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23 Oct 2007 : Column 210W—continued
National Lottery: Sports
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was distributed to sport from the National Lottery in each year since 1997, broken down by sports lottery distributor. [158147]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The table shows the total Lottery income to the sport distributors, for the last 10 complete financial years. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.
| £000 | |||||
| Sport England | Sport Northern Ireland | Sport Scotland | UK Sport | Sport Council for Wales | |
Radio: Reviews
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) whether his Department plans to respond to the Ofcom publication—The Future of Radio; [159697]
(2) what plans his Department has to implement the proposals outlined in Ofcom's publication “The Future of Radio”. [159698]
James Purnell: Earlier this year, Ofcom consulted on the proposals outlined in its publication “The Future of Radio”. I understand that Ofcom is currently considering the results of that consultation and plans to publish its conclusions by the end of the year. I look forward to considering any proposals that it presents to Government.
Rugby
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he plans to meet representatives of the English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh rugby football unions. [159902]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have regular meetings with representatives of the English RFU and last met them on 9 July 2007.
I have no current plans to meet representatives of the Scottish, Irish and Welsh rugby football unions, but am happy to do so.
Sports: Broadcasting
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what mechanisms he will use to review the list of sporting events which must be offered at a fair and reasonable price to free-to-view broadcasters; and if he will make a statement. [160427]
James Purnell: It remains the Government's intention to review the list of sporting events in around 2008-09. No decision has yet been made on the exact date and nature of the review.
Swimming Pools
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Olympic-size swimming pools (a) there are and (b) are planned to be built before 2012 in the (i) Yorkshire and the Humber, (ii) North, (iii) North West, (iv) South West, (v) East Midlands, (vi) West Midlands, (vii) East of England and (viii) London regions. [159715]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 8 October 2007, Official Report, columns 334-35W, for information about the number and location of Olympic size swimming pools in Yorkshire and the Humber; North West; South West; East Midlands; West Midlands; East of England; and London regions. There are currently no Olympic-size pools in the Northern region.
Since that reply, a new 50-metre indoor pool has been completed in Leeds (Yorkshire and the Humber).
A further four pools are either under construction or have planning permission in Liverpool (North West); Sunderland (North); Hillingdon (London); Portsmouth (South East). Discussions are also proceeding on proposals to develop further Olympic size pools in the South West, East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands and London regions, with a view to their opening before 2012.
Children, Schools and Families
Antisocial Behaviour: Stoke on Trent
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Respect programme in Stoke-on-Trent. [159418]
Beverley Hughes: Stoke-on-Trent is one of 77 areas that have benefited from a close working relationship with the Respect task force. Complementing its broad range of approaches to tackle antisocial behaviour and its causes, Stoke has appointed a Parenting Practitioner to work with parents of young people who are involved in or at risk of becoming involved in antisocial behaviour, and has also developed a Family Intervention Project in the Meir neighbourhood. The Local Government User Satisfaction Survey shows that the proportion of the public who perceive a high level of antisocial behaviour in Stoke-on-Trent fell from 50 per cent. in 2003-04 to 31 per cent. in 2006-07.
Child Minding: Qualifications
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what support the Government provides for child minders to obtain higher early years qualifications. [159450]
Beverley Hughes: In our Children’s Workforce Strategy we set out a commitment to increase qualifications in the Early Years Workforce. We have a General Sure Start Grant (GSSG) allocation for 2007-08 that includes funding to local authorities to ensure that all early years education and child care workers receive appropriate training, development and support.
We have a Transformation Fund of £250 million from 2006 until 2008 to help deliver our long term commitment to transforming the quality of early years child care. A main aim of the fund is to achieve a greater proportion of the work force being qualified to Level 3 and above.
Children in Care
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his estimate is of (a) the number of children in the care of a local authority who are placed outside that authority’s area and (b) the percentage of such children who are privately fostered; and if he will initiate a formal review of the guidance issued to local authorities on managing such placements. [159103]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 18 October 2007]: The number of children looked after who were placed outside their responsible local authority area at 31 March 2007 was 18,400. This represented 31 per cent. of all children looked after on that date. None of them were privately fostered: children who are privately fostered are not ‘looked after’ by local authorities. Through the legislation to implement the “Care Matters” White Paper, we will strengthen the statutory framework so that a local authority may not place a child out of its area unless it is satisfied that such a placement is in the child’s best interests. Statutory guidance for local authorities will be issued to support this.
