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4 July 2006 : Column 1003W—continued

Connexions

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people below the age
4 July 2006 : Column 1004W
of 19 years have received support from Connexions in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset in the past 12 months. [82179]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department collects data on the number of interventions provided but not on the number of young people receiving support. In the past 12 months 33,433 young people were counted in the Connexions cohort of young people in Somerset. They received a total of 37,935 interventions. The Department does not hold this information at constituency level.

Departmental guidance is that, to count as an intervention there needs to be some element of assistance involving a substantial or meaningful exchange with the young person. This should be of enough significance to be noted in their client record. It would normally exclude straightforward referrals to specific opportunities, e.g. job submissions, the provision of factual information and simple follow up to find out if the young person still wanted assistance.

Correspondence

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average cost to his Department was of replying to a letter written (a) by an hon. Member and (b) by a member of the public in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much of that sum is accounted for by (i) officials’ time, (ii) cost of stationery and (iii) postage costs. [80477]

Bill Rammell: The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of departments in replying to Members/peers correspondence. The report for 2005 was published on 30 March 2006, Official Report, columns 76-78WS. The information requested is not recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Criminal Offences

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the criminal offences created in legislation sponsored by his Department since April 2005, broken down by Act. [76907]

Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the replies given on 11 January 2005, Official Report, column 450W, and 14 December 2005, Official Report, column 2072W.

Since 1 April 2005 eight new offences were created in legislation sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills.

The Education Act 2005 created five new offences relating to the obstruction of an inspection. These provisions are found in sections 4(3), 10(2), 23(3), 24(4) (which relate to the inspection of schools) and in section 57(5) (which relates to the inspection of careers services in Wales).

Two further offences were also created by sections 109 and 111 of the Education Act 2005. These concern the unauthorised disclosure of certain information arising from provisions introduced by the 2005 Act
4 July 2006 : Column 1005W
which permitted tax and social security information to be shared for the purpose of deciding on or checking eligibility for Education Maintenance Allowances and free school meals. Unauthorised disclosure of such information was therefore made an offence.

The Children and Adoption Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 21 June 2006. By section 12(3) of the Act, which is not yet in force, one new offence concerning adoptions from abroad was created. An offence is committed when a British resident brings or causes another to bring a child into the United Kingdom and conditions specified by the Secretary of State have not been met.

Departmental Vehicles

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Department-owned vehicles have been issued to his staff in the last 12 months; to whom they were issued; for what reason; and at what cost. [81908]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has not issued any vehicles owned by the Department to staff during the last 12 months.

Edexcel

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) GCSE, (b) AS and (c) A-level examinations sat in 2006 will be written by Edexcel. [82002]

Jim Knight: These data are collected by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in the autumn following each examination series and are normally published in March the following year. Consequently, data on the summer 2006 examination series are not yet available.

The data for 2005 are shown as follows:

Total of examination papers set by Edexcel
Qualification for which examination papers were sat Total of examination papers set Number Percentage

GCSE

1,563

430

27.5

GCE

1,756

478

27.2


Education Funding

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much Government funding for education services was administered centrally by Lancashire local education authority (LEA) in each of the last three years; and how much was administered on average by all LEAs in each year. [81412]

Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the Libraries.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the membership is of the School Funding Implementation Group. [81435]


4 July 2006 : Column 1006W

Jim Knight: The School Funding Implementation Group advises the Department on matters relating to school funding, in the context of the wider policy objectives for schools and the Every Child Matters agenda. The members of the group are organisations representing school leaders, school governors, local authorities and the managers of the local education service, and these organisations are responsible for nominating their individual representatives.

The current membership is: the Association of School and College Leaders, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (representing school leaders); the National Governors’ Association (representing school governors); the Local Government Association (representing local authorities); and the Confederation of Education and Children’s Services Managers (representing the management of the local education service). Representatives of the Audit Commission, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Learning and Skills Council also attend meetings as appropriate.

Education Premises

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many educational premises have been declared unfit for use since 1997. [81905]

Jim Knight: Information on the number of educational premises that have been declared unfit for use since 1997 is not held by the Department.

Emergency Protection Orders

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many emergency protection orders have been applied for by each social services local authority in each of the last three years; and how many of those were applied for ex parte; [80567]

(2) how many emergency protection orders were applied for by each local authority in each of the last three years; how many were applied for ex-parte; of the ex-parte orders granted how many of each were granted; and how many were for children (a) under and (b) over the age of one year. [81580]

Beverley Hughes: Information on the number of emergency protection order (EPO) applications made by local authorities is not collected by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Information on the number of children starting to be looked after for each social services local authority, as a result of an EPO made by the family courts, during the years ending 31 March 2003, 31 March 2004 and 31 March 2005 are presented in the following table. The DfES does not collect information about the numbers of ex-parte EPO applications.


