House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 04 Jun 2008 (pt 0007)

4 Jun 2008 : Column 950W—continued

Children: Writing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) schools and (b) local authorities operate an Every Child a Writer Scheme. [207436]

Jim Knight [holding answer 2 June 2008]: Every Child a Writer is a new programme, outlined in our Children’s Plan in December 2007. Final decisions on which local authorities and which schools will be involved are yet to be made. It is likely that, from September 2008, we will pilot the programme in nine authorities, one in each region. Further announcements will be made in due course as the programme is launched.

Departmental Computers

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether he has issued guidance to staff in his Department to switch off personal computers when not in use; and if he will make a statement. [208170]

Kevin Brennan: The Department has issued guidance to staff and other building occupants on switching off personal computers.

In November 2006 my Department introduced ‘Nightwatchman’ power management software to automatically shut down personal computers overnight and so reduce carbon emissions;

A communications campaign involving: the use of electronic messages at reception points on turning off unused equipment; articles in our Department's Internal magazine on how to save energy; and advice on our intranet on saving energy; have all helped to raise staff awareness of the need to conserve resources and become more energy efficient.

Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Families Without Fear project in Brent. [208430]

Beverley Hughes: “The Minster Centre—Families Without Fear” project received funding from the Strengthening Families Grant (SFG) programme (2005-08). An assessment of the effectiveness of this project, alongside all other SFG projects, will be made on receipt of its final report, which is due this month. All applicants in receipt of the SFG grant are required to demonstrate how they intend to share results and any products of their work with a wider audience.

Education: Young Offender Institutions

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average cost of an intensive supervision and surveillance programme is for a young offender. [208563]

Beverley Hughes: The average cost per young person of a six month Intensive Supervision and Surveillance programme is £8,500.

Food

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much food waste his Department generated in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [208133]

Kevin Brennan: The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) does not currently record the amount of food waste that is generated at each of our buildings. This is included within our overall land fill statistics. Separate records are kept for all other waste streams that are recycled, for example paper, glass, plastics and cans. Discussions are underway with our catering and waste management providers as to how the DSGF can reduce the amount of food waste that is sent to landfill.

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Further Education: Disadvantaged

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what proportion of 16-year-olds enrolled at a further education college is entitled to free school meals; and if he will make a statement; [207862]

(2) what proportion of 16-year-olds enrolled in a school sixth form is entitled to free school meals; and if he will make a statement. [207863]

Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table and relates to pupils in school sixth forms who are known to be eligible and are claiming their free school meal entitlement

The requested information for further education colleges is not collected centrally.

State funded secondary schools^{( 1,2)} : Number of pupils aged 16 in national curriculum year groups 12 to 14 by free school meal eligibility^{( 3,4,)} , England, as at January 2008 (provisional)
	Pupils aged 16 in year groups 12 to 14
Number of pupils⁽⁴⁾	201,330

Number of pupils known to be eligible for (and claiming) free school meals	11,200

Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for (and claiming) free school meals	5.6
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed, ⁽²⁾ Includes local authority maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies. ⁽³⁾ Includes pupils with sole and dual (main) registration. ⁽⁴⁾ Age as at 31 August 2007. Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census

Parents: Advisory Services

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the cost of delivery of the extension of intensive phone-based support services under Chapter One of the Children's Plan; how large the service is; what its projected size is; what training will be provided for phone-based support services; and what the evidential basis was for the decision to expand the service. [208272]

Kevin Brennan: Parentline Plus is being funded £1.6 million over three years to deliver an expanded intensive phone-based support service. The current service which offers a series of weekly telephone appointments for callers who have complex and entrenched difficulties has been subject to two independent evaluations and has been proven effective. The new funding will allow for a pilot to test referrals from other agencies and professionals, such as CAFCASS and Parent Support Advisers. In total the service aims to reach up to 10,000 parents referred from Parentline and 25 local authorities over the three years. The service is provided by supervised parenting
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practitioners, who are trained to level 3 OCN and meet the National Occupational Standards for working with parents.

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school-based parent support advisers are to be recruited in each of the next three years; and at what estimated cost as outlined in Chapter One of the Children's Plan. [208275]

Kevin Brennan: I announced a total of £33.5 million/£34.5 million/£34.5 million to be available to local authorities (LAs) for expansion of Parent Support Adviser (PSA) provision across all LAs over the three years 2008-11.

The number of posts to be funded within any area will be a matter for local judgment. It is for LAs determine to prioritise how and where the PSA resource is deployed taking into account local priorities and evidence of PSA effectiveness from the pilot work. In order to maximise the benefits of this new funding we expect LAs to concentrate the resource in those schools where there is a high level of need, not currently being addressed through other initiatives.

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many Respect parenting experts there are in (a) England and (b) each local authority; how these experts provide support for families; and what the evidential basis is for the decision to expand the network of Respect parenting experts. [208310]

Beverley Hughes: Funding has been made available for 77 Respect parenting experts in England, covering 77 district councils (within the 72 top tier local authorities). They are delivering structured parenting programmes to the parents of families exhibiting antisocial behaviour, or at risk of doing so.

Evidence shows that parenting programmes can improve parenting skills and help parents manage their children's behaviour. A review of parenting programmes by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence show significant long-term effects in improving children's behaviour. Given this strong evidence we have made a commitment in the Children's Plan to provide additional funding for at least one parenting expert in every local authority.

