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10 May 2006 : Column 255W—continued
Missing Children
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps his Department has taken in relation to the recommendations of the social exclusion unit's report on runaway children; [67605]
(2) if he will publish his Department's strategy for safeguarding runaway and missing children; [67607]
(3) what steps he is taking to safeguard the health of runaway and missing children. [68402]
Mr. Dhanda: The key recommendations in the social exclusion unit's (SEU) report on ‘Young Runaways' were that young people at risk of running away should know who they could talk to about their problems, that local services needed to work closer together to make sure young people got help, and that a safety net of community-based emergency accommodation was needed for those who did run away.
The findings of the SEU report, which was published in 2002, influenced the wider Government strategy on children's services, which was set out in the Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’ (2003). It is through the ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children' programme currently being taken forward by local authorities, and including the reforms set out in the Green Paper ‘Youth Matters’, that the Government are promoting measures that respond to the SEU report.
‘Change for Children' aims to help local services respond to the full range of children's needs—including their health, their safety and their economic well-being. It is particularly concerned with improving targeted support for those children most at risk of negative outcomes, such as those associated with running away or going missing from home. The programme, drawing on the Children Act 2004 reforms, is enabling local areas to improve integrated working arrangements by establishing multi-disciplinary teams, while adopting a lead professional model—someone who is a single point of contact for a young person who can co-ordinate a package of support when multiple needs are present requiring help from various sources. Improved integrated working at a local level is being accompanied by enhanced information sharing between services, leading to earlier
identification of children's needs. This in turn allows young people to be referred to the right source of support, at the right time. New joint inspection arrangements will judge the effectiveness and co-ordination of such local provision.
We have also run six projects to test out how best to provide safe, flexible and responsive community-based services that can be easily incorporated into mainstream children's services. We will disseminate the lessons learnt from these to local authorities later this year.
Skills For Life
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many employees in his Department have attended Skills for Life courses; and how many have been assessed as requiring such courses. [68636]
Mr. Dhanda: Over the last 12 months, 14 members of staff in the Department have been assessed as requiring a Skills for Life course and all have attended one through the Department's learning and development unit. In addition, there will be individuals who have undertaken basic skills development through other routes, or who took part in departmental activities organised locally that incorporate elements of basic skills for which records are not held centrally.
Young Carers
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of young carers undertaking supervised study in excess of 21 hours each week. [69391]
Mr. Dhanda: This information is not collected centrally.
Trade and Industry
Account Filing
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies were fined by Companies House in the last 10 years for late filing of accounts. [68714]
Margaret Hodge: The number of penalties issued to companies by Companies House in the last 10 years is as follows:
| Number | |
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much revenue Companies House received in the last 10 years through fines for late filing of company accounts; and if he will make a statement. [68715]
Margaret Hodge: Companies House does not receive any revenue through fines for late filing of company accounts as it is all paid into the consolidated fund to the Treasury.
However, over the last 10 years the value of penalties issued by Companies House was as follows:
| £ million | |
As a result of appeals, company dissolutions, etc. not all the penalties issued by Companies House are paid. Over the last 10 years they have therefore remitted to the Treasury the following amounts:
| £ million | |
British Nuclear Group
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received on plans to privatise the British Nuclear Group. [69332]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department has had a number of parliamentary questions and some Members have forwarded letters from constituents asking for an explanation of the rationale behind the sale. The unions have also expressed their views and officials have discussed the sale with these and other stakeholders. A number of potential bidders have approached the Department to express interest in the business and some have sought clarification of how the sale will be operated.
British Summer Time
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many representations he has received on adopting British summer time throughout the year in the last 12 months; and how many (a) supported and (b) opposed such a change. [68584]
Jim Fitzpatrick: In the past 12 months, the Department has received 77 representations on the question of adopting British summer time throughout the year.
These representations reflect the strong divergence of opinion on this issue, which suggests that the present situation is a satisfactory compromise between those who prefer lighter mornings and those who prefer lighter evenings.
Company Law Reform Bill
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list organisations from which his Department has received representations on the Company Law Reform Bill since November 2005; and whether each representation was made (a) in a meeting, (b) in writing and (c) through another method in each case. [68087]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 3 May 2006]: There has been extensive discussion and consultation on issues on the Company Law Reform Bill over some seven years during the work of the Company Law Review, the publication of the White Paper and the subsequent consultation on particular clauses in the Bill. A formal consultation, which concerned narrative reporting, closed on 24 March 2006. In a written reply to parliamentary question No. 67492 the Government's decisions in the light of the consultation were set out. A list of the organisations who made representations is available on the DTI website (www.dti.gov.uk).
We have continued to liaise closely on the detail of the Bill with professional and other expert groups. Ministers and officials have received numerous representations in writing and engaged in meetings on various aspects of the Bill, from a wide range of interested parties. It would be disproportionately costly to list these representations in detail.
Electricity Generation
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been given by (a) his Department and (b) the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council to the development of (i) molten salt reactors, (ii) very-high-temperature reactors, (iii) supercritical-water-cooled reactors, (iv) gas-cooled fast reactors and (v) sodium-cooled fast reactors to generate electricity in each year since 1997. [69374]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 8 May 2006]: The Department has provided no funding to these technologies since 1997.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council:
The EPSRC invests in basic, strategic and applied research in energy generation, transmission and utilisation. The Council's total expenditure on nuclear fission research in financial years 1997-98 to 2005-06 is given in the following table:
| Financial Year | Expenditure (£) |
The recently announced £6.1 million "Keeping the Nuclear Option Open" research consortium, led by Imperial College London, will be undertaking research to both underpin and specifically address the Generation IV research agenda. In part as a result of this recent major investment, EPSRC's expenditure on nuclear power research in 2006-07 is projected to rise to in excess of £1.7 million.
EPSRC is unable to identify from its records specific investment in a number of the various Generation IV technologies. EPSRC has recently funded a research project at the University of Manchester on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors—expenditure on this grant, which is included in the total figures stated above, was £13,505 in 2005-06 and is projected to be £14,849 in 2006-07.
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been given by (a) his Department and (b) the Physical Sciences Research Council to the development of (i) liquid metal fast breeder reactors and (ii) lead-cooled fast reactors to generate electricity in each year since 1997. [69375]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department has provided no funding to these technologies since 1997.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council:
The EPSRC invests in basic, strategic and applied research in energy generation, transmission and utilisation. The Council's total expenditure on nuclear fission research in financial years 1997-98 to 2005-06 is given in the following table:
| Financial Year | Expenditure (£) |
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