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14 Mar 2007 : Column 366W—continued
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what average funding per pupil was allocated to each education and library board area in each of the last six years. [127112]
Maria Eagle: The following table sets out the average funding per pupil delegated to schools in each education and library board area under local management of schools arrangements in each of the last six years. Further funding is allocated directly to education and library boards for a wide range of services, some which benefit all pupils while others are more specifically targeted. Accordingly it is not possible to present that funding accurately on a per-pupil basis.
| £ | ||||||
| Education and Library Board area | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | ( 1) 2005-06 | ( 1) 2006-07 |
| (1 )Funding in 2005-06 and 2006-07 was distributed using the common funding formula. Prior to then, each funding authority used its own formula to determine allocations to schools. | ||||||
Pupils: Racial Harassment
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the progress made by the Government since the publication of its Race Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland in determining the scale and nature of racist bullying in schools in Northern Ireland. [127184]
Maria Eagle:
In 1999 the Department commissioned research into the nature and scale of bullying in Northern Ireland schools. The report was published in October 2002. The report recommended that managers and teachers should monitor the incidences of ethnic and religion-based bullying and this area should explicitly be included within school policies. The research is available on the Department’s website at
www.deni.gov.uk/rb8_2002.pdf I have also arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library.
Following on from this research, in 2005 the Department commissioned the university of Ulster to undertake a further study into the extent and nature of bullying, including racist bullying, in Northern Ireland schools. The report will be published later this year. That will allow for a comparison with the report published in 2002 and the identification of any change.
Schools: Arson
Lady Hermon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many fires occurred in schools
in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years; how many were started deliberately; and what the cost of repairs for fire damage to these schools over the same period. [126888]
Maria Eagle: Information on fires in schools by education and library board area is available for the years 2002-03 to date:
| Board area | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006 February 2007 |
Information on the costs of the damage is not readily available. This information has been requested from the education and library boards and I will provide this to the hon. Lady in writing as soon as possible.
Schools: Fire Prevention
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many schools in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland are equipped with sprinkler systems. [127121]
Maria Eagle: All schools in Northern Ireland must comply with the fire regulations. There is no requirement to provide sprinkler systems. I understand that at the current time, there are no schools that have sprinkler systems installed.
Work and Pensions
Businesses: Orders and Regulations
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the (a) one-off cost and (b) recurring costs of implementing the Occupational Pensions Schemes (Winding Up , Deficiency on Winding Up and Transfer Values) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators. [126652]
James Purnell: The Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up, Deficiency on Winding Up and Transfer Values) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 were accompanied by a regulatory impact assessment (RIA), a copy of which is available in the Library. The RIA included an assessment of the impact of the regulations on business. The cost to the relevant pensions regulatory authority of implementing the regulations, if any, is not separately identifiable.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the (a) one-off cost and (b) recurring cost of implementing the Occupational Pensions Schemes (Winding Up and Deficiency on Winding Up etc) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators. [126657]
James Purnell: The Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up and Deficiency on Winding Up etc) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 were accompanied by a regulatory impact assessment (RIA), copies of which are available in the Library. The RIA included an assessment of the impact of the regulations on business. The cost to the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) of implementing the regulations, if any, is not separately identifiable.
Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to make carbon monoxide alarms available free of charge to pensioners. [123421]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 26 February 2007]: There are no proposals to make carbon monoxide (CO) alarms free of charge to pensioners.
However, all Fire and Rescue Services in England have discretion to extend their Home Fire Risk Checks for vulnerable households to provide a free CO alarm, in addition to installation of a free smoke alarm. Similar arrangements are being considered in Wales.
There are also other Government initiatives aimed at helping pensioners with gas and heating expenses. These include schemes such as WarmFront, Home Energy Efficiency and WarmDeal, which provide grants for the replacement or repair of heating systems to eligible people receiving certain benefits. In addition, the Priority Services Register enables pensioners to have a free annual gas safety check by their gas supplier.
Child Support Agency: Personnel
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days training on average were provided to each member of staff at the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years. [120241]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty dated 14 March 2007:
In reply to your recent parliamentary quest6ion about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of state promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days training on average have been provided to each member of staff at the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years.
The information requested is provided in the attached table.
| Average days training | |
| (1) Final figures will be available after 31 March 2007. Notes: 1. This information has been calculated by dividing the total number of days training provided by the Agency by the average number of people employed by the Agency over the relevant year, this includes those people who received no training in the relevant year. 2. The figures shown for the year 2006-07 are the result of a 12-month projection of training undertaken, based on the training undertaken between March 2006 and January 2007. 3. The decreases in recorded training days since 2003-04 is caused by a number of factors including a move towards blended learning and the use of e-learning with less emphasis on classroom training. | |
Children: Poverty
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to tackle child poverty in (a) Eltham, (b) the London borough of Greenwich and (c) London. [126700]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Our child poverty strategy has achieved success nationally through making work pay and tax credits. Between 1998-99 and 2004-05, the number of children in relative low income fell by 700,000.
We have introduced the city strategy, which should play a significant role in increasing local employment rates, ensuring those most disadvantaged in the labour market can receive the help and guidance they need, delivered flexibly on a joined up, local basis. Two of the
initial 15 city strategy pathfinder areas are in London. The East and South East London pathfinder, covering the five host boroughs (including Greenwich) for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, has highlighted the level of child poverty in the area as one of its key challenges.
The New Deal Plus for Lone Parents pilots started in April 2005 in five Jobcentre Plus districts, one of which includes Greenwich. We are testing a comprehensive package of measures based on New Deal for Lone Parents and an existing core set of pilots.
Departments: Energy
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what strategy he has put in place for (a) the use of renewable energy and (b) meeting energy targets in his Department's buildings; and if he will make a statement. [125398]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department works very closely with its Estate Partner, Land Securities Trillium to meet the targets for sustainable operations on the Government estate, which were published on 12 June 2006. A package of measures is in place to address the energy targets, including ‘spend-to-save' investment in energy efficient equipment, new monitoring arrangements (which allow the identification, and subsequent rectification of anomalies in energy use) and an ongoing commitment to purchase off-site renewable energy. Regular meetings are held with sustainable development representatives from individual DWP businesses to identify potential efficiency measures and monitor progress. The Department is now assessing also the potential for on-site generation of renewable energy.
The latest available figures for 2005-06 show the Department consumed 327,460,763 kWhs of electricity. Of this 175,174,178 kWhs were acquired from renewable sources—this accounts for 53.5 per cent. of the total electricity consumption.
Information on the Department’s performance on all sustainability targets can be found in the Department's annual sustainable development report and the sustainable development in Government report produced by the Sustainable Development Commission.
Departments: ICT
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much expenditure on information technology systems, hardware and software was written off by his Department in each of the last five years. [120457]
James Purnell: No expenditure on information technology systems hardware or software assets has been written off by the Department for Work and Pensions in the last five years.
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