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7 Jun 2006 : Column 660W—continued
Sex Offenders
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements are in place to ensure that sex offenders who are also pupils or students do not have access in schools or colleges to children under 16 years; and what powers he has in respect of such persons. [73813]
Mr. Dhanda: Cases involving sex offenders who are also pupils or students should be considered individually, in line with guidance in “Working Together to Safeguard Children”. There should be a co-ordinated approach, involving youth justice, children’s social care, education (including educational psychology) and health (including child and adolescent mental health). An assessment should be carried out in each case to assess the risks to other children and to decide what plan of action should be put in place to address the young person’s behaviour and to ensure the safety of others. This might include arrangements for monitoring the child to ensure that he does not have unsupervised access to children under 16 while at school or college or provision of specialist services, including education, not in mainstream settings, which help address the young person’s behaviour.
Small Change Big Difference
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department and its agencies have taken following the launch of the Government's “Small Change Big Difference” Campaign. [72007]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department has a health and attendance management strategy that draws on the recommendations of the “Choosing health” White Paper, “Health, Work and Well-Being” document and “Small Change Big Difference Campaign (SCBD)”. In this context, we have recently delivered a number of initiatives to promote health and well being within the Department. These include:
Health Events on all of our sites to promote “5 a day” where literature on 5 a day was supplied by the Department of Health and this was distributed to staff along with free fruit. These events were well attended with around 50 per cent. of our staff participating;
Free pedometers have been made available to all staff along with literature supplied to us by the British Heart Foundation and Countryside Agency on the benefits of walking. Around half our staff have come forward to claim their pedometer and we plan to distribute more at future health events;
Yearly site health check events where staff are offered health literature, weight assessment, cholesterol tests, lung function and blood pressure tests. Our last events were held in October 2005;
The launch of our new smoking policy, shortly after National No Smoking Day (8/3/2006). This acted as a launch pad to announce that we will close all our smoking rooms, in line with the commitment that we have made to the Health Secretary to make DfES smoke free by the end of 2006. We have offered the services of our occupational health advisers to have initial discussions with staff about giving up smoking and we have distributed smoking cessation literature supplied to us by the Department of Health. We intend to provide focussed smoking cessation support to all staff who require it as we close down our smoking rooms on a phased site by site basis throughout 2006;
We have ensured that our catering contractor, Aramark, provides health options in the staff canteens including reducing salt levels in food, using semi skimmed milk, lowering fat content and vegetarian options;
Our two largest sites (London and Sheffield) have a gym available to all staff and all sites have exercise or well-being classes such as aerobics or yoga with the exception of Darlington (one of our smaller sites) where there was insufficient demand.
As the programme of work on SCBD develops, the Department of Health will be working across all of Government to ensure the programme joins up to promote maximum impact. DoH is leading the implementation for this initiative as part of its cross-Government commitment to deliver the public health White Paper “Choosing Health”.
Student Finances
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills where potential students in 2006-07 can obtain a full account of what bursaries are available at each higher education institution. [75248]
Bill Rammell: Students can find out about the bursaries available in the 2006/07 academic year through the UCAS website at http://www.ucas.com/. The website allows students to compare bursaries across subjects and at different institutions.
We are working towards providing students with a facility for the next academic year that will enable them to find out about their entitlement to statutory support and bursaries in one place.
Teachers (Maths Graduates)
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of mathematics graduates required as teachers in each year between 2006-07 and 2010-11. [73923 ]
Jim Knight: There are 2,350 available initial teacher training places for conventional courses for mathematics in 2006/07 and the indicative number of places for 2007/08 is 2,350. In 2004/05 (the latest year for which final figures are available), an additional 560 people were recruited to train as mathematics teachers on employment based routes, and we expect to recruit similar numbers in the next few years.
Places for 2008/09 onwards have not yet been decided, but will take into account the latest available information on recruitment, teachers leaving and returning to the profession and vacancy rates. The Government aim that by 2014 95 per cent. of mathematics lessons will be delivered by a mathematics specialist.
