financial year 2004–05, 21 schools in Cambridgeshire had deficit balances totalling £2.7 million; 227 schools had credit balances totalling £17.1 million; and two schools had zero balances. It is for the local authority to distribute funding to its schools using its locally agreed funding formula, and it is for schools governing bodies to decide how to spend their available resources.
While schools are responsible for their own financial management, where a school is in deficit, it has to agree a three year recovery plan with the local authority to eliminate it. New school funding arrangements starting this year to replace annual budgets with multi-year ones will also help these schools better plan and manage their finances.
Services Education
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will revise the Pupil Level Annual Census to include children of servicemen and women; and if she will make a statement. [47377]
Jacqui Smith: Data on all pupils in maintained schools and non-maintained special schools in England is collected via the school census. This includes data on the children of servicemen and women attending schools in England. Although there is no mandatory requirement for service education schools located abroad to provide this information, they do provide individual pupil data in line with the school census on a voluntary basis. Currently however there is no provision to separately identify details on the children of servicemen and women within the school census.
Sex and Relationships Education
Dr. Kumar:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many schools in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East
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Cleveland have been rated (i) unsatisfactory, (ii) poor and (iii) very poor by Ofsted in sex and relationships education; [45113]
(2) how many schools in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland were without a sex and relationships education policy on their last visit by Ofsted inspectors. [45114]
Jacqui Smith: These are matters for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Maurice Smith, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Maurice Smith, dated 24 January 2006:
Your recent parliamentary questions have been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
In PQ 45113 you asked how many schools in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland have been rated (i) unsatisfactory, (ii) poor and (iii) very poor by Ofsted in sex and relationships education. Ofsted inspectors do not make this type of judgement thus we are unable to provide any further details.
In PQ 45114 you asked how many schools in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland were without a sex and relationships education policy on their last visit by Ofsted inspectors.
Inspectors have never specifically reported about the lack of policy on sex and relationship education. However, between January 2000 and July 2005 they were asked if there was evidence of non-compliance with policies relating to sex and relationship education. The table overleaf shows the responses recorded for schools in England, the Tees Valley and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.
(20) In the period 2000/2003 inspectors were asked about non-compliance in sex education; from 2003 to 2005 the judgement related to non-compliance in sex and relationship education.
A copy of this response has been sent to Jacqui Smith and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many referrals have been made to the Protection of Children Act list since it was established; and how many referrals have resulted in a name being added to the list. [45512]
Ruth Kelly: 1,141 referrals have been made to the Protection of Children of Children Act List since it was established and 451 names have been added to the list.
Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many persons in the employment of (a) her Department and (b) its agencies have convictions or cautions for sex offences; and how many of those have responsibility for policy or
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implementation of policy in relation to (a) sex offences, (b) List 99, (c) teacher recruitment and (d) related areas. [45823]
Ruth Kelly [holding answer 26 January 2006]: We are not aware of anyone working for DfES who is, or has been on the Sex Offenders Register.
The Department undertakes 'Character Enquiry' checks prior to any unconditional offers of employment being made as part of its recruitment procedures. The procedure requires potential recruits to complete a stencil detailing any current or previous criminal convictions. Any declared convictions are followed up by obtaining details directly from the relevant courts. Decisions on whether the information would prevent the Department from offering the individual an appointment are taken as appropriate at this stage.
Additionally, procedures are in place for serving staff to report any convictions received since their employment with the Department commenced. If the position requires working in direct contact with children or vulnerable adults, Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks are carried out prior to any unconditional offers of employment being made. The information is available to staff and managers via the Department's Intranet. Personal criminal convictions, are potentially disciplinary issues, as is the failure to declare a conviction.
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