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13 Mar 2008 : Column 591W—continued
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Day Care
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will estimate the proportion of children (a) under five years, (b) of primary school age and (c) of secondary school age who will have access to child care if required between 8.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. and for 48 weeks a year in (i) England and (ii) each local authority in (A) 2007-08, (B) 2008-09 and (C) 2009-10. [192930]
Kevin Brennan: Information is not available in the form requested.
Section 11 of the Childcare Act 2006, which came into force in April 2007, placed a duty on local authorities to complete a child care sufficiency assessment before April 2008. They will have to complete an assessment at least every three years, and keep it under review between assessments, especially where there are key demographic changes or as new data becomes available.
The assessment process will give local authorities the evidence and information they need to facilitate and shape a child care market that is flexible, sustainable and responsive to parents’ needs. It will also help local authorities to develop their strategies for meeting the new duty to secure sufficient child care which will start in April 2008.
Tables 1 to 3 provide information about population estimates for each local authority area for the years 2008-10 have been placed in the House Libraries. From April 2008 local authorities will need to secure sufficient child care places for working parents of these children.
Children: Disabled
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of disabled children who are waiting for (a) assessment and (b) reassessment in relation to direct payments, in each local authority area. [174563]
Kevin Brennan: There is no information collected or estimates made regarding the number of disabled children waiting for (a) assessment or (b) reassessment for direct payments. However, data are collected on the number of disabled children aged 16-17, and the number of carers of disabled children, receiving direct payments at 31 March each year. The most recent data available are for 31 March 2006, and show that 649 children and 4,170 carers were receiving these payments in England. These data are also available by local authority, and have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
Children’s Commissioner for England: Finance
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the budget is for the office of the Children's Commissioner for England in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10. [186748]
Beverley Hughes: The current budget is a matter for 11 Million (formerly the Office of the Children's Commissioner). Rob Williams, the chief executive, has written to the hon. Member with information about the current financial year and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library. The budget for the next two financial years has yet to be finalised.
Letter from Rob Williams, dated 13 March 2008:
I have been asked by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to write to you in response to parliamentary question numbers 186751 and number 186748,
I have enclosed a copy of our annual report for the years 2006-07 which contains financial details from our inception until March 2007, which contains financial details from our inception until March 2007.
For 2007-08 and 2008-09 the figures are:
| Analysis of budget breakdown 11 MILLION 2007 to 2009 | ||
| £ | ||
| 2007-08 budget | 2008-09 draft budget | |
I hope this answers your question. If you think it would be helpful I would be more than happy to meet with you to discuss the work we have been doing and to talk through with you our work plan for the coming financial year.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will give a breakdown of the expenditure by the office of the Children's Commissioner in England by main budget heading since inception of the office. [186751]
Beverley Hughes: These are matters for 11 Million (formerly the Office of the Children's Commissioner). Rob Williams, the chief executive, has written to the hon. Member with information about the current financial year and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Rob Williams, dated 13 March 2008:
I have been asked by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to write to you in response to parliamentary question numbers 188751 and number 186748,
I have enclosed a copy of our annual report for the years 2006-2007 which contains financial details from our inception until March 2007,
For and the figures are:
| Analysis of budget breakdown 11 MILLION 2007 to 2009 | ||
| £ | ||
| 2007-08 budget | 2008-09 draft budget | |
I hope this answers your question. If you think it would be helpful, I would be more than happy to meet with you to discuss the work we have been doing and to talk through with you our work plan for the coming financial year.
Departmental Official Cars
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what make and model of car (a) he and (b) each Minister in his Department selected as their official ministerial car; and what criteria were applied when making the decision in each case. [192439]
Kevin Brennan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 10 March 2008, Official Report, column 8W, by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Transport.
Departmental Plants
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department and its predecessor spent on pot plants in each of the last five years. [192051]
Kevin Brennan: The Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessor spending on pot plants for its headquarters buildings including maintenance and rental over the last five years is broken down as follows:
| £000 | |
Disadvantaged: Crime
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what analysis his Department has made of the Institute of Education research indicating a correlation between educational inequality and crime; and if he will make a statement. [193056]
Kevin Brennan: This research was conducted by the DCSF-funded Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL), based at the Institute of Education. It is part of a body of research we have supported over the last eight years focusing on the impact of education, and its distribution, on societal well-being and social cohesion.