University Placements (Medicine)
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many placements were available in 2005 in universities in England to study medicine; how many applications were made for such placements from (a) overseas students and (b) British students; and how many places were given to (i) overseas students and (ii) British students. [66611]
Bill Rammell: The available information is given in the following two tables. The planned and actual intakes of UK and overseas students are determined independently. An increase in overseas students does not affect the number of places available for UK students.
| Applicants through UCAS to pre-clinical medicine courses at UK institutions, 2005 entry | ||
| Domicile | Applicants( 1) | Accepted applicants |
| (1) Figures only include students where the majority of their applications are to medicine courses. Source: UCAS annual datasets. | ||
| Planned intake and actual intake to UK medical schools, 2005/6 | ||
| (1) Planned intake numbers for UK institutions, split by domicile, are not held centrally. In 2005/6, the planned intake at English institutions was 6,078 of which 5,621 were for home students and 457 for overseas students. Actual intake at English institutions in 2005/06 was 6,298 of which 5,872 were home students and 426 were overseas. (2) Intake figures for 2005/6 are provisional until November 2006. (3) Home and EU domiciles cannot be separated in the return as both pay the same fees. (4) Includes students from the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands as they do not pay home fees. Source: HEFCE's medicine and dentistry return. | ||
Vetting and Barring
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 23 May 2006, Official Report, column 1716W, when the new Vetting and Barring Scheme will take effect; and what interim safeguards he will require in respect of children in children’s establishments and schools and receiving children’s services. [74206]
Mr. Dhanda: Subject to Parliament’s approval of the necessary legislation, our intention is to introduce the new Vetting and Barring Scheme in 2008. Implementation will be staged—as was recommended in Sir Michael Bichard’s report into the Soham murders—to ensure that the new requirements are established effectively. Until then the current barring schemes will continue to operate alongside the system of Criminal Records Bureau checks. Since the Secretary of State’s review into list 99 in January, we have taken a number of steps to strengthen this scheme including the establishment of an independent expert panel to advise and assist the Secretary of State in carrying out his list 99 functions, and new regulations making Criminal Records Bureau checks mandatory for all newly appointed school employees. We will also be introducing new regulations shortly to ensure that any individuals working with children who are convicted or cautioned for sex offences against children will be automatically entered on list 99.
Weapon Detection Scanners (Schools)
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of using weapon detection scanners in schools in areas where children are known to bring weapons into school. [73388]
Jim Knight: We have made no assessment or recommendation about scanners being used in or by schools. The Violent Crime Reduction Bill, if it receives Royal Assent, will enable schools to search, without consent, pupils they suspect are carrying a knife or other weapon. Staff authorised to conduct a search could use a detector but that is for individual schools to decide. Police called in to make a general search at a school could also use a detector.
Communities and Local Government
Housing
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on progress towards the decent homes standard for social housing in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) Stockport Metropolitan Borough and (c) Tameside Metropolitan Borough. [72646]
Yvette Cooper: All 10 metropolitan authorities in the Greater Manchester area have programmes under way to make their social housing decent.
Progress has been made towards the decent homes target with many examples of associated benefits in regeneration, improved housing management performance and tenant empowerment.
Latest figures for the registered social landlord (RSL) sector in Greater Manchester show that c. 19 per cent. of stock was non-decent in 2005. This included recently transferred local authority stock subject to a major investment programme.
In Tameside 301 council homes were transferred to Ashton Pioneer homes in 1999 and this RSL has now completed its investment programme. There are no non-decent properties in the stock and a substantial reduction in empty properties has been reported.
In March 2000, 16,466 homes were transferred to New Charter Housing Group. Non-decency rates are estimated to have been c.70 per cent. at the time. A 10 year investment programme was begun worth approximately £25 million per annum. In 2005, approximately 23 per cent. of the stock was non-decent and New Charter estimates all the stock will have met the decent homes standard by April 2008.
In addition, Manchester city council has successfully transferred estates in Houghton Green and Carrbrook both of which have been in receipt of substantial new investment to take homes up to and beyond the decent homes standard. The transfer of Manchester's Hattersley estate is expected shortly.
Stockport MBC was granted Section 27 consent for their ALMO ‘Stockport Homes’ in October 2005 and is due for inspection by the Housing Inspectorate in June of this year. Should the council achieve a two star rating or better, it will be entitled to access tens of millions of pounds in extra resource to help make all its homes decent over the coming years.
In addition Manchester city council is currently consulting several hundred tenants in the Stockport area over future investment plans for their stock.
In April 2005, 731 RSL properties in Stockport (15 per cent. of the total) were non-decent.
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