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30 Jan 2008 : Column 430W—continued
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of referred children received a provisional assessment of special educational needs statement within 18 weeks in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority; and if he will make a statement. [181798]
Kevin Brennan: Children may be referred to their local authority for a statutory assessment of special educational needs through, a request from their school or setting, a request from their parent or a referral by another agency. The local authority must then decide whether to conduct an assessment based on the initial evidence provided. The Government do not hold data on the total number of children referred for a statutory assessment.
Following a statutory assessment, the local authority must decide whether or not a child should receive a statement. The number of children in each local authority who receive a statutory assessment but do not receive a statement is recorded and is set out for each year from 1998 below.
The Audit Commission publishes figures on the proportion of draft statements issued by each local authority within 18 weeks of the start of the statutory assessment process. This information(1), broken down by local authority, is available from
(1) Best Value Performance Indicator 43a and b give the proportion of draft statements issued within 18 weeks excluding and including the permitted exceptions to the time limits respectively since 2000-01. The proportion of draft statements issued within 18 weeks excluding exceptions was collected as indicator K12b from 1997-98 until 1999-2000 and as indicator K10b in 1996-97.
Teenage Pregnancies: Barnet
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the rate of teenage pregnancy in Barnet was (a) in 1997 and (b) in each of the last two years; what steps his Department is taking in relation to teenage pregnancies; and if he will make a statement. [179101]
Beverley Hughes: The number and rate of under-18 conceptions in Barnet for each year from 1997 to 2005 (the latest year for which data are available) are provided in the table as follows.
| Number | Rate | |
The baseline year for the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy is 1998. Since then, the under-18 conception rate in Barnet has risen by 19.9 per cent. This is at odds with the trend in England as a whole—where the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 11.4 per cent.—and in contrast to areas that have similar population characteristics to Barnet, which have achieved impressive reductions. For example, the under-18 conception rate in Merton has fallen by 33 per cent.
To tackle the wide variation in progress across England, we have issued guidance to local authorities and primary care trusts on the key ingredients of successful local strategies—based on evidence of what works from the local areas which have made most progress. This evidence identified that successful strategies need to have in place
Active engagement of all of the key mainstream delivery partners who have a role in reducing teenage pregnancies—Health, Education, Social Services and Youth Support Services—and the voluntary sector;
A strong senior champion who is accountable for and has taken the lead in driving forward the local strategy;
The availability of a well publicised young people-centred contraceptive and sexual health advice service, with a strong remit to undertake health promotion work, as well as delivering reactive services;
A high priority given to PSHE in schools, with support from the local authority to develop comprehensive programmes of sex and relationships education (SRE) in all schools;
A strong focus on targeted interventions with young people at greatest risk of teenage pregnancy, in particular with Looked After Children;
The availability (and consistent take-up) of SRE training for professionals in partner organisations (such as Connexions Personal Advisers, Youth Workers and Social Workers) working with the most vulnerable young people; and
A well resourced Youth Service, providing thing to do and places to go for young people, with a clear focus on addressing key social issues affecting young people, such as sexual health and substance misuse.
I am asking areas like Barnet—where rates are increasing or progress is slow—to use this guidance to review and update their local strategies. This work is being supported by Government Offices which are providing appropriate support and challenge to each the local area. As part of that approach, we are encouraging all areas that are significantly behind trajectory to consider including teenage pregnancy as a priority in the Local Area Agreements that they are currently negotiating with Government Offices. The aim is to accelerate progress in all areas to the levels of the best. If all areas had performed as well as the top quartile, the national reduction would be 2 per cent. more than twice the reduction actually achieved.
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