Addressing the distribution of social outcomes created by lack of opportunity has been, and remains, a key objective for Government. The Children’s Plan, recently published by the Department, restates the need to close the gap in educational achievement for children from disadvantaged families, alongside achieving world class standards. As an outcome of last year’s comprehensive spending review, Government have announced a public sector agreement to
“Narrow the gap in educational achievement between children from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers”
(PSA 11). This PSA has stretching performance indicators associated with closing the gaps at each age stage of learning. By closing the gap in educational attainment we expect not only to deliver more fairness in opportunity to individuals, but to benefit the quality of society too, measured by indicators such as the incidence of crime.
Information Officers
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people worked in his Department’s press office and those of its predecessor departments in each year since 2004-05. [176819]
Kevin Brennan: The Department for Children, Schools and Families was established in June 2007 and employs the full time equivalent of 20 press officers.
Pupil Exclusions
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties have received a fixed period exclusion in the last 12 months; [192623]
(2) how many and what proportion of those secondary school pupils who received a fixed period exclusion in the last 12 months were eligible for free school meals. [192628]
Kevin Brennan: The requested information could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
Pupils: Hearing Impaired
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many hearing impaired pupils are taught in (a) mainstream and (b) special maintained schools. [193378]
Kevin Brennan: Information from the school census shows that, in January 2007 in England, there were 6,570 hearing impaired pupils in maintained primary schools, 5,670 such pupils in maintained secondary schools and 1,610 such pupils in all special schools. These figures refer to those who have hearing impairment as primary need and cover those at School Action Plus and with special educational needs statements. They exclude general hospital schools and dually registered pupils.
Sexual Harassment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many complaints of (a) sexual harassment and (b) sexual discrimination have been made by staff in (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies in the most recent year for which figures are available. [184691]
Kevin Brennan: No complaints of sexual harassment or sexual discrimination were made by staff in my Department during 2007.
The Department does not have any executive agencies.
Sure Start Programme: Lancashire
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children received services from Sure Start in West Lancashire constituency in each year since the programme’s inception. [193951]
Beverley Hughes: There are five Sure Start children’s centres up and running in West Lancashire offering services to 2,818 children under five and their families. We do not collect data centrally on the number of children accessing Sure Start services each year.
Vocational Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the comparative returns to the economy of (a) uncertified employer purchased training and (b) low level vocational qualification bearing education and training; and if he will make a statement. [174261]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
There is insufficient data on uncertified employer purchased training, and its link to wages, employment and productivity, to allow such a comparison to be carried out. From our research on national vocational qualifications level 2 qualifications however, we do know that vocational qualifications can provide higher returns when they are delivered through the workplace, particularly for men(1).
The Department will continue to monitor the returns to education and training, both through commissioned research and through internal analysis of data. It is vital that we gain as full an understanding as possible of the returns to training and qualifications. This will enable us to make sure that the qualifications we deliver in future provide economically valuable skills for individuals, employers and the economy as a whole, and help us to achieve the ambitions for a high-skilled work force set out in the Leitch report on skills.
(1) See Dearden et al (2000): The returns to Academic, Vocational and Basic Skills in Britain. Skills Task Force Research Paper 20, and Jenkins et al (2007): The Returns to Qualifications in England, Updating the Evidence Base on Level 2 and Level 3 Vocational Qualifications. CEE Discussion Paper No. 89.
Youth Services: Enfield
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department provided to Enfield council for youth services in each of the last 10 years; and what the real terms change was from each year to the next. [190258]
Beverley Hughes: The Government do not set a budget for spending on youth services. Local authorities decide what should be spent, taking into account Government policy and local needs. The following table shows how much Enfield has decided to allocate in the last nine years, in both cash and real terms. Data is not available from before 1999-2000.
| Budgeted net expenditure by Enfield on youth service s | ||
| £ | ||
| Cash terms | Real terms | |
| Notes: 1. Cash terms figures are converted to real terms (2006-07 prices) using the December 2007 gross domestic product (GDP) deflators. 2. 2007-08 data remains provisional and subject to change by the local authority. | ||
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