Curriculum: Citizenship
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what response he plans to make to the recommendation of the National Foundation for Education Research Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study that the statutory citizenship curriculum be strengthened in (a) status, (b) credibility and (c) visibility. [159647]
Jim Knight: Citizenship is a statutory part of the national curriculum for all pupils aged 11-16 and part of a joint non-statutory framework in primary schools alongside personal, social and health education (PSHE). The recent review of the secondary school curriculum undertaken by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) gave new impetus to the citizenship curriculum by adding a new strand entitled “Identity and diversity: living together in the UK”, following the recommendation in Sir Keith Ajegbo's review of diversity and citizenship. The DCSF, in partnership with CfBT and the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT), is running a national support programme to help schools implement these changes. From January to April 2008, there will be one day regional training events targeted at subject leaders. A national subject lead for citizenship has been appointed, who will work with 27 new regional advisers to support local networking.
We are also working with the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) to raise the status of citizenship with head teachers, providing a fully subsidised continuing professional development course for citizenship teachers to improve their skills, and developing a new, full GCSE and A-level in citizenship studies, in response to demand. In addition, guidance on the new duty for schools to promote community cohesion, which came into effect on 1 September 2007, makes clear that good citizenship education can make a significant contribution to this area and demonstrate schools' compliance.
We will continue to work with the NfER and use the findings of the Citizenship Education Longitudal Study to inform future policy.
Departments: Internet
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many websites his Department operates; how many it operated at 1 January 2005; and what the estimated annual cost has been of running his Department's websites in the last five years. [157765]
Kevin Brennan: The Department runs 25 main Government websites (URL domains). In addition the Department operates a number of sub-sites falling under the main domains.
There would be a disproportionate cost to provide the further information requested.
The Department is working towards consolidation of all its websites. Public-facing content is being migrated to Directgov and business content to Business Link.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many hits the (a) most and (b) least popular website run by his Department has received since 1 January 2007. [157766]
Kevin Brennan: The Department’s corporate website (www.dcsf.gov.uk), including the former Department for Education and Skills site (www.dfes.gov.uk), was the most popular during this period with 8,660,722 unique visitors. The Foundation Degree site (http://www.foundationdegree.org.uk) was the least popular with 62,619 unique visitors during this period.
Departments: Parking Offences
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many fixed penalty tickets were incurred by vehicles within the purview of his Department in the last year for which figures are available; and what the total cost was. [157763]
Kevin Brennan: On receipt of a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) which results in a fixed penalty notice for parking, speeding, jumping of traffic lights etc., the driver of the vehicle will be highlighted and the details of the driver passed to the relevant authorities. At this point the matter becomes one between the authority and the driver. No record is kept of this information as it is still subject to appeal by the driver, and no costs are incurred by the Department as traffic offences are a matter for which the driver must pay directly depending on the outcome.
Departments: Standards
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many of his Department’s public service agreement targets (a) take account and (b) do not take account of rural proofing. [159638]
Kevin Brennan: None of the targets underpinning the PSAs that my Department agreed in the 2007 comprehensive spending review themselves make explicit reference to rural areas. That is because the PSAs are about improving outcomes for all children and young people. However, in designing and developing policies to deliver the PSAs, particularly in the context of the forthcoming Children’s Plan, the Department will take into account all factors which prevent children and young people from achieving those outcomes, including rural issues (in accordance with guidance provided by the Commission for Rural Communities and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)).
Departments: Stationery
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much the Department for Education and Skills spent on departmental branded stationery between 1 January and 27 June. [159790]
Kevin Brennan: The spend on departmental branded stationery between 1 January and 27 June 2007 for the former Department for Education and Skills was £11,990.14.
Free School Meals: Leeds
John Battle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school children in Leeds, West were in receipt of free school
meals in the last 12 months; and what percentage of the total number of school children in the area this represents. [159858]
Kevin Brennan: The requested information is shown in the following table.
| Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools( 1) : school meal arrangements( 2) , January 2007—England, Leeds local authority and Leeds, West parliamentary constituency | |||||
| Maintained nursery and primary schools | |||||
| Number on roll | Number of pupils taking free school meals( 3) | Percentage taking free school meals | Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals | |
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