| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 July 2006 : Column 162W—continued
Taxable Homecare Allowance
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will (a) estimate the total cost of introducing a taxable homecare allowance of £150 per week to all
families with one child under the age of three and £50 for each additional child under three net of the abolition of the working tax credit and child tax credit schemes and (b) assess the likely impact on child poverty of introducing such a scheme; and if he will make a statement. [85797]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available except at disproportionate cost.
Education and Skills
Access to Work Scheme
Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many disabled staff in his Department received support through the Access to Work scheme (a) in each of the last five years and (b) in 2006-07. [82225]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department does not collect information about the Access to Work scheme in the form requested centrally and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Since 2003, my Department has provided assistance for its disabled staff from its own reasonable adjustments fund. This fund has assisted over 500 staff.
Adult Education
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many colleges have made representations to the Department in the last 12 months concerning (a) adult education courses being cut and (b) places on such courses being reduced due to funding pressures. [81698]
Bill Rammell: Our records for the last 12 months indicate that we have received 221 letters from MPs on a range of FE funding issues including proposed changes to adult courses. Some letters from MPs include correspondence forwarded from FE college principals and in addition to these letters we have received 18 letters directly from FE college principles on FE funding issues.
We do not have records of any representations made in person by or on behalf of colleges. However, both I and my colleagues have regular meetings with providers and stakeholders including representative organisations such as the Association of Colleges and the Association of Learning Providers about adult education.
Bullying
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many incidents of bullying were recorded in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Suffolk in each of the last five years. [85542]
Jim Knight: We are unable to provide this information because we do not collect these data centrally. However, individual schools may record incidents of bullying and some local authorities keep records for their own area, which we welcome as best practice within our anti-bullying guidance to schools, “Don’t Suffer in Silence”.
Since 2003-04, however, we have collected data on the reasons for exclusions from schools. In the 2004-05 academic year, 130 pupils were permanently excluded and 7,680 were given fixed period exclusions for bullying. This information comes from the Statistical First Release on “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusion from Schools and Exclusion Appeals in England, 2004/05”.
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many incidents of bullying of teachers by (a) their peers and (b) management have been reported in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [85433]
Jim Knight: The Department for Education and Skills does not record the information that my hon. Friend has requested. Bullying of teachers by anyone is unacceptable. Teachers who feel that they have been subjected to bullying should report incidents to their employer and, where appropriate, their professional association immediately.
Chat Rooms
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he had with the Home Department on vetting chat room moderators on the internet prior to the publication of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill. [84123]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 10 July 2006]: There has been a series of discussions between DfES and Home Office officials about the provisions in the Bill for vetting chat room moderators. These discussions have also included representatives of the industry. They have been helpful in clarifying the extent of the vetting requirement.
Children Leaving Care
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of young people who left care in the last 12 months in West Lancashire constituency are in education, training or employment. [83538]
Mr. Dhanda: Information on the proportion of young people who left care in the last 12 months who are in education, training or employment is not collected by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). However, the following table shows information on care leavers on their 19(th) birthday who were looked after in their 17(th) year and is available at national level and for the local authority of Lancashire. Information is not available at constituency level.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average age of children leaving care was in West Lancashire constituency in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005. [83539]
Mr. Dhanda: The following table shows the average age of children leaving care in Lancashire in 2004 and 2005. Information at constituency level is not collected centrally.
| Children who ceased to be looked after during the years ending 31 March 2004 and 2005 by average age at end of latest period of care ( 1,2,3) | ||
| year:month | ||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | |
| (1) Source: DfES—Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which since 2003-04 covered all looked after children. (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 local authority level data are rounded to the nearest 5. | ||
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children left care in West Lancashire constituency in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005; and how many have left in 2006. [83541]
Mr. Dhanda: The following table shows the number of children leaving care in Lancashire in 2004 and 2005. Information for 2006 will be available at local authority level in March 2007. Information at constituency level is not collected centrally.
