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22 Nov 2007 : Column 1132W—continued
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust: Clostridium
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the five non-executive directors who resigned from the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospitals Trust as a result of the clostridium difficile outbreak were in post when the outbreak occurred; and if he will make a statement. [166614]
Ann Keen [holding answer 20 November 2007]: South East Coast Strategic Health Authority has advised my officials that three non-executive directors have resigned from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospitals. As stated in the press release from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust published on 12 November 2007, one joined in June 2006, one in July 2006 and the third in September 2006, and although in post when the Healthcare Commission Report was sent to the Trust, they were not in post during the clostridium difficile outbreaks.
The non-executives who are near the end of their four year term will leave the trust at the end of November.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust: Pay
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the strategic health authority was consulted about the proposed compensation payment to the outgoing chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospitals Trust; and if he will make a statement. [166615]
Ann Keen [holding answer 20 November 2007]: I understand that discussions about the compensation payment were held between South East Coast Strategic Health Authority and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. However, the decision about proposed compensation payment was taken by the Trust.
Nurses: Foreign Workers
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many non-EU/EEA nurses have been hired by the NHS in each of the last five years. [162229]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
The nursing and midwifery council collects information on the number of nurses who register with them from overseas each year. It does not collect data on whether these nurses entered the United Kingdom, returned to their own country or worked in the national health service.
This information is available at:
Prescriptions
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to general practitioners on issuing prescriptions for more than three months’ supply of medication in circumstances where the patient will be out of the country. [166331]
Dawn Primarolo: Under the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004, where a person for whose treatment a doctor is responsible leaves the United Kingdom with the intention of being away for a period of at least three months, that person should be removed from the doctor’s list from the date of departure and as a consequence, ceases to be eligible for national health service treatment. The Department has not issued specific guidance on the issuing of prescriptions in these circumstances.
Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust: Midwives
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives were employed by the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust in each of the last five years. [165083]
Ann Keen [holding answer 19 November 2007]: The information requested is provided in the following table.
| National health service hospital and community health services: qualified midwifery staff in the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust as at 30 September each specified year | |||||
| Headcount | |||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Source: The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical workforce Census. | |||||
Children, Schools and Families
Academies: Sponsorship
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for which academies sponsorship monies are overdue for payment; who the sponsor is in each case; and if he will make a statement. [166341]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 8 October 2007, Official Report, columns 376-70W.
Antisocial Behaviour
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the role of the Youth Taskforce will be in tackling antisocial behaviour committed by adults. [167117]
Beverley Hughes: The Home Office has responsibility for policy on antisocial behaviour, crime and disorder. Work across Government, including the Department of Children Schools and Families, contributes to the Government's strategy to tackle antisocial behaviour and its causes.
The Youth Taskforce, announced on 5 October, will support local delivery of the Government's strategy on antisocial behaviour, with a particular focus on promoting earlier intervention and support to young people. It will publish an action plan in spring 2008.
Assessments: Expenditure
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his estimate is of the cost of holding national tests at Key Stage (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3 in 2007; and if he will make a statement. [166683]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for the delivery of national curriculum tests. QCA’s estimate of the cost of delivering the national curriculum tests for Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 in 2007/08 is £50,570,000. QCA’s records do not support the split of this information between the various key stages.
Children in Care
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many young people in the care of each local authority gained a place at (a) university and (b) another higher education institution in 2007; [167123]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of children in the care of a local authority who have access to (a) a trained counsellor and (b) mentor in each local authority area; [167124]
(3) how many young people in the care of a local authority were not in employment, education or training in each local authority area, in the latest period for which figures are available; [167125]
(4) how many children or young people in the care of a local authority had a statement of special educational needs in each local authority area, in the latest period for which figures are available. [167126]
Kevin Brennan: Information on the number of young people in the care of each local authority that gained a place at (a) university and (b) another higher education institution in 2007, as well as the number of young people in the care of a local authority who have access to (a) a trained counsellor and (b) mentor in each local authority area is not collected centrally by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). However, information at national level on the number of children that are now aged 19 who were looked after on 1 April 2004 but have since left care and are engaged in higher educational studies (i.e. studies beyond A level) is shown in the Statistical First Release 27/2007 (entitled Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2007), via table G1 at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000741/index.shtml. The figures at local authority level will be released on 29 November 2007 at the same website.
Information on the number young people in the care of a local authority that were not in employment, education or training in each local authority area and the number of children or young people in the care of a local authority that had a statement of special educational needs in each local authority area can be found in tables 6 and 1, respectively on the Department's website at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000727/index.shtml. This Statistical First Release (17/2007—Outcome Indicators for Looked After Children: Twelve Months to 30 September 2006, England) contains information on children and young people in England who have been looked after continuously for at least 12 months at 30 September.
Information on the activity of children that were aged 19 years during the year ending 31 March 2006 who were looked after at 1 April 2003, including whether they were in education, employment or training, is available from table 21 of the publication available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000721/index.shtml entitled Children Looked After by Local Authorities, Year Ending 31 March 2006.
