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5 Mar 2007 : Column 1712W—continued
Special Educational Needs
Lady Hermon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children in each education and library board area were receiving special educational needs assistance in each of the past six years; and what funding was made available by his
Department for special educational needs assistance over the same period. [123459]
Maria Eagle: The number of children receiving special educational needs assistance in each education and library board (ELB) in each of the past six years is as follows:
| BELB | NEELB | SEELB | SELB | WELB | Total | |
| (1) Excludes information on SEN pupils at stages 1 to 4 of the COP in primary schools as this data was not collected in this year. | ||||||
These figures are in respect of children at all stages (1-5) of the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs (COP) as reported in the annual school census for grant-aided schools and reported by the ELBs for children with statements of special educational needs outside the grant-aided sector.
The following table shows how much funding has been reported by the education and library boards (ELBs) in their accrued expenditure reports to the Department of Education as having been allocated to special needs education in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years. The response provided is therefore by education and library board area and is rounded to the nearest million.
| £ million | ||||||
| BELB | NEELB | SEELB | SELB | WELB | Total | |
Figures for 2006-07 are not yet available so I have provided figures for the last six years available.
Over the same six-year period additional funding of approximately £19 million has been allocated by the Department of Education to support statemented pupils in the voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated sectors.
Work and Pensions
Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the cost to the public purse was of carbon monoxide awareness week held in December 2006; [123174]
(2) what events were organised during carbon monoxide awareness week in December 2006; where each event took place; how many people attended each event; and how many scheduled events were cancelled. [123175]
Mrs. McGuire: The Government did not provide direct funding towards the costs of carbon monoxide (CO) awareness week, which was organised by gas safety charities. However, Lord Hunt, the then Minister responsible for health and safety, participated in the associated conference on 5 December at the House of Lords. He and the HSE’s Chief Executive both made supportive press statements. The Secretary of State also gave support in his letter of 4 December to the gas industry. Over 120 people attended the 5 December event, including campaigner groups, CO victims, Members of Parliament, and HSE and other Government officials. This was followed by a balloon release in memory of victims of CO poisoning.
A further event was organised at Runcorn Town Hall on 8 December. A press conference was followed by a balloon launch, which was supported by the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers and Halton borough council.
No scheduled events were cancelled during the week.
Child Maintenance Payments
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what discussions he has had with the (a) private and (b) voluntary sector on providing better access to information and guidance as
proposed on page 31 of the White Paper “A new system of child maintenance”; [113541]
(2) what assessment he has made of the level of additional support that will be necessary to provide private and voluntary organisations appropriate information and guidance as proposed on page 33 of the White Paper “A new system of child maintenance”. [113539]
Mr. Plaskitt: Following publication of the White Paper “A new system of child maintenance”, Ministers and officials have been meeting key organisations with specific expertise in the area of information and guidance.
As part of this process, we are assessing the likely level of resource required to deliver information and guidance.
Mrs. Maria Miller:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his assessment is of the levels of (a) delays in payments and (b) loss of child maintenance parents with care have experienced as a
result of inaccurate maintenance assessments in each month over the last two years; and if he will make a statement. [122924]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 23 February 2007]: The information requested is not available.
Consultants
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the five most expensive external consultancy contracts awarded by his Department were in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement. [104253]
Mrs. McGuire: The five most expensive external consultancy contracts awarded by the DWP are shown in the following table. Information is only available from April 2004, prior to this date records are not held centrally and information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Please note that these are contracted values and include subsequent contract extensions.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much programme expenditure sponsored by his Department was spent via each of the Government offices for the regions in the most recent year for which figures are available. [116765]
Mrs. McGuire: No Jobcentre Plus sponsored programme expenditure is spent via the Government offices for the regions.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to
encourage the successful input of minicom prefix numbers into standard forms for telephone numbers on websites run by (a) commercial and (b) Government organisations. [117855]
Mrs. McGuire: This Department has not undertaken any specific activity to encourage the successful input of minicom prefix numbers into standard forms for telephone numbers on websites.
However, we have conducted a number of publicity campaigns aimed at helping employers and service providers to recognise their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, including their duty to make reasonable adjustments which may include the provision of minicom facilities for people with hearing impairments. For example, the ‘Adjusting for Better Business’ campaign was targeted at small and medium sized enterprises, business intermediaries and trade bodies and ran from December 2005 to May 2006, with further activity with supportive business intermediaries carried out between September and December 2006. These campaigns complement the activity of the Disability Rights Commission.
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