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21 Nov 2007 : Column 950W—continued
Imports: Radioactive Materials
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of shipping containers entering the United Kingdom by (a) ship, (b) plane, (c) truck and (d) train were tested for radioactive materials in each month in 2007. [164439]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
For security reasons, it is not appropriate to break down the percentage of traffic screened by traffic type.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times unauthorised radioactive material was detected in shipping containers entering the United Kingdom in each year since 2001; and what (a) quantity and (b) type of radioactive substance was detected. [164440]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
For security reasons, it is not appropriate to give a breakdown of the quantity and type of radioactive substances detected.
Members: Correspondence
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department will reply to the hon. Member for Edinburgh West’s letters of 5 October and 22 October with regard to her constituent, Mr. Joseph Coutinho. [166159]
Mr. Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 13 November 2007.
Migration Advisory Committee
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which individuals and organisations have a statutory duty to report to the Migration Advisory Committee. [164793]
Mr. Byrne: No individuals and/or organisations have a statutory duty to report to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC is a non-statutory non departmental public body (NDPB).
Nuclear Power Stations: Security
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department has taken to secure nuclear power facilities in the United Kingdom from terrorist attack. [164438]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
The Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) is the Government’s regulator for security in the civil nuclear industry and is responsible for ensuring, inter alia, that the industry complies with the requirements of the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 (NISR 03).
The NISR 03 requires those who use and store nuclear and/or other radioactive material (NM/ORM) in whatever form on a civil nuclear licensed site (including tenants) or use or store significant quantities of NM at other premises to have an approved Site Security Plan (SSP). SSPs must describe in writing the standards, procedures and arrangements which are kept in place to ensure the security of the nuclear premises, nuclear materials, other radioactive material and sensitive nuclear information. These arrangements include the full range of security measures including physical (e.g. fences, intruder detection systems and guards), personnel (e.g. national security vetting) and information security issues. The SSPs must be approved by OCNS before they are adopted. Once adopted sites are regularly inspected by OCNS to ensure compliance with their SSP. SSPs are regarded as “live” documents and remain subject to constant review, scrutiny and amendment as necessary.
Children, Schools and Families
Adoption
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to issue guidance on forced adoption. [164702]
Kevin Brennan: In 2005 we published the Adoption and Children Act 2002 Guidance which explains the duties and responsibilities that the Act and supporting regulations place on adoption agencies. This publication provides guidance to local authorities on adoptions where the birth parent(s) consent(s) to the adoption, and where consent is not given.
Capita
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was paid by the Department for Education and Skills to Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06. [165764]
Kevin Brennan: Details of the amount paid to Capita and its subsidiaries by the Department for Education and Skills for 2004-05 and 2005-06 are set out in the following table.
| £ | |
The expenditure relates to payments recorded in the Department’s integrated financial information system and credited against Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries.
CfBT
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was paid by the Department for Education and Skills to CfBT in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06. [165763]
Kevin Brennan: Details of the amount paid to CfBT Education Trust by the Department for Education and Skills for 2004-05 and 2005-06 are set out in the following table.
| £ | |
The expenditure relates to payments recorded in the Department’s integrated financial information system and credited against CfBT Education Trust.
Child Benefit
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the relative costs of child benefit and foster care in the provision of support to (a) babies, (b) children and (c) young people. [164707]
Kevin Brennan: Child benefit is a standard monthly tax-free payment made to anyone bringing up a child or young person, providing that they are responsible for that child or young person. Foster placements are provided for children and young people who are looked after by local authorities. The individual support which they receive (including their placement) is based on a detailed assessment of their individual needs. The two types of support fulfil different functions. An assessment of the relative costs of child benefit and foster care has not, therefore, been undertaken.
Children: Databases
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he expects the tendering process to begin for the e-enablement of the Common Assessment Framework; and if he will make a statement. [164825]
Kevin Brennan: It is the Government’s intention to commence the formal tendering procedure to procure a national eCAF solution provider using OGC Catalist Framework arrangements at the end of 2007.
Children: Day Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what targets his Department has set to improve the quality of child care provision in England. [166393]
Beverley Hughes
[holding answer 20 November 2007]: We have a Public Service Agreement target to improve the outcomes for children at age five and also
to reduce inequalities in outcomes between the children from the 30 per cent. most disadvantaged areas and their peers. We set annual targets for local authorities that reflect this PSA.
