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22 Oct 2008 : Column 460W—continued
Taxis
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was claimed in expenses for taxi travel by officials from his Department in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2002-03; and if he will make a statement. [227050]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: It is not possible to disaggregate costs in respect of taxi expenses across all offices of the Department for International Development (DFID), without incurring a disproportionate cost. The figures provided include costs for contracted taxi and privately arranged hire for UK based staff costs for the years specified and are detailed:
| £ | |
| (1) Taxi costs incurred by members of staff outside the central contracts are not available in these years centrally and could not be provided without incurring a disproportionate cost. | |
Children, Schools and Families
Adoption: General Certificate of Secondary Education
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children who were adopted aged (a) under one, (b) one to four, (c) five to nine and (d) 10 to 15 years old achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE in each of the last 10 years; [228723]
(2) how many children who, at the time they sat GCSEs, were (a) adopted, (b) in foster care, (c) in foster care with relatives or friends and (d) in children's homes achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE in each of the last 10 years. [228724]
Beverley Hughes: This information is not held centrally by the Department.
Departmental NDPBs
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding has been agreed with each of his Department’s non-departmental bodies for the period 2008 to 2011. [228671]
Ed Balls [holding answer 21 October 2008]: The funding that has been agreed with each of DCSF’s non-departmental bodies for the period 2008 to 2011 is detailed in the following table.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average time taken to process a claim for the education maintenance allowance was in the most recent period for which figures are available. [227942]
Jim Knight [holding answer 17 October 2008]: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who operate the education maintenance allowance (EMA) for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and hold information about applications made under the scheme. Mark Haysom, the LSC’s Chief Executive has written to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 21 October 2008:
I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Questions that asked:- what the average time taken to process a claim for tie education maintenance allowance was in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Due to the difficulties we are currently experiencing with EMA processing, it is difficult to be precise about the average time taken to process an application. We are seeking to improve it all the time.
Each year a substantial minority of applications are received with information missing. In these cases, they will have to be sent back to the applicant who is asked to provide the information and return it to us. We can only continue processing that application once it is sent back to us.
In all cases where an application is initially received before the end of October and an applicant is eligible for EMA all payments will be backdated and no one will miss out for EMA that they are entitled to.
Social Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many out-of-area placements were made by each social services department in the most recent year for which figures are available. [228645]
Beverley Hughes: Information showing placements for looked after children by local authorities inside and outside their boundary can be found in table A6 (at national level) and tables LAA16 and LAA17 (at local authority level). These tables are taken from the Statistical First Release (SFR 27/2007) entitled ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2007’.
Table A6 can be found within the first set of additional Excel tables and tables LAA16 and LAA17 can be found within the second set of additional tables on the website.
Table A6 for the year ending 31 March 2008 will be released on the internet on 23 October while tables LAA16 and LAA17 are due for release mid-November.
Taxis
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was claimed in expenses for taxi travel by officials from his Department in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2002-03; and if he will make a statement. [227045]
Ed Balls: Details of expenditure on taxi travel claimed by departmental officials for 2006-07 and 2005-06 are set out as follows:
| £ | |
The expenditure is based on staff travel claims and approved invoices received from taxi companies paid via the Department’s integrated financial information system. Expenditure on taxi travel in the three financial years prior to 2005 was recorded under a general heading of travel expenses; the Department is unable to separately identify the cost of taxi fares for these years. To extract the specific financial data requested would involve disproportionate cost.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was created on 28 June 2007 as a result of a machinery of government change and the expenditure recorded relates to that of its predecessor Department, the Department for Education and Skills.
Teachers: Pensions
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the implications of the deficit in the Teachers Contributory Pension Fund. [229199]
Jim Knight: The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is unfunded, so when benefits fall due for payment they are met from Government revenues. There is no actual pension fund or deficit. However, in any particular year, income from contributions from employers and employees is used to offset the costs of paying benefits to pensioners.
Teaching Methods
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what role the Assessing Pupil Progress approach has in the implementation of his Department’s policy on personalised learning; and if he will make a statement. [228907]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Teachers themselves are best placed to decide how to personalise their teaching and to select appropriate interventions from a range of approaches and support mechanisms. The Department will publish practical guidance on personalising learning for school leaders, School Improvement Partners and teachers in November. The Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) materials provide teachers with an effective tool to help them form robust judgments about pupils’ progression through national curriculum levels and sub-levels. Teachers are able to see a pupil’s relative strengths and weaknesses and it is this diagnostic potential of APP, linked to clear routes for progression through the levels, which enables teachers to personalise teaching to address pupils’ strengths and weaknesses, and so support them to make the best possible progression.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of the apprentice matching service contract signed with (a) CAP Gemini and (b) S-Cool. [229041]
Mr. Simon: The National Apprenticeships Vacancy Matching Service is being developed by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to provide a high quality service to employers wishing to recruit apprentices, and to young people and adults considering an apprenticeship. This service will help deliver the objective outlined in World-class Apprenticeships to expand and improve the quality of our apprenticeships programme. The LSC is contracting with Capgemini for the provision of the IT system. The LSC is separately contracting with S-Cool for apprenticeship on-line pilots in three areas, including Hampshire. Contracts for goods and services are commercially sensitive and cannot be made available to right hon. and hon. Members. I have asked Mark Haysom, chief executive of the LSC, to write to the right hon. Member, copying his reply to me, outlining the Vacancy Matching Service and Capgemini's role in supplying these services.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) non-advanced apprenticeship places and (b) advanced apprenticeship places there were within each (i) local authority and (ii) county council administration at the latest date for which information is available. [229044]
Mr. Simon: Apprenticeships are demand-led and employer responsive; therefore the number of apprenticeship places available is determined by the number of places employers are able to offer and subject to learner demand. That is why, in terms of monitoring performance, we focus on the number of people who actually start on an apprenticeship programme.
“World-class Apprenticeships” confirmed our commitment to stimulate a greater supply of apprenticeship places with employers. This is a key element of the remit of the new National Apprenticeship Service and its National Vacancy Matching Service which will help employers advertise apprenticeships vacancies and enable prospective apprentices to apply for them online.
The latest fully audited data that we have is for the 2006/07 academic year is contained in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries. Table 1 shows apprenticeship starts in 2006/07 by level of apprenticeship and local education authority. Table 2 shows apprenticeship starts in 2006/07 by county council type, for each different county council administration.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how long on average it took to complete applications for education maintenance allowance from application to confirmation of award in the 10 per cent. of cases which took longest to process in the latest period for which figures are available. [225131]
Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who operate the educational maintenance allowance (EMA) for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and hold information about applications made under the scheme. Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive has written to the right hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 21 October 2008:
I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Questions that asked:- "how long on average it took to complete applications for education maintenance allowance (EMA) from application to confirmation of award in the 10 per cent of cases which took longest to process" and "what the average time taken to complete applications for EMA was from receipt of application to confirmation of award in the latest period for which figures are available".
Due to the difficulties we are currently experiencing with EMA processing. It is difficult to be precise about the average time taken to process an application. We are seeking to improve it all the time.
Each year a substantial minority of applications are received with information missing. In these cases, they will have to be sent back to the applicant who is asked to provide the information and return it to us. We can only continue processing that application once it is sent back to us.
In all cases where an application is initially received before the end of October and an applicant is eligible for EMA all payments will be backdated and no one will miss out for EMA that they are entitled to.
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