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14 Jan 2009 : Column 836W—continued
St Helena: Airports
Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) for what reasons there have been a pause in negotiations on the development of the airport on St. Helena; [245027]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of St Helena of a delay in the development of the airport; [245026]
(3) what assessment he has made of the likely effects on the population of St Helena of a delay in the development of an airport on the island; [244814]
(4) what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs before taking the decision to pause the negotiations on the development of the airport on St Helena; [244815]
(5) what reassessment he has made of the likely effects of the delay in developing the airport on St Helena on his Department's future expenditure on assisting the people of that island; [244816]
(6) what discussions he has had with the Foreign Secretary on the decision to pause the negotiations on the development of the airport on St Helena. [245028]
Mr. Michael Foster: No decision has yet been made on the project.
The pause is to allow analysis and discussion, including with ministerial colleagues, of the affordability of options and their implications for access to St. Helena in light of the changed economic limatec.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new Academy Schools were opened in 2008. [247402]
Jim Knight: 47 academies were opened in 2008. A further three opened this January.
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans his Department has for the future of the Building Schools for the Future programme; and if he will make a statement. [247025]
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the management of waves 7 to 15 of the Building Schools for the Future Programme; and if he will make a statement. [247196]
Jim Knight: I aim to announce the revised national programme for Building Schools for the Future shortly, based on the revised expressions of interest which authorities submitted by 30 November 2008. The most highly prioritised projects, which will access funding starting from 2011-12, should enter the programme later in 2009 where they demonstrate that they are ready to deliver.
Children in Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what monitoring his Department undertakes of the speed with which local authorities (a) submit care orders for processing through the courts and (b) transfer children in their care or custody into foster homes. [244504]
Beverley Hughes: It is for local authorities with social services responsibilities to determine the point at which an application is made to the court for an order under section 31 of the Children Act 1989. Each application will depend upon the unique circumstances of the individual case with which they are dealing. In some cases, it will be appropriate for an order to be sought immediately regarding a child with whom the local authority will not previously have had contact. In other cases, social services may have been involved with a family over many years before concerns arise which make a care order under section 31 appropriate. Information on the time elapsed before the application of care orders is therefore not collected centrally.
Children entering local authority care are moved into a placement immediately. The majority of children entering care are immediately placed with foster carers. Of the 23,000 children who started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2008, 17,300 were placed with foster carers immediately.
Children in Care: Young Offenders
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Stafford of 11 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1067-8W, on children in care: crime, what the estimated total cost of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders has been since its inception. [240899]
Beverley Hughes: The funding provided by the Government to NACRO to support their work on reducing offending by young people, including by looked after children, is summarised in the following table. This also includes details of funding provided to NACRO for a short-term project to produce guidance about setting up and managing effective remand foster care provision.
| £000 | ||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | Total 2004-07 | |
Children: Poverty
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made in the pilot projects designed to test new and innovative approaches to tackling child poverty; and if he will make a statement. [246999]
Beverley Hughes: Steady progress is being made. Two projects—tax credit advisers in job centres and the family intervention projects—are already operational and another, the Work Focused Services pilot, is planned to go live at the end of the month.
We are currently considering the next tranche of pilot projects and we will be announcing the successful applicants shortly.
Children: Protection
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent steps his Department has taken in schools aimed at protecting children from domestic abuse. [244666]
Beverley Hughes: Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education (2006) makes clear that everyone in the education service should help keep children and young people safe. They should do this by identifying those who are suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm, and take appropriate action with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home an in the education setting.
Through the school curriculum children are supported to develop their capacity to empathise, show respect and form positive relationships with other people. Schools have specifically reported less conflict, calmer classrooms and better relationships as a result. As part of the National Delivery Plan for Domestic Violence the DCSF continues to work with the Home Office and in June 2008, new materials were launched specifically for schools and for young people to raise awareness of forced marriage. These were sent to all secondary schools, pupil referral units, local authorities and Local Safeguarding Children Boards.
To support the most vulnerable children, including those whose childhood is being ruined by abuse of any kind, the DCSF is providing £30 million to support the expansion and integration of the NSPCC's listening services. This money will allow the NSPCC to expand their services significantly so that more children can be given the advice and help that can be so important. The Government are also investing £102.5 million over 2008-11 in the deployment of parent support advisers (PSAs) with over 1,500 PSAs and similar professionals currently working in schools. These professionals support families across a range of issues, which can include domestic abuse, and in particular focus on prevention and early intervention.
Children's Centres
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children’s centres there are in England. [247233]
Beverley Hughes: There are currently 2,920 Sure Start children’s centres in England providing access to services to over 2.3 million children and their families.
By 2010 there will be at least 3,500 centres, one for every community, offering permanent and universal provision to help ensure that every child gets the best start in
Connexions
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Connexions services in targeting young people not in education, employment or training to ensure that they have the information, advice and guidance required to understand their options. [247244]
Beverley Hughes: In 2005, my Department published its report of the “End to End Review of Careers Education and Guidance” which concluded that Connexions has made good progress with targeted services for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk of becoming NEET. This follows similarly positive findings by Ofsted in inspections carried out between 2002 and 2004 and from a 2004 survey of young people’s views. The recently commissioned Ofsted Thematic Review of Information Advice and Guidance will include a focus on IAG for young people who are not in employment, education or training and on those leaving care and will give us a more up-to-date picture of the effectiveness of these services. In addition, the Department will continue to monitor local authorities’ performance in reducing the proportion of 16 to 19-year-olds not in education, employment and training, and where necessary, challenge and support them to secure improvement.