| Children who ceased to be looked after during the years ending 31 March 2004 and 2005 by average age at end of latest period of care( 1, 2) | ||
| Number | ||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | |
| (1) 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. (2) 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 local authority level data are rounded to the nearest 5. Source: DfES—Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which since 2003-04 covered all looked after children. | ||
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people in West Lancashire who left care in 2005 stayed in (a) their own house, (b) with friends and (c) in hostel or bed and breakfast accommodation. [83555]
Mr. Dhanda: Information on young people who left care in 2005 is not available by the breakdown requested. However, the following table shows how many young people in Lancashire who left care in 2005 had as their last placement, a placement in (a) an independent living, (b) with own parents and (c) in home and hostels. Note that a placement in independent living includes staying in a flat, or staying in lodgings without supported staff, staying in a bed and breakfast and finally staying with friends. Information at constituency level is not collected centrally.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support services are available to young people leaving care in West Lancashire to help them deal with the financial and practical aspects of independent living. [83556]
Mr. Dhanda: Services to care leavers in Lancashire are provided directly by Lancashire county council. Services for care leavers in West Lancashire are co-ordinated by the county’s south area leaving care team which supports young people who live in a wide area, from Skelmersdale to the boundaries of Preston and Southport.
Every care leaver must have a pathway plan based on an assessment of their personal needs, setting out the services that will be necessary to support them to greater independence. Leaving care services in the West Lancashire area draw on a wide range of professional staff to contribute to the support of individual care leavers including foster carers, children’s home staff, social workers, specialist leaving care staff, Connexions staff and specialist welfare rights and housing staff. Care leavers in West Lancashire also have opportunities to take up work experience arranged by the Looked After Children Employment Skills (LACES) project.
The exact level of financial support provided to any care leaver will be recorded in the individual’s pathway plan. Up until the age of eighteen, the local authority will usually be his/her primary source of income. Lancashire, as is the case for other local authorities, is responsible for funding accommodation, maintenance and other expenses (e.g. travel and leisure costs). Once care leavers reach 18, they are entitled to have access to the same mainstream arrangements for obtaining financial help as other young people. It will be the role of their leaving care personal adviser to assist them to access this help. However Lancashire, as the responsible local authority, has a continuing duty to provide assistance, for as long as the young person remains in an approved programme, with the costs of education or training.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) leaving-care workers and (b) personal advisors are available to young people leaving care in West Lancashire constituency; and how regularly they have contact with individual clients on average. [83557]
Mr. Dhanda:
Services to care leavers in Lancashire are provided directly by Lancashire county council. Services for care leavers in West Lancashire are provided by the south area leaving care team. This team comprises a manager, one qualified social worker,
one support worker, two leaving care co-ordinators and an administrator. Two members on this team are specifically available to provide support as leaving care personal advisers.
The level of contact that is maintained with each individual care leaver depends on their personal needs. In Lancashire, where young people entitled to care leaving services continue to remain looked after by the local authority, their social workers must visit at least every three months. However, when young people are being actively prepared to leave care, contact will be far more frequent than this and where a young person requires intensive support, contact might take place several times a week. The team estimates that, on average, all care leavers in West Lancashire are seen at least fortnightly.
Young people are also able to make contact with the leaving care team without formal appointments. They make regular contact by phone, occasionally write letters or e-mail and increasingly prefer to communicate by text message. All young people have their social worker’s mobile phone number and if they leave a message in working hours their social worker will aim to respond the same day.
Children's Centres
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on children’s centres in each year since 2003. [84789]
Beverley Hughes: The delivery of first phase children’s centres began in 2003-04, with expenditure during this period totalling £2.2 million capital and £1.9 million revenue. For the period 2004-06, local authorities were allocated £111 million revenue and £315 million capital funding for children’s centres.
In addition to this funding, we allocated £313 million capital to Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLP) in 2004-06 and we expect that most of this budget would have been used to facilitate SSLPs to become children’s centres.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |