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Bullying: Internet

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of the incidence of bullying of children (a) via the internet and (b) by mobile phone text messaging. [168947]

Kevin Brennan [holding answer 27 November 2007]: We are unable to provide definitive figures for numbers of bullying incidents at school as we do not collect these data centrally. However our recent guidance on cyberbullying, incorporated as part of our comprehensive anti-bullying guidance “Safe to Learn: embedding anti-bullying work in schools”, included a range of survey evidence on the extent of cyberbullying. This is summarised as follows:

Research carried out for the Anti-Bullying Alliance by Goldsmiths College found that 22 per cent. of 11 to 16-year-olds had been a victim of cyberbullying;

The MSN cyberbullying report (2006) found that 11 per cent. of UK teens had experienced cyberbullying;

Noret and River’s four year study on bullying (2007) found that 15 per cent. of the 11,227 children surveyed had received nasty or aggressive texts and e-mails, and demonstrated a year on year increase in the number of children who are bullied using new technology;

Research conducted as part of the DCSF cyberbullying information campaign found that 34 per cent. of 12 to 15-year-olds reported having been cyberbullied.

Children in Care: Boarding Schools

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the implementation by local authorities of the policy of offering boarding school education where appropriate to looked-after children. [169626]

Kevin Brennan [holding answer 29 November 2007]: The Thomas Coram Research Unit of the Institute of Education is evaluating the work of the 12 local authorities that are part of pathfinder arrangements for placing vulnerable children in boarding schools. Regular reports are made to the project’s steering group and the full evaluation report will be published in October 2008.

Children in Care: Pupil Exclusions

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children in the care of each local authority were excluded from school in each of the last three years; [167599]

(2) how many children in the care of a local authority placed outside that authority area were excluded from school in each of the last three years, broken down by authority. [167600]

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Kevin Brennan [holding answer 26 November 2007]: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate costs.

The first year for which an in-care indicator was directly collected for permanently excluded pupils was 2005/06, collected in January 2007 via the School Census. The Department holds this information at individual level but this is not readily available at either local authority or national level.

Exclusions data for the 2006/07 school year are expected to be available in June 2008.

Children: Abuse

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children who were referred for an initial assessment from social services were suspected to be in danger of (a) abuse and (b) neglect in the latest period for which figures are available; [170799]

(2) how many children (a) received a core assessment from social services and (b) had further contact with social services as a result of their core
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assessment in the latest period for which figures are available; [170800]

(3) how many children were (a) referred for an initial assessment from social services and (b) received an initial assessment from social services in each of the last five years; [170801]

(4) what proportion of core assessments for children referred to children's social care were completed within the target timescale of 35 working days from the day of the initial assessment in the latest period for which figures are available. [170802]

Kevin Brennan: The available information can be found in SFR28/2007, Referrals, Assessments and Children and Young People who are the subject of a Child Protection Plan or are on Child Protection Registers, at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000742/index.shtml on the Department’s website. The answer to question 170799 can be found in table E, the other available answers are in table A. The department does not hold information on the number of children who had further contact with social services as a result of their core assessment (PQ170800 part b).

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Table A: Referrals of children and young people to children’s social care services, and assessments completed Years ending 31 March 2003 to 2007 Coverage: England
	Number					Percentage
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Referrals of children to children’s social care services( 1)
All referrals during year	570,200	572,700	552,000	569,300	545,000	100	100	100	100	100
of which:
Referrals within 12 months of a previous referral(2)	125,900	127,400	121,800	132,500	123,900	22	22	22	23	23
Initial assessments completed in the year(1)
All initial assessments completed in the year	263,900	290,800	290,300	300,200	305,000	100	100	100	100	100
of which:
Initial assessments completed within 7 working days of referral	149,400	169,100	179,200	194,900	208,700	57	58	62	65	68
Initial assessments completed in year as a percentage of all referrals in year	—	—	—	—	—	46	51	53	53	56
Core assessments completed in the year( 1)
Total number of core assessments completed in the year	55,700	63,600	74,100	84,800	93,400	100	100	100	100	100
of which:
Core assessments completed within 35 working days of initial assessments(3)	31,000	39,400	49,700	63,100	73,300	56	62	67	74	78
(1) Figures for referrals, initial assessments and core assessments include unborn children. (2) Re-referrals relate to a previous referral to the same authority only. (3) Or within 35 working days of the trigger event where this was not an initial assessment. Indicator C 64 of the Performance Assessment Framework: The proportion of core assessments that were completed within 35 working days of their commencement. Source: CPR3

Table E: Children who became the subject of a Child Protection Plan (CPP)1 , by category of abuse Years ending 31 March 2003 to 2007 Coverage: England
	Number					Percentage
Category of abuse	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Neglect	11,700	12,600	13,200	13,700	14,800	39	41	43	43	44
Physical abuse	5,700	5,800	5,500	5,100	5,100	19	19	18	16	15
Sexual abuse	3,000	2,800	2,700	2,600	2,500	10	9	9	8	7
Emotional abuse	5,400	5,700	5,700	6,700	7,800	18	18	19	21	23
Mixed / not recommended by ‘Working Together(’)	4,400	4,300	3,700	3,300	3,200	15	14	12	11	10
(1) Where a child was made the subject of a child protection plan (registered) more than once in the year within the same authority, each registration has been counted. These include unborn children. Source: CPR3

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