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Schools (Outside Bodies)
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of schools permit activities of outside bodies on their premises. [90592]
Phil Hope: Schools may offer activities, both directly and through third-party providers from the private, voluntary and independent sectors, on their premises. They may also let their premises to outside bodies, such as sports clubs and community groups. The Department does not collect data on all such usage centrally; however, a baseline survey of extended services in a sample of maintained schools in 2005 found that 75 per cent. of primary schools and 97 per cent. of secondary schools permitted some outside use of their facilities. We are committed to ensuring that by 2010 all maintained schools in England become extended schools, providing access to a core offer of opportunities and services, including activities for pupils, family learning and adult learning available to the wider community. We are on track to achieve our target for 2,500 schools to provide this offer by the end of this month; and for half of all primary schools and third of secondary schools to do so by 2008. More than 10,000 schools are already working with their local authorities and with our partner organisation, TDA-Development, to develop extended services.
Sexual Orientation Regulations
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the content of school assemblies will be covered by the sexual orientation regulations. [90706]
Phil Hope: The Sexual Orientation Regulations currently being developed by the Department for Communities and Local Government are being put in place to prevent discrimination against individual pupils on grounds of their sexual orientation, or that of their parents or other people with whom they are associated. It is not the intention of the regulations to place a duty on schools to change the content of the curriculum, collective worship, assemblies or any other aspect of teaching in schools.
Special Needs Education
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken by his Department to increase awareness among (a) parents and (b) professionals working with children on how to support children with a speech and language disability. [90684]
Phil Hope: Parental awareness of speech, language and communication difficulties is very important. In 2005, the Department published a detailed information booklet for parent on speech and language difficulties under our Early Support Programme. This resource as produced in close collaboration with specialist organisations in the voluntary sector and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. It explains how children normally develop communication, language and speech, how adults can help in this, the difficulties that can arise and how to seek help from professionals.
The Department has supported a longitudinal study by the University of Warwick looking into the learning needs of a group of children with specific language and communication difficulties, the characteristics of the current provision made for them and its impact, their aspirations for the future and the ways in which services can best support them. The results of the study are due to be published in autumn 2006.
The Primary and Secondary National Strategies have also produced a range of support and guidance to schools and childcare settings on the teaching of English and the development of speaking and listening skills, including frameworks to help teachers meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. We are reviewing the frameworks to provide more detailed and up to date guidance for schools which will be available before half term. We have also provided national training materials—“Communicating Matters”—for practitioners in early years Foundation Stage settings to specifically support children’s early language acquisition.
The DfES and the Department of Health have jointly commissioned an independent scoping study to identify, for relevant professionals and other interested parties, examples of good practice in the effective delivery of speech and language therapy services to children and young people with special educational needs aged between 0-19. A research team from Canterbury Christ Church University is carrying out the study and the fieldwork in currently under way. We expect to receive the final report on the scoping study early in the new year.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans to change the statementing process for children with special educational needs; and if he will make a statement. [90685]
Phil Hope: The Government have no current plans to change the statementing process. We are considering the recent report of the Education and Skills Select Committee's inquiry into special educational needs in which a review of policy is recommended and will respond in due course.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if his Department will set national guidelines on assessment and categorisation of special educational needs. [90686]
Phil Hope: Guidance on carrying out statutory assessments of special educational needs are given in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001), to which all local education authorities and schools must have regard. The code recognises that there are no hard and fast categories of need for assessment purposes. It identifies four broad types of need: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; behaviour, emotional and social development; and sensory and/or physical needs. But it stresses that each child is unique and that children may have needs that fall into more than one area. The code makes clear that children's needs must be considered on an individual basis.
Student Loans Company
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment has been made of the (a) security and (b) reliability of the Student Loans Company's IT systems. [90802]
Phil Hope: The Student Loans Company (SLC) routinely commission independent security assessments before new online services are launched to highlight any weaknesses and address these prior to the service becoming operational.
A major independent review of
the single IT system, administered by the SLC and used by local
authorities and the SLC to process and pay student loan applications,
was conducted over the period June to September 2005 by Gartner
Consulting, a recognised global leader in technology futures and
evaluation methodologies. Gartner reported average system
transaction times and the handling of peak volume throughput to be on
par with industry examples and system availability when tested to be
100 per cent. within service level
hours.