Children in Care: Offenders
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children or young people in the care of a local authority were (a) in receipt of an antisocial behaviour order, (b) serving a suspended sentence and (c) serving a prison sentence on the latest date for which figures are available. [167146]
Kevin Brennan: Information on the number of children looked after by local authorities within England who were (a) in receipt of an antisocial behaviour order, and (b) serving a suspended sentence is not collected centrally by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
The number of children looked after by local authorities within England who were placed in a young offenders' institution or prison at 31 March 2007 was 160. 20 of these children were on remand or committed for trial.
Children: Day Care
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the time it will take to provide a place in a childcare scheme for each lone parent who requires one. [166992]
Beverley Hughes: Local authorities are currently completing assessments of the sufficiency of childcare in their areas, as required by the Childcare Act 2006, identifying demand for childcare—including from lone parents—together with available supply and any gaps between the two. From April 2008, local authorities will have a new duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, childcare places for all working parents, or parents undertaking education or training in preparation for work. Jobcentre Plus childcare partnership managers will continue to work with the Children's Information Services provided by local authorities so that lone parents who require childcare to enable them to take up employment are able to find appropriate places.
Children: Learning Disability
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps the Government has taken to assist parents of children with learning difficulties since 1997; [164688]
(2) what steps the Government has taken to widen opportunities in education for children with learning difficulties since 1997. [164689]
Mr. Jim Cunningham [holding answer 19 November 2007]: In 1997 the Government published their Green Paper “Excellence for all children: Meeting Special Educational Needs” which set out policies for working with parents and improving provision to meet children’s special educational needs (SEN). In 1998 the Government set out a programme of action to implement the policies in the Green Paper over the following three years and in 2001 passed the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act and published a revised SEN Code of Practice. The Act strengthened the right of parents of children with SEN to have their children educated in mainstream schools if that is what they wanted; it laid duties on schools and local authorities not to discriminate against children with disabilities, including those with learning disabilities, to make reasonable adjustments to prevent such discrimination, and to plan to increase access to schools and the curriculum; and the Act obliged each local authority to have a parent partnership service for the parents of children with SEN in order to offer factual and unbiased advice on SEN provision and procedures.
Since 2004, through a range of initiatives, the Government have been implementing their SEN strategy “Removing Barriers to Achievement” which promoted earlier intervention, improvements to mainstream SEN provision so that a wider group of children can have their needs met effectively in mainstream schools, an enhanced role for special schools providing for children with severe and complex needs and working with mainstream schools to help other children with SEN reach their potential, improved SEN training for prospective and qualified teachers and improved partnership working between agencies to meet children’s needs. In the past eight years, spending by local authorities on provision for children with SEN has risen from £2.8 billion in 2000-01 (the first year in which this figure was collected separately) to £4.9 billion in 2007-08.
Complementing the initiatives under these programmes and strategies, others have focused on disabled, including learning disabled, children and their parents. For example, the Early Support programme has promoted joint agency approaches to earlier identification and key workers to work with families to negotiate access to services and offer support. Early Support has also produced a range of support resources for parents. The programme is now being rolled out nationally.
Finally, “Aiming High for Disabled Children” (May 2007) announced £340 million of investment, including £280 million to improve the provision of short breaks for the families of disabled children, £5 million to encourage parents’ participation in influencing the design and delivery of services and £19 million for a Transition Support Programme to help young people realise their ambitions in their transition to adult life.
Children: Protection
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what information each local authority will be required to supply in order to comply with performance indicator 71 of the new indicator set for local authorities; what the reporting intervals will be against the indicator; what mechanism will be used to assess the performance of individual authorities; and what steps will be taken to address underperforming authorities. [167148]
Kevin Brennan: The indicator on children who have run away from home/care overnight will be measured from 2009-10. This will give us time to identify robust data collection methodologies. We are considering a number of different options to gather data on young runaways in connection with the new indicator, working closely with the other Government Departments, the police, local authorities and expert charitable organisations such as the Children’s Society.
All top tier local authorities and their strategic partners will have to report back at least annually on their performance against all 198 cross-Government indicators in the new national set, which was published on 11 October 2007.
In addition, each area will agree with Government up to 35 improvement targets—plus the 16 statutory education and early years targets—drawn from indicators in the national set. Local areas may also set themselves an unlimited number of local targets which
will not be subject to central performance monitoring and which need not be drawn from the national indicator set.
From 2009 performance against all 198 national indicators will be published each year by the Audit Commission, as part of the inspectorates’ comprehensive area assessment of local authorities. This will also report on each local authority’s direction of travel and use of resources and will assess risks in the area.
Children's Centres: Finance
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what discussions he has had with Kent county council on the ring-fencing of funding for Sure Starts and family centres; [166954]
(2) whether Kent county council is able to alter the funding arrangements for (a) existing and (b) future Sure Starts or family centres under the procedures for which his Department is responsible; [166955]
(3) whether the existing funding for Sure Start and family centre schemes in Kent is ring-fenced. [167040]
Beverley Hughes: The Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant (formerly the General Sure Start Grant) which my Department pays to all local authorities includes ringfenced revenue funding for Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), including those that have since been designated as Sure Start Children's Centres. Kent county council, like all local authorities receiving this ringfenced funding, has freedom to determine the level of resource for each individual SSLP in its area from within its overall ring-fenced allocation for SSLPs to ensure the core children's centre services remain available to families in the area. My officials wrote to local authorities in August this year giving revenue allocations for children's centres and SSLPs for the next three financial years. The letter explained that the ringfenced funding must be used for
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