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30 Jan 2007 : Column 218W—continued
((1)) Raising our game: Our Annual Statement of Priorities can be accessed via the following URL:http://www.lsc.gov.uk/Aboutus/LSCStrategy/AnnualStatementofPriorities/
Looked-after Children
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what family-based emergency accommodation options are available for children who have run away; and how many such placements there are. [112192]
Mr. Dhanda
[holding answer 29 January 2007]: It is the responsibility of local children's services to determine what help young people need when they run away, both with the immediate presenting crisis and with the underlying problems that caused them to run away in the first place. Local children's services are therefore best placed to assess the type and levels of support required, including, where appropriate, accommodation. This could include emergency foster care or short-term placement in a
children's home, as well as counselling and mediation services, but the exact mix will vary according to locally determined need.
No information is available centrally on the current number and breakdown of such placements across the country. The Department is currently working with The Children's Society to assess how far local authorities' services for vulnerable children and young people are providing an effective response to runaways, and will be considering what lessons can be learned for our approach to the issue.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the adequacy of community-based refuges for children and young people who run away; and if he will take steps to ensure that children who run away can (a) find and (b) be directed to a safe place to stay with counselling services. [112198]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 29 January 2007]: We have commissioned an independent review to summarise the findings from the six DFES community based refuge pilots. We will disseminate the key lessons learned about the adequacy of refuge-based provision and support services to all local authorities, and make it available to all interested stakeholders via the DFES and Every Child Matters websites.
Local children's services are responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting the needs of vulnerable young people including runaways. They are best placed to provide counselling, mediation and other family-based services including, if appropriate, a safe place to stay.
We are also working with The Children's Society to assess how far local authority services for young people provide an effective response to runaways, including accommodation, and we will consider how we can incorporate best practice in runaways prevention and support into mainstream local children's services across the country.
Looked-after Children: Education
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children leaving full-time residential care in the last five years had a full-time education place to go to. [116966]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 23 January 2007]: Information on the number of children leaving full-time residential care who had a full-time education place to go to is not collected centrally.
Open Source Software
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of his Department’s computer systems use open source software; what percentage of the systems planned to be installed use such software; and whether he plans to increase the use of open source software in his Department. [111159]
Mr. Dhanda: Use of open source software is growing in the Department but accounts for less than 1 per cent. of the Department’s systems.
New open source systems are being planned for implementation in the Department and this will increase the percentage but only to 1 or 2 per cent.
The Department will continue to consider open source solutions on an overall value for money basis in accordance with the Government’s (2004) policy statement.
Recruitment Agencies
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department paid to recruitment agencies for the hire of temporary staff in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [110473]
Mr. Dhanda: Since 1 November 2004, the Department has used a single provider (Adecco). The key requirement of DFES is the provision of temporary administrative and secretarial cover. Agency engagements are kept as short as possible and only used to meet genuine short-term needs with an expected limit of no more than 13 weeks.
Prior to 1 November 2004, the Department used Brook Street and Manpower employment agencies. To establish costs from these agencies since 1997, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The following table provides costs to the Department of employing agency staff for the previous two financial years. The table also provides costs from April 2006 to date. Costs are borne from general administration expenditure budgets.
| Financial year | Agency spend (£) |
Residential Care
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people aged (a) 15, (b) 16 and (c) 17 are in residential care. [116533]
Mr. Dhanda: Information on the number of children looked after by a local authority aged 15, 16, and 17 who are in residential care is shown in the following table.
Review of Children and Young People
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role the Chairman of the National Youth Volunteering Organisation ‘v’ is playing in his Department's contribution to the Government’s Review of Children and Young People. [111218]
Mr. Dhanda: In developing the discussion document of the Review of Children and Young People, HM Treasury and DFES spoke to and received submissions from awide range of stakeholders. The National Youth Volunteering Organisation ‘v’ has been engaged with the review at official level but there has been no direct involvement by the chairman.
School Refurbishment
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Essex were scheduled to be refurbished over the last five years; and how many were refurbished. [111830]
Jim Knight: The Department does not keep records on how many schools in Essex were scheduled to be refurbished over the last five years, and on how many were refurbished. This is because decisions on refurbishing or building schools are taken at local authority level. The Department has recently announced that Essex is in wave four of the Building Schools for the Future programme, and this wave will be rolled out in the spending review period commencing 2008-09. This transformational programme will, over its projected life, provide inspirational schools and academies for all secondary school pupils.
School Transport: Disabled Children
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make available subsidy for school transport for disabled children above the age of 16 years in Milton Keynes. [112370]
Phil Hope:
The Education Act 1996 requires local authorities “to make such arrangements for the provision of transport and otherwise as they consider necessary” for 16 to 19-year-olds to attend educational institutions, this includes consideration of provision
for young learners with disabilities. It is for local authorities to decide what arrangements are necessary, paid from their normal core funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government, council tax and any other funding they receive. I understand Milton Keynes council operates a home to school/college subsidised transport scheme for 16 to 18-year-olds, including those with disabilities.
School Uniforms
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what guidance his Department issued on the enforcement of the wearing of school uniforms by those schools that have such uniforms; [112333]
(2) if he will publish guidance on school uniforms for schools to accompany the forthcoming admissions code. [112334]
Jim Knight [holding answer 29 January 2007]: The Department has issued guidance to schools on school uniform and exclusions and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the House Library. We are currently considering whether the school uniform guidance needs updating to cover aspects of the new admissions code and other relevant developments in the law.
The school uniform guidance explains that head teachers can discipline pupils for breaches of their school’s uniform policy.
Schools IT
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much schools in England spent on Microsoft products in each of the last three financial years. [111354]
Jim Knight: Information on how much schools in England spent on Microsoft products in each of the last three financial years is not available. It is not collected from schools.
Confidential information has been made available to Becta by Microsoft in respect of Microsoft's licensing sales to schools. This information is the subject of legally binding non-disclosure arrangements and excludes estimates in relation to Original Equipment Manufacturer licences.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) statemented children and (b) children with special educational needs but without a statement were on dual placement in each local education authority in England in each year from 1997 to 2006. [116992]
Mr. Dhanda: The available information has been placed in the Library.
Information on pupils with dual placement with special educational needs (SEN) was collected from pupil referral units and special schools only between 1997 and 2002. This coverage was extended to other schools from 2003. The information has been presented in two tables covering these time periods separately.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) statemented special educational needs children and (b) children with special educational needs but without a statement there were in pupil referral units in each local education authority in each year from 1997 to 2006. [116993]
Mr. Dhanda: The requested information has been placed in the House Library.
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children with special educational needs were statemented in Morecambe and Lunesdale in each of the last three years. [117509]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested and comparable data for Lancashire local authority is shown in the table.
| All schools: number and percentage of pupils attending schools in Morecambe and Lunesdale parliamentary constituency and Lancashire local authority with statements of SEN( 1) —January 2006 | |||
| Pupils with statements of SEN | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| (1) Excludes dually registered pupils. Source: Schools’ Census | |||
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