4 July 2006 : Column 1007W

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4 July 2006 : Column 1009W

4 July 2006 : Column 1010W
Children who started to be looked after as a result of an emergency protection order being issued by family courts for the years ending 31 March 2003 to 2005 by legal status on starting( 1,2,3)
Number
2003 2004 2005

England

1,300

1,300

1,400

North East

70

50

60

Shire counties

Durham

20

10

10

Northumberland

0

0

10

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Darlington

10

0

Hartlepool

5

0

Middlesbrough

0

10

Redcar and Cleveland

10

5

Stockton on Tees

10

15

Metropolitan districts

0

0

0

Gateshead

5

10

Newcastle upon Tyne

0

North Tyneside

South Tyneside

5

Sunderland

0

0

North West

160

170

190

Shire counties

Cheshire

10

Cumbria

0

15

10

Lancashire

20

10

15

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Blackburn and Darwen

10

10

Blackpool

5

5

Halton

0

Warrington

10

5

Metropolitan districts

0

0

0

Bolton

10

10

5

Bury

0

0

5

Knowsley

0

0

Liverpool

0

10

10

Manchester

35

15

45

Oldham

5

15

10

Rochdale

15

10

Salford

10

10

Sefton

15

St. Helens

0

Stockport

0

10

Tameside

10

10

10

Trafford

10

10

Wigan

10

5

Wirral

15

10

Yorkshire and the Humber

200

180

180

Shire counties

North Yorkshire

5

15

5

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

East Riding Yorkshire

10

5

Kingston upon Hull

10

10

North East Lincolnshire

15

15

10

North Lincolnshire

5

10

York

0

Metropolitan districts

Barnsley

10

10

10

Bradford

25

25

25

Calderdale

10

Doncaster

10

15

Kirklees

10

10

Leeds

65

45

55

Rotherham

15

5

Sheffield

25

10

5

Wakefield

10

15

East Midlands

130

110

90

Shire counties

Derbyshire

25

15

15

Leicestershire

20

15

0

Lincolnshire

10

5

5

Northamptonshire

20

30

35

Nottinghamshire

20

10

10

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Derby

10

10

10

Leicester

5

10

5

Nottingham

20

10

Rutland

0

0

0

West Midlands

220

160

220

Shire counties

Shropshire

5

10

Staffordshire

10

15

25

Warwickshire

5

10

Worcestershire

25

10

15

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Herefordshire

5

10

Stoke-On-Trent

30

15

15

Telford and Wrekin

15

10

Metropolitan districts

0

0

0

Birmingham

45

20

55

Coventry

15

15

Dudley

20

15

25

Sandwell

15

20

15

Solihull

0

Walsall

25

20

20

Wolverhampton

5

East of England

80

100

120

Shire counties

Bedfordshire

20

20

5

Cambridgeshire

10

15

Essex

5

15

30

Hertfordshire

10

10

5

Norfolk

10

Suffolk

15

10

10

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Luton

25

20

15

Peterborough

0

10

Southend

0

20

Thurrock

5

London

250

280

250

Inner London

Camden

5

5

City of London

0

0

0

Greenwich

10

Hackney

10

5

10

Hammersmith and Fulham

5

5

Islington

15

Kensington and Chelsea

0

10

Lambeth

0

15

15

Lewisham

15

10

Southwark

10

25

10

Tower Hamlets

5

5

15

Wandsworth

20

5

10

Westminster

20

15

Outer London

0

0

0

Barking and Dagenham

30

15

10

Barnet

20

5

Bexley

Brent

10

10

Bromley

5

Croydon

10

10

Ealing

0

Enfield

15

10

20

Haringey

20

20

20

Harrow

10

5

Havering

0

Hillingdon

0

10

0

Hounslow

5

15

15

Kingston upon Thames

0

Merton

5

15

Newham

15

10

20

Redbridge

10

0

Richmond upon Thames

10

Sutton

10

Waltham Forest

10

South East

150

140

190

Shire counties

Buckinghamshire

0

5

5

East Sussex

10

10

Hampshire

20

10

25

Kent

15

20

40

Oxfordshire

10

Surrey

15

25

35

West Sussex

10

10

15

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Bracknell Forest

Brighton and Hove

20

10

Isle of Wight

0

0

Medway Towns

5

25

5

Milton Keynes

15

15

Portsmouth

15

10

5

Reading

0

Slough

0

0

Southampton

10

10

10

West Berkshire

0

0

Windsor and Maidenhead

Wokingham

0

0

South West

90

110

100

Shire counties

Cornwall

15

15

15

Devon

15

15

Dorset

0

Gloucestershire

10

5

5

Isles of Scilly

0

0

0

Somerset

Wiltshire

10

Unitary authorities

0

0

0

Bath and North East Somerset

0

0

Bournemouth

15

10

Bristol

15

25

North Somerset

0

10

Plymouth

5

15

Poole

5

0

South Gloucestershire

10

10

Swindon

Torbay

0

0

5

1 Only the first occasion on which a child started to be looked after in the year has been counted.
2 Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials.
3 To maintain the confidentiality of each individual child, data at national level are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000, to the nearest 10 otherwise. At regional level, the data are rounded to the nearest 10 and at local authority level data are rounded to the nearest 5. Numbers from 1 to 5 inclusive are suppressed and replaced by a hyphen (—). Zero (0) is shown only when the number submitted was zero. As a consequence of our rounding and suppression figures may not sum to the total.
Note:
Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which since 2003-04 covered all looked after children.

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