Northern Ireland
Advertising Campaigns
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what advertising campaigns the Department ran between 2000 and June 2004; and what the (a) date and (b) cost was of each. [87058]
Mr. Hain: Following are the details of advertising campaigns (excluding classified advertising for recruitment) which took place within the Northern Ireland Office between 2000 and June 2004, along with the date and cost of each.
Agency Staff
Ms Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what average hourly rate was paid by his Department to each employment agency for staff employed through agencies in 2005-06. [81492]
Mr. Hain: We cannot provide the information requested by the hon. Member. To do so would be at disproportionate cost. However, the total amount spent by the Northern Ireland office, excluding its Agencies and NDPBs, on staff employed through various employment agencies in the financial year 2005-06 was £213,227.
Arrest Warrants
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many arrest warrants have been issued in respect of individuals released from prison in the Irish Republic in the last five years. [74459]
Paul Goggins: The Police Service of Northern Ireland advises that the information sought by the hon. Gentleman would require an examination of all relevant warrants and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Automated Number Plate Readers
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many offenders were caught by automated number plate readers in Northern Ireland in the last year, broken down by area. [77365]
David Cairns: In the last year 16,973 offenders were caught by automated number plate readers for vehicle excise duty evasion in Northern Ireland. The figures are not broken down by area.
The PSNI has recently installed automated number plate readers in approximately 75 vehicles but at this stage it is too early to provide data on the number of detections.
Carbon Emissions
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent estimate he has made of the carbon emissions of his Department; what commitment he has made to reducing such emissions; and if he will make a statement. [81055]
Mr. Hain: The Northern Ireland Office has not made any recent estimate of its carbon emissions. However, the NIO is committed to promoting sustainable development and is working with the Northern Ireland Departments on developing strategies which will include reduction of carbon emissions. In addition the NIO is a participant in the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, which aims to offset all carbon emissions from ministerial and official air travel.
Child Arrests
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children have been arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland following attacks on schools and churches in each of the last three years, broken down by district command unit; and if he will make a statement. [87988]
Paul Goggins: The PSNI does not keep statistics on the number of arrests made and to obtain such information could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Children and Young People's Action Plan
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to involve children and young people in the development of the draft Children and Young People’s Action Plan. [88909]
Maria Eagle: It is intended to have a first draft of the action plan before autumn 2006. Consideration is currently being given to how we effectively involve children and young people in the first and future action planning processes. I also intend to seek the views of the all-party group on children and young people and other key stakeholders on how this can be effectively achieved.
Civil Servants
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants employed as civilian support staff in the Police Service Northern Ireland have transferred their status to direct employees (a) in total and (b) in each of the last five years; and how many have subsequently had their terms and conditions altered. [88255]
Paul Goggins: The following table shows the number of civil servants employed as civilian support staff in the Police Service of Northern Ireland that have transferred their status to direct employees from the start of the scheme in 2001.
The change in status can only be achieved by internal promotion. The only terms and conditions of employment that changed on transfer related to pay.
| Number of Staff | |
Computing Equipment
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) USB (i) flash drives and (ii) memory sticks, (b) compact discs, (c) DVD-ROM discs, (d) laptop computers, (e) external computers hard drives, (f) internal computer hard drives and (g) desktop computers were purchased for use in his Department in each month since March 2005. [88762]
Paul Goggins: The table relates to equipment ordered for the NIO core during the financial year 2005-06 and is the total under each heading. Production of this information on a monthly basis could be done at disproportionate cost.
The figures, in particular those relating to (a), (b) and (c) are approximate as there may be additional items purchased throughout the department that we are not aware of.
| Item | Number purchase 2005-06 |
Crime Statistics
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) incidents of criminal damage, (b) domestic burglaries, (c) offences against a person, (d) sexual offences, (e) fraud and forgery crimes, (f) offences against the state and (g) violent crimes were recorded in each district command unit in Northern Ireland in (i) 2004-05 and (ii) 2005-06, broken down by (A) urban and (B) rural area. [78725]
Paul Goggins: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Criminal Offences
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many criminal offences his Department has created by Orders in Council in each year since 1997. [88469]
Mr. Hanson: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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