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15 May 2006 : Column 771W—continued
Education and Skills
Child Protection Checks
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what child protection checks a teacher is expected to undergo; and what procedure is used for such checks in the case of an individual who is working (a) in a number of different schools, (b) in different local authorities, (c) in the private as well as public sector and (d) in another occupation or vocation with children or vulnerable adults. [70263]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department's guidance, “Child Protection: Preventing Unsuitable People from Working with Children and Young Persons”, provides comprehensive advice on the pre-appointment checks employers should undertake on teachers and other prospective employees. This includes previous employment checks, criminal record bureau (CRB) checks, a List 99 check and, for people who are to be employed as teachers, checks to confirm their teaching status.
For individuals working in a number of schools where the local authority is the same, and it is the local authority who is the employer, as long as checks were carried out at the time of the first appointment and there is no gap in employment, further checks should not be necessary. Where employers are different or a gap has occurred each employer must satisfy themselves of an individual's suitability by conducting new checks.
Under the new vetting and barring scheme, legislation for which is currently before Parliament in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill, a person or organisation who employs a teacher will be required to check that the teacher is subject to monitoring in relation to their work with children by the scheme, and is not barred from working with children. The duty on the employer to check applies regardless of whether the teacher is working in an independent or maintained school and regardless of whether another employer has already made a check. An employer can fulfil their duty to check by obtaining written confirmation from a supply agency that the agency has made the check.
For a non-teaching position, working with children or vulnerable adults in a registered setting, a CRB check is also required. As part of this the Protection of Children Act (PoCA) and Protection of Vulnerable Adults (PoVA) lists will be checked and it will record if an individual is barred from this type of work.
Children's Database
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the timetable is for the completion of the national children's database. [69350]
Beverley Hughes: The information sharing index will aid more effective prevention and early intervention as a tool to support practitioners to improve outcomes for children, and is therefore a key element of the Every Child Matters programme. The planned timetable for
the implementation of the index ensures that it will be delivered in a practical and realistic way. The key elements are:
From the summer of 2006, local authorities will begin a readiness assessment process, involving all relevant local partners. This assessment process will ensure that local areas will be ready to receive the index when it is made available to them. At that time, we will also have the results of the data matching trials which will inform our data sourcing and deployment plans and provide better information about the quality of key data sources and the nature of the task, both locally and nationally, to best ensure that the index data will be of good quality.
During the summer and autumn of 2006, there will be a public consultation on draft regulations and statutory guidance to be made under section 12 of the Children Act 2004, which will govern the operation of the index.
Subject to the will of Parliament, we expect regulations to be in force by early 2007.
From late spring or early summer of 2007, we will have created initial records for each child in England, drawn from key national data sources.
The first index release, which will include those initial records, will be deployed to a first wave of local authorities by the summer of 2007.
The index will be rolled out progressively so that, by the end of 2008, it will be available in all local authorities in England.
We will provide funding and support to local authorities for them to manage local implementation of the index.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding his Department has allocated to the establishment of a national data list for all children in the UK; and how much has been spent to date. [69349]
Beverley Hughes: On 8 December 2005, I announced the Government's plan to implement a fully operational information sharing index in all areas of England by the end of 2008. This will enable practitioners delivering services to children to identify and contact one another easily and quickly, so they can share relevant information about children who need services.
The estimated set-up costs are £224 million over the next three years. This includes the costs of adapting existing systems that will supply the data to the index and ensuring that data are accurate; adapting the day-to-day systems used by practitioners so they can access the index from those systems; introducing robust arrangements to ensure security, and training staff to use the index properly.
Estimated operating costs, thereafter, will be£41 million per year. Most of this will pay for the additional staff needed to ensure the ongoing security, accuracy and audit of the index.
To date, approximately £8.5 million has been spent since the start of the feasibility phase of the index project in February 2004.
Departmental Campaigns
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of each information campaign run by his Department since 1997. [69524]
Bill Rammell: Expenditure details from the Department's central advertising and public budget, are not held by specific information campaign; however the total advertising and promotional work is shown in the following table:
| Expenditure (£ million) | |
| (1) Final accounts for this financial year have still to be closed and this is our total expenditure so far. |
Financial information for any other advertising and promotional work from outside of the central marketing team could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the departmental publications sent to teachers since May 1997; and what the cost was in each case. [68625]
Jim Knight: A list of departmental publications sent automatically to schools between 2002 and 2005 is detailed in the following table. Where a publication has been sent to all primary and all secondary schools it will appear in the table for both primary and secondary schools. The Department does not keep distribution lists of publications sent to all schools prior to 2002.
The cost of distribution for publications automatically sent to all schools was c. £300,000 per annum. However, the Department ceased automatic mailings of publications to schools in England on a phased basis between April and December 2004. Discussions with head teachers, and detailed research, showed that schools wanted to be able to choose the printed publications they needed, when they needed them, and to be able to order multiple copies.
The online ordering system enables schools to choose whether to download electronic copies or order the paper-based publications they need at the right time for them and in the multiples they require. This system is linked directly to the fulfilment service and an existing telephone ordering line. A fortnightly email service to schools informs them of new and important publications.
This has resulted in schools being able to order a wider variety of publications from the Department, putting schools in direct control of what they receive, and when they receive it.
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