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Teachers
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provisions exist for the (a) suspension and (b) banning of teachers (i) accused and (ii) convicted of sexual assault. [65404]
Ruth Kelly
[holding answer 24 April 2006]: All LEAs and educational establishments should have procedures for dealing with allegations against staff that aim to strike a balance between the need to protect children from abuse, and the need to protect staff and volunteers from false or unfounded accusations. Any decision to suspend or dismiss a teacher is taken locally, School Staffing (England) Regulations 2003 give both the governing body and the head teacher the power to suspend any person employed or engaged to work at the school. Usually such action is agreed by the governing
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body, though where a decision should not be delayed, the head teacher may use their discretion to remove a teacher by suspending or terminating their employment with immediate effect.
Employers have a statutory duty, under the Education (Restriction of Employment) Regulations 2000, to make a report to my Department when a person is dismissed from employment on the grounds of misconduct or resigns in circumstances which would have led to their dismissal if they had not resigned. With the support of the panel of experts chaired by Sir Roger Singleton Panel it is then the responsibility of the Secretary of State to consider whether to prohibit the person from working with children in the future by placing them on List 99.
Where an individual who states they are employed to teach or work with children is convicted of a sexual assault, the police also report this for consideration. A number of convictions are considered sufficiently serious to warrant an immediate and automatic bar from working with children—'an offence contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (sexual assault)'—is a conviction that would result in an automatic bar from teaching.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment her Department has made of the number of (a) male and (b) female teachers in (i) Southend, (ii) Essex, (iii) Greater London and (iv) England who left the profession as a result of stress in each year since 1997. [64252]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collect centrally.
Research into the factors affecting teachers' decisionsto leave the profession, commissioned by the Department and published in 2003, found that stress was cited as 'of great importance' by around 37 per cent. of primary leavers and around 34 per cent. of secondary leavers in England in calendar year 2002. The full report can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR430.pdf
The Department has looked closely at stress issues and tackling the sources of stress, such as excessive workload, by providing practical guidance and practical support:
Workforce reform—as well as any reduction in overall hours, reducing administration, more support staff, limits on cover and guaranteed planning, preparation and assessment time will have a positive impact.
Encouraging better behaviour and attendance—improving pupil behaviour has a direct impact on reducing teacher stress.
We have also encouraged better management of teacher health matters through improved occupational health guidance for schools and LEAs, and have worked with employers directly in relation to early intervention to avoid ill-health retirements.
We have supported the setting up of the Teacher Support Network's (TSN) telephone helpline since its launch in 1999. In March 2006, the service was expanded to provide online support as well.
We have since November 2003 also supported the TSN's 'well-being' pilot in London schools, which focuses on sustainable improvements in staff well-being and the development of management practices aimed at creating healthy workplaces.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Affordable Dwellings
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average (a) land cost and (b) building cost was for an affordable dwelling in each region in England in the most recent year for which information is available. [63433]
Yvette Cooper: The following table shows the average land cost and works cost in each Government office region in 2003–04 through Social Housing Grant via the Housing Corporation for new build schemes only.
Source:
Housing Corporation
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Includes projects for social rent, intermediate rent and sale through Approved Development Programme and Local Authority Social Housing Grant.
Compulsory Purchase
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many compulsory purchase orders have been made in each year since 1991, broken down by region. [64432]
Yvette Cooper: Data on compulsory purchase orders is not available for the whole of this period. The following table sets out the number of confirmed CPOs submitted by local authorities from 1994 to 2005.
E-enabling
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the level of take-up for individual e-enabled local government services is recorded. [64289]
Mr. Woolas: Data on the level of website usage and take-up of selected e-enabled local government services is collected from individual local authorities in England as part of implementing electronic Government returns. The results from IEG6 statements in April 2006 are currently being analysed. The results from IEG5 statements in December 2005 show that in 2005–06 local authorities accepted 2.7 million online e-payment transactions and 24,000 online planning applications, whilst over 13 million people now visit local authority websites each month.
In addition, research activity commissioned as part of the ODPM take-up campaign due to launch nationally on 8 May 2006 will monitor levels of citizen awareness and take-up of local government e-services.
Homelessness
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many households were classified as homeless in (a) Beverley and Holderness, (b) London and (c) England in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [62362]
Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. The constituency of Beverley and Holderness is contained within the East Riding of Yorkshire district council.
The Government are committed to reducing homelessness and halving the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2010. Its strategy for achieving this is set out in Sustainable Communities: settled homes; changing lives".
The number of households accepted by the district council as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need for each year since 1996,and the number of households in temporary accommodation arranged by the council under homelessness legislation as at 31 December in each year is tabled as follows. Information is also collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are also presented in the table.
The duty owed to a person accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomesavailable. As an alternative to the provision of temporary accommodation some authorities arrange for
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households to remain in their current accommodation (homeless at home), until a settled solution becomes available.
(9)All households eligible under homelessness legislation, found to be unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty.
(10)Households in accommodation either pending a decision on their homelessness application or awaiting allocation of a settled home following acceptance. Excludes those households designated as homeless at home" that have remained in their existing accommodation and have the same rights to suitable alternative accommodation as those in accommodation arranged by the authority.
(11)Number of persons sleeping rough, based on local authority mid-year counts or estimates. Data not collected prior to 1998.
(12)Reflects households accepted and housed under homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act; subsequent years includes cases accepted under the 1996 Housing Act.
(13)Denotes data not available.
Source:
ODPM P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly) and HSSA returns (annual).
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