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12 Mar 2008 : Column 404W—continued
Departmental Databases
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what databases are (a) owned and (b) maintained by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [185424]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested is not readily available centrally within the Department for Children, Schools and Families. To respond fully would involve an extensive internal and external information collection exercise which would exceed the recommended disproportionate cost threshold.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what efficiency savings his Department was required to make as part of its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets; what efficiency projects have been undertaken in the Department in pursuit of those targets; on what date each was initiated; and how much each was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [162320]
Kevin Brennan: The Department is jointly committed with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to the efficiency target set originally for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
The DfES target is 2.5 per cent. a year over the spending review 2004 period. This means being able to demonstrate cumulative gains against our baseline of £1.45 billion in 2005-06, £2.9 billion in 2006-07 and £4.35 billion in 2007-08.
Details of the specific initiatives which contribute to our Gershon efficiency target are set out in our Efficiency Technical Note, which is available on the Department’s website.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many Wikipedia entries have been (a) created and (b) amended (i) by (A) special advisers, (B) Ministers and (C) communications officials and (ii) from IP addresses of (1) special advisers, (2) Ministers and (3) communications officials in (x) his Department and (y) its predecessor since August 2005. [185535]
Kevin Brennan: No Wikipedia entries have been created by anyone in the Department or its predecessor. One entry has been amended by a Minister. It is not possible to obtain IP address information without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Leave
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many staff in his Department are (a) on leave, (b) suspended, (c) on sick leave, (d) retained and (e) otherwise inactive. [192847]
Kevin Brennan: At the end of February 2008, 91 staff were on sick leave and 162 staff were retained or inactive (i.e. those on maternity leave, special leave without pay or career breaks).
Central records are not kept for staff on leave, or those who have been suspended, and figures could be collected at only disproportionate cost.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff under 18 years of age are employed by his Department. [189070]
Kevin Brennan: The Department employs (a) two staff who are under 18 years of age. Both are full-time so this equals (b) two full-time equivalents. This is out of a total of 2,871 staff (2,722 full-time equivalents) currently employed in the Department.
Departmental Older Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people over the age of 55 have been recruited by his Department and its predecessors in each of the last three years. [191514]
Kevin Brennan: The information on recruits to the current Department and its predecessors is given as follows:
| Recruits over the age of 55 years | |
| Number | |
| (1) DFES and DCSF (2) To date | |
Departmental Sick Pay
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost of sickness pay to staff within his Department was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [187510]
Kevin Brennan: It is not possible to provide information for a whole year as my Department was created as part of the Machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007. However, I am able to tell you that for the six months ending 31 December 2007 the cost of sickness pay to staff within the Department amounted to £1.52 million.
The Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and keeping it to a minimum. Effective preventative measures, including maintaining a healthy work environment, are in place, supported by prompt action when people become sick.
Health Insurance
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies have private health insurance provided as part of their employment package. [167937]
Kevin Brennan: The Department does not offer private health insurance as part of the employment package.
The Department has no agencies.
Intimidation
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many cases of bullying have been reported in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last 12 months. [182839]
Kevin Brennan: No complaints of bullying were reported in the Department or its agencies in the last 12 months.
The Department has no agencies.
Primary Education: Nutrition
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what procedures are in place to monitor nutritional standards in primary schools. [192332]
Kevin Brennan: As part of their regular inspections of schools Ofsted expect schools to present evidence about their general approach to food and healthy eating and will report any issues which arise out of self-assessment or as a result of their inspection visit.
Our aim is that all schools will have attained Healthy School status, or be working towards it, by 2009. One of the success criteria is healthy eating and, as part of this, schools will need to show adherence to the new standards.
Young People: Suicide
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people under the age of 21 years committed suicide in 2007; and what research has been undertaken by his Department on suicide risk factors and methods of prevention of suicide among young people. [192333]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.
The number of deaths from suicide and undetermined injury among people aged under 20 in England in the latest available year, 2006, was 128. Data from the Office for National Statistics is provided in five-year age bands, not single years, so information on suicides by those under 21 is not available.
Research conducted by a number of organisations, including the Department, outline many of the risk factors associated with suicide and these helped form the basis of the suicide prevention strategy for England.
The Department has also funded, through the National Institute for Health Research, a programme entitled “Collaborative learning on the web. The role of online communities in public and professional health education: an exploration based on self-harm”. This study aims to support collaboration between young people and health professionals in the production of health information to young people who self-harm.
Home Department
Animal Experiments
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to regulate animal testing; and how many animals (a) were used in and (b) died during testing in the last (i) 10 years and (ii) 12 months. [191771]
Meg Hillier: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 makes provision for the protection of animals used for experimental or other scientific purposes which may have the effect of causing pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. The production, as well as the use, of genetically modified animals is also regulated by the Act. The Act puts into effect, and in some ways exceeds, the requirements of European Union Directive 86/609/EEC and of Council of Europe Convention ETS 123. The Act is administered by the Home Office in England, Scotland and Wales and by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland.
The Act has a three-level licensing system: those carrying out scientific procedures must hold personal licences, which ensures that they are qualified and suitable; the programme of work must be authorised in a project licence; and the place at which the work is carried out must hold a certificate of designation. Home Office inspectors appointed under the Act monitor compliance with the terms and conditions of licences and certificates.
Comprehensive statistics on the use of animals under the Act are published annually. Copies are deposited in the House Library. For convenience the
numbers of animals used between 1996 and 2006 (the last year for which figures are available) are shown in the table. We do not collect information about the disposal of animals but the majority of animals used in procedures regulated under the 1986 Act are humanely killed on completion of the work in which they are involved in accordance with the requirements of the Act and relevant project licence conditions. Animals taken into brief captivity for the performance of minor regulated procedures are released to the wild provided that the animals will not be at a biological disadvantage as a result of the regulated procedure performed or of its time in captivity and provided that the animals are certified as fit to be released by a veterinary surgeon or a suitably qualified person.
| Living animals used in scientific procedures regulated by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 | |
| Total animal usage | |
Animal Experiments: Licensing
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many companies were project licence holders for the conduct of scientific procedures on living animals in each of the last 10 years. [192615]
Meg Hillier: Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, project licences are granted to named individuals and not to companies. Comprehensive statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain regulated by the 1986 Act are published annually and are placed in the House Library. These include details of project licences in force at the end of each year in various categories of designated establishment, one of which is commercial. The following table gives full details from 1996 to 2006 (the latest year for which figures are available).
| Licensees reporting procedures by type of establishment (England, Scotland and Wales) 1996-2006 | ||||||||
| Public health labs | Universities | Quangos | NHS hospitals | Government Departments | Non-profit making | Commercial | Total | |
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