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9 Oct 2007 : Column 438W—continued
| Table 2: Imputed UK share of multilateral aid to the Maldives for 1997 to 2005 | |
| Calendar year | Imputed aid (£000) |
Peru: Overseas Aid
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial and other commitments the Government has made following the earthquake in southern Peru; and what steps he is taking to ensure that aid is received by those in need. [156296]
Mr. Malik:
DFID contributed £750,000 to the Peru earthquake response to help provide sanitation and washing facilities for those affected; to assist in planning for longer-term rebuilding; and to ensure that buildings in the area are better able to withstand earthquakes. We also paid for the British leader of the
UN’s disaster assessment and coordination team. Our assessment of the people affected by the earthquake showed that funding in this way was the best way for DFID to support those most in need. We will monitor progress.
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) has allocated US $9.6 million. The United Kingdom is the largest donor to the UN CERF, contributing 25 per cent. of its budget this year based on current calculations (the UK has provided $83.7 million of $329 million so far contributed).
The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) provided €8 million. DFID’s share via ECHO was approximately £970,000—17.4 per cent.
Philippines: Overseas Aid
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the UK Government gave to the Government of the Philippines in the last year for which figures are available. [155791]
Mr. Malik: In 2006-07 the UK gave £143,000 in bilateral aid to the Government of the Philippines.
South East Asia: Overseas Aid
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid has been given to help those affected by the recent flooding in South East Asia. [156072]
Mr. Malik: DFID responded to the floods in South Asia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We did not receive requests for assistance from South East Asian states.
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DFID contributed £650,000
£500,000 through WFP to provide food, clean water and safeguard people against water borne diseases.
£149,422 to Save the Children for essential health care support.
We have also offered support to the UN if required to assist with co-ordinating the relief effort.
In South Asia DFID contributed over £5 million to help the worst affected countries.
In Bangladesh we contributed £2.1 million through the Chars Livelihood Programme, United Nations Development Programme and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) to provide food, water, emergency shelter and medicines to help more than 1 million people in the worst-affected districts.
In Pakistan, we contributed £2.2 million through the Pakistani Rural Support Programme Network, the United Nations, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) providing multi-sectoral immediate relief as well as livelihoods assistance.
In India, DFID gave Save the Children £750,000 to provide general relief items, healthcare and livelihood support, children’s education and protection to 13,341 families (including 31,660 children).
Children, Schools and Families
Children’s Centres: Standards
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of children’s centres in targeting the most disadvantaged children and families; and if he will make a statement; [153832]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to ensure children’s centres are father friendly; and if he will make a statement; [153833]
(3) what assessment he has made of children’s centres’ effectiveness in working with community organisations. [153834]
Beverley Hughes: We now have over 1,400 children’s centres up and running providing services to, predominantly, the most disadvantaged communities. The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) findings on the early impact of 150 of the first Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) (November 2005) identified that of those families in the most disadvantaged areas served by SSLPs, 86 per cent. of the parents in the sample were benefiting from Sure Start. However, this evaluation also found that some of the most socially excluded groups could not be shown to be benefiting from living in a SSLP area. Although the NESS methodology could not identify whether any of the children in the sample had actually attended a Sure Start centre or not, we have taken a number of steps to ensure that the most excluded partners benefit.
In November 2005 the Department issued ‘Practice Guidance’ to encourage greater use of outreach and home-visiting services by children’s centres to reach the most disadvantaged families, which we then updated in November 2006.
To encourage better monitoring and a more systematic approach we issued Planning and Performance Management Guidance in November 2006 which contains a framework for centres to assess their progress in reaching excluded groups in their area.
We also commissioned Together for Children (TfC) to produce a toolkit, issued in December 2006, to complement our Practice Guidance and support centres in gathering information about their area and recording how they engage with excluded groups.
In August, we announced significant additional funds for children's centres for 2008-11 including funding to enable local authorities to add two outreach workers to centres serving the most disadvantaged communities, with a particular emphasis on reaching out to and supporting more fathers.
Research evidence shows that the impact a father's early involvement has on their child is long-lasting. Our revised Practice Guidance therefore emphasises the crucial role fathers have to play in giving their children the best start in life. It provides advice about how children’s centres can tailor their services to meet the needs of fathers, including non-resident parents, how staff should be encouraged to engage proactively with fathers and specific areas where fathers may require additional support. The Planning and Performance Management guidance recommends that children’s centres assess how well they engage with fathers and the TfC toolkit includes advice on working with fathers.
We have not made an assessment of how well children’s centres work with organisations from the community sector. However, an early survey of Phase 1 children’s centres showed that 82 per cent. of children’s centres had contracts with the voluntary sector for services. The Practice Guidance makes clear that local authorities must work with those organisations that have a track record of understanding local needs and delivering services that improve children’s outcomes. In addition, we require local authorities to consult and consider using all private, voluntary and community sector organisations in the area when planning and developing children’s centres services. In 2008, local authorities must review all centres developed in 2003-06 to ensure that maximum use has been made of good quality local private, voluntary and community sector suppliers and repeat this exercise every two years. We expect local authorities to keep evidence that they have carried out the required reviews.