Drugs: Misuse
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made to date under his Department's Drugs: protecting families and communities strategy; and if he will make a statement. [247259]
Beverley Hughes: The 10-year drug strategy “Protecting families and communities”, published in February 2008, set out a series of steps to address the problems associated with young people's misuse of drugs, alcohol and volatile substances. The main action that has already been taken is as follows.
A review of drug and alcohol education has taken place and, in response to its recommendations, in October 2008 Government committed to review existing guidance on the subject by September 2009 and to conduct an independent review of how its decision to make PSHE statutory status could be translated into a practical way forward.
To continue helping to prevent drug use among young people (11 to 18) by changing their attitudes and perceptions towards drugs and drug users, a new FRANK Cocaine campaign was launched in December 2008. Awareness of FRANK remains very high: in the latest tracking study (report July 2008) 83 per cent. of young people were aware of the campaign. This figure is unchanged from 2007.
A cross-government working group has been set up, informing thinking for next Drug Strategy Action Plan, measuring impact of existing interventions with at risk families, identifying research priorities and informing the rollout of Think Family reforms at local level.
The drug strategy committed to publish guidance to help the commissioning and delivery of treatment services with a greater focus on the needs of parents and families, and to that effect the National Treatment Agency (NTA) published carers’ guidance in October 2008. The NTA will also shortly be publishing updated commissioning guidance for local partnerships which will include a specific section on commissioning appropriate services for parental drug users, including pregnant drug users. The document will also provide guidance to commissioners on supporting families around drug use and involving them in the commissioning system.
To meet our commitment to provide intensive support to substance misusing parents through a range of recently established family interventions, targeting families at risk, the substance misuse agenda has been included in remit letter for local parenting support advisers; Family Pathfinder status has been awarded to 14 areas, one focussing on substance misuse; and, substance misuse has been included in the broad remit for parenting and early intervention projects. Furthermore, family intervention pilots (FIP) have been extended to 500 further families affected by substance misuse. NTA are working with DCSF in the development of the child poverty family intervention projects in 10 pilot areas during 2008-09. This will be rolled out to further areas in the next two years.
To meet our commitment toward encouraging better take-up of free child care for three and four-year-olds (and two-year-olds in pilot areas) to improve access to treatment for parents, the NTA will be publishing family friendly treatment guidance for commissioners and providers in spring 2009. NTA is also continuously working on ensuring that parents seeking access to treatment are aware of free provision.
Early Years Capital Grant
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of the Early Years Capital Grant will be made available to (a) private, voluntary and independent day care settings and (b) maintained settings in the 2008-11 spending period. [244792]
Beverley Hughes: The Quality and Access Capital Grant has three aims:
1. To improve the quality of the learning environment in early years settings to support delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with a particular emphasis on improving play and physical activities, and Information and Computer Technology (ICT) resources;
2. To ensure that all children, including disabled children, are able to access provision; and,
3. To enable providers in the private, voluntary and independent sectors to deliver the extension to the free offer for 3 and 4 year olds and to do so flexibly.
Our expectation is that the majority of the grant is used to improve the quality of the environment in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years and child care settings, both to support higher quality experiences for young children and to ensure that all children can access services and benefit fully from them.
However, spending on the maintained sector is not precluded and we have not set a percentage split between PVI and maintained settings. Providing that spend is in line with the three aims set out above, it is for local authorities to decide how to distribute the grant to providers.
Entry to Learning Programme
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent progress has been made in the Entry to Learning Programme; and if he will make a statement. [247254]
Beverley Hughes:
The Entry to Learning pilot programme was announced in the Children's Plan in December
2007. It builds on the successful work that is already done by innovative third sector and local authority funded provision in restoring the confidence and self-esteem of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). The programme aims to improve young people's progression from this provision to more formal learning to ensure that they are able to advance and gain the skills and qualifications they need to succeed.
Having developed the Entry to Learning programme with input from the Learning and Skills Council and a number of experienced third sector providers, we invited all local areas to express an interest in taking part in the pilot in July 2008. We received over 30 expressions of interest and selected four local areas for the first phase of the pilot: Brighton and Hove (with East Sussex), Birmingham, Sandwell and Lancashire.
Working closely with these areas and building on lessons from the Activity Agreement and Allowance Pilot, we developed a detailed specification for Entry to Learning to guide local areas as they developed their plans for implementing the programme.
Grant letters were issued to all four local areas in November 2008, formally beginning the pilots and allowing the local areas to recruit project managers for the programme. All four areas submitted detailed implementation plans, which were signed off by my Department in early December. The local teams are now engaged in delivery against these plans, recruiting the trusted adults who will support young people through this programme.
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