Parents: Public Participation

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people will be on the Parents' Panel; how they will be chosen; how he proposes to use the Panel in policy-making; and what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing the Panel. [208274]

Beverley Hughes: Our intention is that the Parents’ Panel should comprise between 30-40 parents and carers of children aged 19 or under. We are in the midst of a competitive procurement exercise to appoint an external organisation with the right skills and expertise to run the panel. We aim to announce the successful organisation on 31 July. Their first task will be to
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recruit the parents, ensuring the panel is representing as far as is practicable, the national mix of parents in England.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of extending the universal early years entitlement of 12.5 hours a week to (a) two and (b) one and two-year-olds; and if he will make a statement. [206144]

Beverley Hughes: We announced in the Children’s Plan, £100 million funding for a three-year extension to the current pilot to offer some early years provision to two-year-olds. The extended pilot will offer up to 15 hours of free provision to the most deprived two-year-olds living in around 60 pilot local authorities.

The pilot will allow us to evaluate clearly the benefits of a two-year-old offer for children and their parents.

Pre-School Education: Finance

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of increasing the universal early years entitlement to 20 hours a week; and if he will make a statement. [206145]

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Beverley Hughes: We are currently funding 32 pathfinders to explore the extension of the early years entitlement from 12.5 to 15 hours, delivered more flexibly than at present. In 2009, we will extend the free entitlement to 15 hours nationally for the 25 per cent. most deprived three and four year-olds in each local authority, and in 2010 we will make a universal offer of 15 hours of free provision a week to all three and four year-olds. We have made available £590 million for this extension over the CSR period.

We will consider any further extensions in the light of this pathfinder activity.

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what per child early years grant was awarded to nurseries in each local authority in England in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [208048]

Beverley Hughes: Information is not available in the form requested.

Since April 2004 all three and four year-olds have been entitled to a free part-time early education place for 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. From 2010, this offer will be extended from 12.5 to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.

Table 1 provides information on the number of three and four year-olds taking up or benefiting from early education places for the years 2004-2008.

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Table 1: Number of three and four year-olds taking up or benefiting from early education places ^{( 1, 2)} by type of provider, England 2004-08—Position in January each year
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Private and voluntary providers⁽³⁾
Number of children taking up early education places⁽⁴⁾	445,300⁽⁵⁾	432,800⁽⁵⁾	429,400⁽⁵⁾	446,900⁽⁵⁾	461,100
Percentage of population ⁽⁶⁾	39	39	38	39	39
Number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁴⁾	388,600⁽⁷⁾	396,700⁽⁷⁾	401,800⁽⁸⁾	420,700⁽⁸⁾	437,000⁽⁸⁾
Percentage of population ⁽⁶⁾	34	35	36	37	37
Actual number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁹⁾	n/a	n/a	—	n/a	413,100
Percentage of population ⁽⁶⁾	n/a	n/a	—	n/a	35
Independent schools⁽¹⁰⁾
Number of children taking up early education places⁽⁴⁾	54,700	52,000	50,100	50,500	52,000
Percentage of population (⁽⁶⁾)	5	5	4	4	4
Number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁴⁾	38,400⁽⁷⁾	39,200⁽⁷⁾	37,900⁽⁸⁾	37,900⁽⁸⁾	36,700⁽⁸⁾
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	3	3	3	3	3
Actual number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁹⁾	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	36,400
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	3
Maintained nursery and primary schools:
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	676,500	663,800	657,700	663,800	683,000
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	59	59	59	58	57
Nursery schools and nursery classes in primary schools
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	320,200	312,300	312,500	318,900	321,300
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	28	28	28	28	27
Infant classes in primary schools⁽¹¹⁾
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	356,300	351,500	345,200	344,900	361,700
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	31	31	31	30	30
Special schools ^{(12, 13)}
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	4,100	3,700	3,600	3,700	3,800
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	—	—	n/a	—	—
All providers
Number of children taking up early education places 4	1,180,500⁽⁵⁾	1,152,4009⁽⁵⁾	1,140,800⁽⁵⁾	1,165,000⁽⁵⁾	1,199,800
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	103	103	102	101	101
Number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁴⁾	1,107,500⁽⁷⁾	1,103,400	1,101,100	1,126,100⁽⁸⁾	1,160,400⁽⁸⁾
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	97	98	98	98	97
Actual number of children benefiting from some free early education⁽⁹⁾	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	1,136,300
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	95
n/a = Not available — Less than 5 per cent. ⁽¹⁾ Count of children aged three and four at 31 December in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest hundred. ⁽²⁾ Numbers of three and four year-olds in schools may include some two year olds. ⁽³⁾ Includes some local authority day nurseries registered to receive funding. ⁽⁴⁾ Any child attending more than one provider may have been counted twice. ⁽⁵⁾ Scaled up from the data as returned by providers to al providers of early years education. ⁽⁶⁾ Number of places taken up by three and four year-olds expressed as a percentage of the three and four year old population. ⁽⁷⁾ Providers returned the number of three and four year-olds for which they had received or expected to receive funding. ⁽⁸⁾ Local authorities returned the number of three and four year-olds for which they expected to receive funding. ⁽⁹⁾ Any child attending more than one provider will have only been counted once. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Includes direct grant nursery schools. ⁽¹¹⁾ Includes reception and other classes not designated as nursery classes. ⁽¹²⁾ Includes general hospital schools. ⁽¹³⁾ Excludes pupils who are also registered elsewhere. Note: Rounding of components may cause discrepancies in totals.

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