| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Feb 2008 : Column 487W—continued
Capita
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials have held with (i) directors and (ii) senior executives of (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries since 1 January 2001; what the (1) location and (2) duration of each meeting was; whether a record of each meeting was kept; and if he will make a statement. [180711]
Kevin Brennan: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not the usual practice of Government to disclose details of such meetings.
Care Proceedings: Fees and Charges
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to change the charging procedures for local authorities paying court fees before they can issue proceedings to take a child into care. [186765]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
The Ministry of Justice is taking steps to minimise the administrative cost to local authorities of paying magistrates court fees (not just for care proceedings). Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) is developing a new payment system that should mean local authorities will be able to set up accounts with magistrates courts allowing them to pay all court fees incurred by single monthly or quarterly payments. In addition we are currently consulting on proposals to increase court fees paid by public authorities in child care and adoption proceedings to reflect the full cost of the process. The consultation closes on 11 March 2008.
Children
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many times the Children’s Plan expert groups have met; and if he will publish the minutes and attendance lists of each meeting. [186755]
Beverley Hughes: Between their inception in September 2007 and the publication of the Children’s Plan in December 2007, each of the three age-based Children’s Plan expert groups met three times as a group; there was one additional meeting which brought together all three expert groups in a plenary session in November 2007.
Lists of the original expert group members are published as annexes to the expert group reports, which are available on the DCSF Time to Talk website. Attendance lists were not published. Group discussions were held in confidence and minutes not published, as they relate to formulation and development of government policy and free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he proposes to publish the implementation documents referred to in the Children's Plan. [186763]
Beverley Hughes: The Children's Plan lists a number of documents due to be published during 2008. The intended timings were set out in the plan or in accompanying press notices and are:
Child Health Strategy, spring;
Obesity Action Plan, already published as ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives’ in January;
Review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, summer;
Play Strategy, summer;
Staying Safe: Action Plan, published in February;
Byron review, March;
Rose review of the Primary curriculum, interim report due in October, final report by March 2009;
Review of progress on special educational needs due to take place in 2009;
Bercow review on children, young people and speech, language and communication, interim report due spring, final report by summer;
Review of progress on implementation of Steer report, by summer;
Youth Task Force Action Plan, spring;
Drugs Strategy, spring;
Youth Grime Action Plan, during 2008;
Children's Workforce Action Plan, spring.
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service: Finance
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the budget for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service will be in financial years (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10. [175762]
Kevin Brennan: The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has been initially allocated the following net amounts:
| Funding (£ million) | |
Children in Care
Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average time was that children waited in local authority care to be placed (a) with a foster parent or parents and (b) with a parent or parents for adoption in the most recent period for which figures are available. [183550]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested on the average time a child waited in local authority care to be placed with foster parents is not collected centrally.
The average time between the date it was decided that a looked after child should be placed for adoption and the actual date the child was placed for adoption, was nine months in the year ending March 2007, the latest year for which data is available.
Children in Care: Health Services
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what percentage of looked after children in each local authority area received the immunisations appropriate for their age group in the latest period for which figures are available; [179417]
(2) what percentage of looked after children in each local authority area received a health assessment from their primary care trust on an annual basis in the latest period for which figures are available; [179418]
(3) what percentage of looked after children in each local authority area received a dental check on an annual basis in the latest period for which figures are available. [179419]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 January 2008]: Improving the health and well-being of looked after children is of paramount importance, Children in care are more likely to experience health problems, particularly mental health problems, than their peers and it is important that more is done to meet their needs.
Our White Paper ‘Care Matters: Time for Change’ set out how this is a priority for the Government. It outlined a strong package of measures intended to ensure that we improve health outcomes for this vulnerable group of young people, including by ensuring better joint working between local authorities and health care bodies. For the first time guidance on promoting the health of looked after children will be put on a statutory footing for both local authorities and health bodies.
The available information about the health care of looked after children has been placed in the House Libraries.
Children: Accidents
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children are taught about managing risk and staying safe to prevent accidents and accidental injury; [186336]
(2) what guidance has been given to local children’s services on measures to reduce incidence of accidental injury among young people; [186338]
(3) if he will take steps to (a) identify best practice in child accident prevention and (b) ensure that information on effective measures is shared between local safeguarding boards. [186344]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 18 February 2008]: The Department has worked across Government to co-ordinate the cross-Government Staying Safe Action Plan which was published on 5 February 2008. The report can be downloaded from www.ecm.aov.uk/stayingsafe and a copy is available in the House Library. In the Staying Safe Action Plan, we set out new commitments to help children, young people and their parents understand better the risks to their safety, including from accidental injury. These include the establishment of a Child Safety Education Coalition to deliver and evaluate child safety education across the country and ensure that more children, including disabled children, are taught about how to manage risk. We also announced new guidance for professionals on common risks in the home as well as a Priority Review of local accidental prevention. These new measures will help to identify and share good practice in accident prevention work between local areas.
My Department issued guidance to schools, “Safety Education Guidance for Schools”, in December 2001 This guidance sets out responsibilities for safety education and National Curriculum requirements, recommends approaches to teaching and learning, and provides examples of good practice. It is for schools to determine exactly how they provide safety education.
The effectiveness of these measures will be assessed by the public service agreement to improve children and young people’s safety, which was announced in October 2007.
Children: Behaviour Disorders
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were assessed as having behavioural difficulties in each London borough in each of the last five years. [185736]
Jim Knight: Information on pupils having behavioural, emotional or social difficulties identified as their primary need in maintained primary and secondary schools and all special schools in London local authorities is given in the following table for 2006 and 2007, the only years for which these data are available at local authority level. This information can be found in two SFRs, available on the Department's website here via the following links:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |