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Children in Care

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were in care at the latest date for which figures are available in the age groups (a) 0 to five, (b) five to nine, (c) nine to 12 and (d) 12 to 16 years. [174305]

Kevin Brennan: The information is provided in table 1 as follows.

Table 1: children looked after at 31 March 2007 by age at 31 March( 1,2,3)
Numbers
	Age at 31 March 2007 (years)
	All ages	0 to 4	5 to 8	9 to 11	12 to 15	16 and over
All children looked after at 31 March 2007	60,000	11,800	8,300	8,800	19,300	11,800
(1) Source: SSDA903 return on children looked after. (2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. (3) To ensure that no individual can be identified from statistical tables, we use conventions for the rounding and suppression of very small numbers. All numbers which appear in national tables have been rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 and to the nearest 10 otherwise. Numbers from 1 to 5 inclusive have been suppressed, being replaced in the table by a hyphen (-). It has been necessary to suppress other figures whenever it would be possible to calculate the value of a suppressed number by a means of simple arithmetic. The rule applied in these circumstances has been to suppress the next smallest data item provided its value is strictly less than 20.

Children: Counselling

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which schools are participating in the peer mentoring and befriending scheme; and what criteria are being used to assess the effectiveness of this scheme. [173835]

Kevin Brennan: A list of schools who are participating in the Department’s Peer Mentoring programme has been placed in the Library. This programme is managed on behalf of the Department by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.

8 Jan 2008 : Column 397W

Since 2006, the Department has been evaluating the impact of the Peer Mentoring programme through pilot projects in 180 schools. This two-year evaluation has been externally commissioned. Each school taking part in the pilot chose an outcome for their project, from the following list:

Improved academic performance or attainment;

Improved behaviour;

Improved attendance; and

Reductions in bullying.

The pilots are being evaluated against these outcomes.

8 Jan 2008 : Column 398W

Children: Day Care

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of child care providers were registered with Ofsted in each region in each year since 1997. [174727]

Beverley Hughes: The information is not available in the form requested.

Since 2003 Ofsted has been responsible for the registration and inspection of child care providers. The table shows the number of providers registered with Ofsted each year.

Number ( 1,2) of registered child care providers for children under 8 years of age by type of care Government o ffice r egion in England Position as at 31 March each year: 2003-07
	2003						2004
	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Creche day care	All	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Creche day care
England	68,200	9,600	11,600	8,000	1,900	99,300	72,400	11,000	11,300	9,200	2,200
East of England	8,100	900	1,700	800	100	11,500	8,700	1,000	1,700	900	300
East Midlands	5,700	800	1,100	600	200	8,300	6,000	900	1,100	700	200
London	10,200	1,500	1,200	1,100	300	14,300	11,700	1,700	1,200	1,300	300
Inner London	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Outer London	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North East and Yorkshire	9,600	1,200	1,300	1,100	400	13,600	10,100	1,400	1,200	1,200	500
North East	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Yorkshire and the Humber	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North West England	8,200	1,300	1,300	1,300	200	12,400	8,700	1,500	1,300	1,600	300
South East England	12,900	1,700	2,300	1,200	300	18,400	13,700	2,000	2,300	1,300	300
South West England	6,900	1,100	1,700	800	200	10,600	6,800	1,300	1,600	900	200
West Midlands	6,600	1,200	1,100	1,100	200	10,200	6,800	1,300	1,000	1,300	200

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	200 5						200 6
	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Creche day care	All	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Creche day care
England	70,200	12,100	10,200	9,700	2,500	104,700	71,600	13,100	9,700	10,500	2,700
East of England	8,400	1,100	1,600	900	300	12,300	8,500	1,200	1,500	1,000	400
East Midlands	5,800	900	1,000	700	200	8,600	5,900	1,000	1,000	700	200
London	11,400	1,800	1,100	1,400	300	16,100	—	—	—	—	—
Inner London	—	—	—	—	—	—	3,600	900	300	700	200
Outer London	—	—	—	—	—	—	8,200	1,000	700	900	200
North East and Yorkshire	10,100	1,600	1,100	1,200	500	14,500	—	—	—	—	—
North East	—	—	—	—	—	—	3,600	500	300	400	300
Yorkshire and the Humber	—	—	—	—	—	—	6,800	1,200	700	1,000	300
North West England	8,200	1,600	1,100	1,700	400	13,000	8,300	1,800	1,000	1,800	400
South East England	13,400	2,100	2,200	1,400	400	19,500	13,800	2,300	2,000	1,600	400
South West England	6,500	1,400	1,400	1,000	200	10,500	6,700	1,500	1,300	1,100	200
West Midlands	6,400	1,500	900	1,200	200	10,200	6,200	1,600	800	1,300	300

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