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14 Mar 2006 : Column 2202W—continued
Vaccination/Immunisation
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the last occasion was on which her Department rejected recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. [54824]
Caroline Flint: In 1986, the then Secretary of State asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to reconsider its recommendation on which groups should be offered hepatitis B vaccination. The JCVI reviewed its list and resubmitted a modified list. This was accepted by the Secretary of State.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Aiming High Programme
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the expenditure to date has been on the Aiming High programme; and what assessment she has made of its impact. [53613]
Jacqui Smith: The expenditure on the Aiming High Programme in 2004–05 was £4.8 million and we expect to spend a similar amount in 2005–06.
The first 18 months of Aiming High focused on small scale pilot programmes designed to test new approaches to raising minority ethnic achievement. The findings from these pilots, which have been on the whole very positive, have informed the roll out of larger national programmes. These programmes are at their early stages and it is too early to assess their impact. However, the attainment gap between the average for all pupils in maintained schools and previously under-achieving minority ethnic pupils has narrowed since 2003.
Apprenticeships
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people were on (a) modern apprenticeships and (b) other apprenticeship courses in each local authority area in each of the last 20 years. [46076]
Phil Hope: The information has been placed in the Libraries.
Asbestos (Schools)
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of the practice of inserting drawing pins and staples into asbestos insulating boards in schools; what steps her Department is taking to communicate the potential health risks associated with this practice to schools; if she will update the asbestos guidance for schools (a) to emphasise that this practice should cease immediately and (b) to reflect the conclusions of the WATCH Committee (WATCH/2006/2) once its final report is published; and if she will make a statement. [57253]
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Jacqui Smith: DfES has made no assessment of the practice of inserting drawing pins into asbestos insulating boards but is aware that various assessments were considered by the recent Health and Safety Commission's WATCH Committee. We are waiting for the Watch Committee final report and will be meeting the HSE and other education stakeholders to discuss the issues raised. We will also be considering with the HSE what actions need to be taken in the light of the findings of the Watch Committee. This may include updating HSE and DfES advice concerning asbestos management in schools.
Asylum-seeking Children
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many asylum-seeking children were enrolled in secondary schools in England in (a) 1995, (b) 2000, (c) 2004 and (d) 2005; and if she will make a statement. [57612]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information is not collected centrally.
Child Protection
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made towards implementing the recommendations of the second joint chief inspectors' report on arrangements to safeguard children, published on 10 June 2005. [47122]
Maria Eagle: The second joint chief inspectors' report on arrangements to safeguard children was published on 14 July 2005. The Government published its response to the recommendations contained in the report on 2 March 2006. The response includes an action plan which sets out the actions the Government will take to address the chief inspectors' recommendations and the timescales for this work. The action plan should be incorporated into the forward work programmes of the relevant Government Departments.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent advice she has given to further education colleges on criminal record checks (a) on staff employed at the colleges and (b) in relation to work placements of their students. [54278]
Bill Rammell: 'Safeguarding Children in Education' was issued in September 2004. Two sets of supplementary guidance followed: 'Supplementary DfES Guidance for Work Experience Organisers' was issued in December 2004 and 'Safeguarding Children: Safer Recruitment and Selection in Education Settings' was issued in June 2005. The latter should be read alongside 'Child Protection: Preventing Unsuitable People from Working with Children and Young Persons in the Education Service', which was issued in May 2002. The target audience for this material was Corporations and Principals of Further Education Institutions, as well as Local Education Authorities, Governing Bodies and Headteachers of Schools, and Supply Agencies.
The 'Child Protection' guidance states that:
Teachers, other staff and volunteers whose job involves regularly caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children under 18 should obtain an Enhanced Disclosure [from the Criminal Records Bureau]. This includes applicants for teacher training courses, and trainee teachers."
'People who are selected for appointment to a position in which the normal duties involve regular contact with children under the age of 18 in a further education institution [who does not fall into the categories above] should obtain a Standard Disclosure. This is also the appropriate level of disclosure for a Governor.'
'Students who are required to work with children as a necessary part of a training course, eg student teachers, nursery nurses, etc, will need to be checked when they are accepted onto the course.'
'Agencies should obtain an Enhanced Disclosure in respect of all supply teachers they recruit . . . and should obtain a fresh Enhanced Disclosure every 3 years, or earlier if the teacher has a break in service of 3 months or more, or if there are grounds for concern about the person's suitability to work with children.'
The Supplementary Guidance for Work Experience Organisers gives guidance on the different circumstances in which it would be appropriate to carry out CRB checks of individuals, in organisations where students will be on long-term work experience placements. It makes clear that the responsibility for the CRB checks lies with the LEA, school or FE institution.
Childcare
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made towards (a) introducing an effective light-touch child care approval scheme, (b) increasing the take-up of formal child care by lower income working families by 50 per cent. by 2008 and (c) increasing the amount of Ofsted-registered child care by 10 per cent. by 2008. [58027]
Beverley Hughes: There is a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to contribute to reducing the proportion of children living in households where no one is working, by 2008. Progress on the components that make up this target is as follows:
(a) The Childcare Approval Scheme was successfully introduced on 6 April 2005. By 10 March 2006, 1624 carers had been approved.
(b) The target to increase the take up of formal childcare by lower income working families by 50 per cent. is still provisional as the data against which the baseline for the target is to be set will not be available until the end of March 2006.
(c) The target to increase the stock of Ofsted-registered childcare by 10 per cent. target has been met. Ofsted data in December 2005 reported an increase in the stock of childcare of 12 per cent.
Children In Care
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have been taken into care in each year since 1976; how many forced adoptions have occurred in each year; how many children have been killed by their carers in each year; and what the budget for child protection was in each year. [52664]
Maria Eagle: Information on the number of children who started to be looked after by local authorities since 1976 can be obtained from the Department's website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000615/index.shtml.
Statistics on 'forced adoptions' are not collected as adoptions are not forced Adoption order applications are made to a court, which decides whether it is in the
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interests of the child to make the adoption order. Adoption orders may be contested. Figures on contested adoption orders are collected by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Available data are shown as follows:
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 28 November 2005, Official Report, column 168W, on children that have been killed by their carers.
Decisions on how much is allocated to child protection budgets are made by local authorities. This information is not collected centrally. Data that are reported on children's social services expenditure are available from the Department of Health's website at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Statistics/StatisticalWorkAreas/StatisticaIExpenditure/fs/en.
Source :
DCA Judicial Statistics & Private Law Sampler Forms
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