Children's Commissioner for England: Information Officers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many press officers are employed by the Children’s Commissioner for England. [154553]
Beverley Hughes: This is a matter for the Children’s Commissioner for England. Rob Williams, the chief executive of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, has written to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Rob Williams, dated 5 October 2007:
I am writing to you in response to the parliamentary question that you recently tabled 154553. To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, how many press officers are employed by the Children’s Commissioner.
11 MILLION is a national organisation led by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green. Our mission is to use our powers and independence to ensure that the views of children and young people are routinely asked for, listened to and that outcomes for children improve over time. We aim to do this in partnership with others, by bringing children and young people into the heart of the decision-making process to increase understanding of their best interests.
Our two long-term goals are that children and young people see significant improvements in their wellbeing and can freely enjoy their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and that children and young people are more highly valued by adult society.
In the financial year 2007/08, 11 MILLION has the equivalent of 2.5 staff members spread across two full-time press officers and other communications staff.
A copy of this reply will be placed in the house library.
Departments: Publicity
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department’s projected spending is on advertising and promotional campaigns for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09, broken down by cost relating to (i) television, (ii) radio and (iii) print media. [155885]
Kevin Brennan: The Department’s advertising spend in 2007-08 is as follows:
| £ million | ||
| Spend to date | Projected spend | |
Departmental spend on all promotional campaigns is not held centrally. This is funded from policy programmes and from within the central Advertising and Publicity (A and P) budget.
The A and P budget for 2007-2008 is £13.5 million. In addition to funding promotional campaigns, this covers a wide variety of publicity activities (e.g. the Children’s Plan consultation, magazines for teachers and governors and attendance at events like The Education Show), as well as marketing infrastructure support (e.g. paying for the Department’s mailing house).
It is not possible to provide figures for 2008-09. Budgets for individual campaigns will not be agreed until communications priorities and objectives for 2008-09 have been finalised and planning (informed by evaluation of 2007-08 activity) has been completed.
Health Education: Sex
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what representations he has received from the Youth Parliament on sex and relationships education in schools; and if he will make a statement. [152369]
Beverley Hughes: The Minister of State for Schools and Learners attended the launch on 4 July of the UK Youth Parliament’s report “Sex and Relationships Education - Are You Getting It?”
He commended the members of the Youth Parliament for their efforts in producing the report and said that the Department would consider it in more detail.
Play: Facilities
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what advice he has issued to local authorities on the commercial sponsorship of children’s play facilities. [154788]
Kevin Brennan: We recognise fully the benefits of play for children and we continue to take steps to support and promote the provision of opportunities for play. We have not issued guidance on the commercial sponsorship of children’s play facilities: funding for such facilities is a matter for each local authority to determine.
Pupils: Foreigners
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school children in England are foreign nationals. [156311]
Beverley Hughes: The Department does not hold the requested information as schools are not required to separately identify pupils from overseas.
Pupils: Speech Therapy
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the supply of speech therapists for pupils in schools; [154760]
(2) what the average waiting time was for a speech therapy assessment in each English local education authority in the last period for which figures are available. [150803]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.
No assessment has been made centrally. It is for primary care trusts in partnership with local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, outlined in the national service frameworks, and to commission services accordingly. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community, including the provision of speech and language therapy (SLT).
A major review into the provision of services for children and young people with speech, language and communications needs was announced on 11 September by my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and the Secretary of State for Health. The review will report by summer 2008 and will build on the investment and improvements to SLT and resources in the last 10 years.
Information about waiting times for SLT provided by the national health service (NHS) are not collected centrally. The Department of Health collects waiting times information by consultant led specialties. SLT is not a consultant led speciality. Our objective is to balance the need for data against the burden that data collection places on the NHS.
Respect Budget: Bournemouth
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding has been provided to Bournemouth through the Respect budget; and for what purposes. [156190]
Kevin Brennan: The total Respect grant allocated to Bournemouth between 2006-08 is £387,307.
In 2006-07 the Respect Task Force provided Bournemouth borough council with a total grant of £48,860.
This funding allocation contributed to Bournemouth council’s wider effort to tackle antisocial behaviour and contributed towards the initial set up costs of its Family Intervention Project.
In 2007-08 the Respect Task Force has made available a total Respect grant allocation of £338,447. This represents:
£50,000 for a parenting expert, based in or linked to the antisocial behaviour team, to deliver additional parenting support to families. This funding was announced on 21 November 2006 and is available in 77 areas across England.
£125,000 to improve Bournemouth’s parenting services for families whose children are at risk of or involved in antisocial
behaviour. The Respect Task Force announced this funding on 22 January 2007 as part of a wider announcement highlighting the commitment of 40 areas to become Respect areas, of which Bournemouth were announced as one. All Respect areas were invited to apply for £125,000.
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