High quality provision is essential if we are raise outcomes and reduce inequalities. We are supporting the sector by significantly investing in raising the qualification levels of the workforce to raise child care quality, with an aim of having a graduate in every full daycare setting by 2015. We are supporting this aim through the Transformation Fund and, from 1 April 2008, the Graduate Leader Fund. Also we are funding the NCB to promote continuous quality improvement in the child care sector, through a sector-wide network and by establishing universal quality principles. This, with the revised inspection arrangements for early years that Ofsted are currently developing to reflect the new Early Years Foundations Stage framework, support improvement in quality and standards across the sector.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what targets his Department has set to increase the (a) numbers and (b) levels of relevant qualifications held within the child care workforce. [166394]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 20 November 2007]: In our response in February 2006 to the consultation on the Children's Workforce Strategy, we confirmed our ambition to have more widespread graduate leadership of early years settings through the development of an Early Years Professional Status. We set out our aim to have Early Years Professionals in all children's centres offering early years provision by 2010 and in every full day care setting by 2015. In our response, we also set out our aim to secure a higher proportion of the workforce in all settings qualified to at least Level 3 by 2008.
Children: Obesity
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department plans to weigh children on leaving primary school as part of the tackling obesity agenda. [164764]
Kevin Brennan: The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) aims to weigh and measure all children in Reception (aged four-five) and Year 6 (aged 10-11) in maintained primary and middle schools in England. The NCMP was established by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills (now Department for Children, Schools and Families) in 2005 and it is now into its third year.
The NCMP is part of the Government’s work programme to tackle childhood obesity. It was established to inform local planning and delivery of services for children and gather population-level surveillance data to allow analysis of trends in growth patterns and obesity.
Pupils are measured at school, with Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) leading the programme, and we have provided guidance to both PCTs and schools. Measurements are taken under the supervision of a trained healthcare professional with safeguards for privacy
and a non-stigmatising approach. Parents are given the opportunity to opt their child out of being weighed and measured, and pupils can refuse to participate on the day.
Aggregated data, with all personal identifiers removed, is sent to the Information Centre for Health and Social Care which manages the National Childhood Measurement Database and produce a national report based on the information.
Parents may request their child’s results from the PCT and we are planning to make that information available to all parents as a matter of course through provisions in the Health and Social Care Bill, introduced to Parliament on 16 November. The PCT will also provide information and support materials and will advise that parents can follow up any concerns with their GP or other health professional.
Children's Centres: Privatisation
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children's centres were privatised in each of the last five years; [165203]
(2) whether his Department has any plans for further privatisation of children's centres. [165204]
Beverley Hughes: Local authorities working with their partners in children's trusts are responsible for the overall delivery of the Sure Start Children's Centres programme in England including planning, securing value for money and ensuring overall quality in children's centres. We encourage them to involve private, voluntary and independent organisations both in managing children's centres and as service providers in order to harness the best of all sectors in delivering quality services for children. Reliable information on how many children's centres are run by private sector organisations is not available centrally. A survey of early children's centres last year showed around 58 per cent. of childcare provision in children's centres is provided by the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
Together for Children (TfC), the consortium appointed to support local authorities during the children's centre roll-out, are monitoring and challenging them on their involvement and use of PVI providers. They have produced a range of support materials for use by both local authorities and local PVI organisations as they work together in delivering children's centre services available online at
Departmental Flexible Working
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many staff (a) have applied to work flexible hours and (b) work flexible hours (i) in the Department and (ii) the executive agencies for which the Department is responsible. [164322]
Kevin Brennan: All staff in my Department can work flexibly. The information is not held centrally in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department has no executive agencies.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in which financial years since 2001 his Department’s outturn for its capital budget at the end of the year was less than planned at the beginning of the year; and what the (a) value and (b) reason for the underspend was in each case. [164512]
Kevin Brennan: DCSF is a newly created Department and we do not hold information on DCSF budgets for earlier years. To produce such information would involve disproportionate costs. It should be noted that underspends are measured on the end year budget and not on the budget at the beginning of the year.
Extended Schools
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools are providing access to the full core offer of extended services broken down by (i) region, (ii) local education authority and (iii) Parliamentary constituency; and if he will make a statement. [164826]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.
Pupils: Assessments
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families by what means assessments for the third key stage will be aligned to new programmes of study under the new secondary curriculum. [165766]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for the delivery of national curriculum assessments. The National Assessment Agency (NAA), which delivers the assessments on their behalf, will use their expertise to produce assessments that match the new curriculum's programme of study; encourage effective learning and teaching; and are widely accepted by the teaching community. Test materials will continue to be developed using rigorous procedures, which include informal trialling of early materials, two formal pre-tests using nationally representative samples of pupils as well as review by teachers, senior markers and other educational experts at key points in the process. QCA will use their well established procedures to ensure that standards are maintained.
Pupils: Attendance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which period of the school year is used for the measurement of school attendance by pupils in each year group; and if he will make a statement. [163321]
Kevin Brennan: The Department collects attendance and absence data for the autumn term, spring term and first half of the summer term for all compulsory school age pupils except boarders.
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