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22 July 2008 : Column 1276W—continued
Children: Employment
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress he has made in updating regulations and guidance on child employment; and if he will make a statement. [219965]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 21 July 2008]: We do not have plans to amend regulations relating to the employment of children, but we are considering whether amendments need to be made to those relating to children’s participation in entertainment. We recognise that there is a need for guidance on both child employment and performance and we are planning to produce this in the near future.
Children: Protection
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people resident in Stroud constituency are on List 99. [220281]
Kevin Brennan: The identification of the number of individuals registered on List 99 who have home addresses in Stroud would require each of the case records to be checked. This could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost and would only provide historical information correct at the time at which the individuals concerned were registered.
Once an individual is on List 99, a standard or enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure will reveal the barred status of that individual to an employer together with details of any criminal convictions. Information on an individual’s address at the time of listing is not necessary in order to check whether that person is barred.
Children: Restraint Techniques
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many times oxygen has been administered to a child following restraint in (a) young offender institutions, (b) secure training centres, (c) local authority secure children's homes, (d) immigration removal centres, (e) maintained residential special schools, (f) NHS psychiatric hospitals and (g) local authority children's homes in each of the last five years. [220171]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 21 July 2008]: The data is not collected centrally. Enquiries would need to be made to each of the establishments involved and they, in turn, would need to review their records. As in some cases this would involve a manual search, it is not possible to provide the information without incurring disproportionate costs.
Children: Wheelchairs
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made in improving the provision of wheelchair services for children and young people since the publication of the Aiming High for Disabled Children document in May 2007. [220201]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.
The Transforming Community Equipment and Wheelchair Services Programme was set up on 2006 to design a radical new model for delivery of both community equipment and wheelchairs in England. The remit of the programme was to place service users and carers at the heart of any new service model and build on the strengths of the third and private sector. The overall aim was to develop a new high quality system for delivering equipment which would give those supported by the state the sort of choice and control they have not previously enjoyed. Responsibility for assessment if need remains with local health and social care commissioners.
The programme has developed a business case for a new model of delivery of wheelchair services which is currently being considered.
Departmental Buildings
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent on (a) new capital investment and (b) refurbishment of property in each of the last 10 years, broken down by project. [212873]
Kevin Brennan: The Department for Children, Schools and Families was created on 28 June 2007 and has not incurred any new capital investment since that time. The expenditure on refurbishment projects for the financial year 2007-08 was £12,028,357.
Departmental Catering
Mr. Moore:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2008, Official Report, column 1539W, on the Fairtrade initiative, how much his Department spent on refreshments for official departmental
meetings and engagements in each of the last three financial years; and what percentage of this total was spent on Fairtrade products. [208707]
Kevin Brennan: The Department for Children, Schools and Families financial systems does not hold information on the amount of spend incurred purely for refreshments. The information held identifies hospitality spend which includes buffets as well as refreshments. Therefore the information could be provided only at disproportionate costs. All refreshments provided by our catering provider, Aramark, for internal meetings and functions is Fairtrade.
The Department was created on 28 June 2007 and the hospitality spend for the financial year 2007-08 was £354,769.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the change in the number of employees of his Department has been since it was established. [217076]
Kevin Brennan: The Department was established as part of the machinery of Government changes of 28 June 2007 with the vast majority of staff coming from the former Department for Education and Skills. At the point of establishment there were 2,774.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in my Department. At 30 June 2008 there were 2,586.6 FTE employees, so there has been a net reduction of 188 FTE employees.
Departmental Paper
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of paper used (a) for photocopying and (b) in printed publications by his Department and its predecessor was from recycled sources in each of the last two years. [220686]
Kevin Brennan: The percentage of paper from recycled sources used in the last two financial years for
Sheffield and London Reprographics: 97 per cent;
National floor copiers (all four sites): 100 per cent;
Printed publications: 100 per cent.
Departmental Research
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of his Department's budget and that of its predecessor was used for research within its areas of responsibility in each of the last 10 years. [218062]
Ed Balls: The proportion of my Department's budget and that of its predecessors that was spent on research in each of the past 10 years is shown in the following table.
| Total departmental spending (DEL and AME) by DCSF or its predecessor( 1) (£ billion) | Social research expenditure as a proportion of total departmental expenditure (DEL and AME) by DCSF and its predecessors( 2) (Percentage) | |
| (1) Source: 1998-99 to 2001-02 figures are from the Department for Education and Skills departmental report 2003, Annex. 2002-03 figures onwards are from DCSF departmental report 2008, Annex A. (2) Details of the expenditure on research funded from the central research budget is available for the full period requested. However, expenditure on research funded by individual policy budgets has only been recorded centrally since 2005-06. | ||
Education: Assessments
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract agreed and signed between the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and ETS in 2007. [220150]
Jim Knight [holding answer 21 July 2008]: The administration and marking of national curriculum tests is a function of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority that is delivered independently of Government. The National Assessment Agency (NAA) oversees the marking process which is delivered by ETS Europe, the new test delivery contractor, on the QCA's behalf. I have therefore asked David Gee, Managing Director of the NAA, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his letter has been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 21 July 2008:
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, right hon. Ed Balls, has asked me to write to you to answer parliamentary question 220150.
The information you have requested is subject to an obligation of confidentiality and is commercially sensitive and cannot be provided.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will arrange for the key stage 2 and key stage 3 standard assessment tests taken in 2008 to be re-marked. [221209]
Jim Knight: The National Assessment Agency, which administers the key stage 2 and key stage 3 national curriculum tests, has arrangements in place for schools to seek a review of the marking of test if they find evidence that the mark scheme has not been properly applied.
Extended Schools
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of (a) secondary school children, (b) primary school children and (c) all children have access to the full extended school core offer in each local education authority. [220508]
Beverley Hughes: The following table shows the percentages of secondary school children, primary school children and all children who have access to the full extended school core offer in each local authority. The core offer comprises a varied menu of activities in primary and secondary schools; high quality childcare 8 am to 6 pm 48 weeks a year in primary schools; parenting support; swift and easy access to a wide range of specialist support services such as health and social care; and wider community access to ICT, sports and arts facilities, including adult learning.
The pupil figures provided are based on information taken from DCSF’s Edubase system and the percentages are in relation to the total school population in that local authority. The percentages have been rounded up to two decimal places.
There are many other schools which are already providing individual parts of the core offer that are not yet included in these figures. Monthly variations can occur, resulting in figures going down as well, for example as a result of local school reorganisations. By 2010 we expect all schools to be offering access to extended services.
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