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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1554W—continued
Children in Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was spent on children in care in (a) secure units, homes and hostels, (b) other residential settings and (c) residential schools in each year since 1997. [258649]
Beverley Hughes: The total amount spent on children looked after in England who are placed in (i) children’s homes, (ii) secure accommodation (welfare), (iii) fostering services, (iv) other children’s services as well as the amount spent in all of these categories for all children looked after is shown in table 1 as follows. Data prior to 2000-01 were not collected on the same basis and is therefore not comparable. The expenditure by residential schools is not separately identifiable from existing data sources.
| Table 1: Net current expenditure on children looked after, 2000-01 to 2007-08( 1, 2, 3) , England | ||||||||
| £000 | ||||||||
| Children looked after | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| (1 )Source: Personal Social Services Expenditure (PSSEX1 return) and Unit Costs: England 2007-08 publication available at http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/social-care/adult-social-care-information/personal-social-services-expenditure-and-unit-costs:-england-2007-08 (2 )The PSSEX1 return was first collected in 2000-01 by the Department for Health. Since 2004-05 the return has been the responsibility of the Information Centre for health and social care. (3) Includes the costs of looking after children for continuous periods of more than 24 hours. (4 )Children’s homes includes residential care in Voluntary Children’s and Registered Children’s Homes as defined in Children Act 1989. It includes: community homes, associated independent visitor costs and relevant contact payments under sections 20/34 of the Children Act 1989, homes where education is provided, but does not attract education department funds, and boarding schools. Includes the social services share of the costs of community homes with education provision and the social services element of accommodating children with special education needs in schools where the education element is met by the education department. Note: the funding of the children’s education is recorded in the Education SEA. Excludes mother and baby homes (these are included in ‘other children looked after services’ category) and secure units attached to community homes (these are included in the ‘secure accommodation (Welfare)’ category). Also excludes respite care for those children not meeting the definition of children looked after. (5 )Includes the costs of providing or purchasing secure accommodation for children who pose a risk to themselves, to others or have a secure accommodation requirement for welfare, rather than youth justice reasons, under the Children Act 1989. (6 )Includes all fees and allowances paid to foster parents and the costs of social worker and other support staff who support foster carers. Including: mainstay placements, link placements, permanence placements, temporary/respite fostering, placements with relatives/friends, other than a parent, under foster care arrangements (see other children looked after services as follows), placed pending adoption under S13 (1) Adoption Act 1976, associated independent visitor costs and relevant contact payments under sections 20/34 of the Children Act 1989. Excludes remand fostering and social work costs related directly to the fostered children. (7 )Includes support to looked after young people: in NHS/other establishments providing nursing/medical care, residential, respite and emergency nights in residential beds at family centres, in lodgings or hostels, in mother and baby homes, living independently in flats, bed and breakfast establishments or with friends, in residential employment, placed with their parent or person with parental responsibility, independent visitor costs and relevant contact payments under sections 20/34 of the Children Act 1989 not included under children’s homes or fostering services aforementioned. | ||||||||
Children: Databases
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to protect children whose data are compromised by breach of security in ContactPoint. [260498]
Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his earlier question on 26 February 2009, Official Report, column 1068W.
Children: Day Care
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to ensure access for disabled children to child care facilities in each local authority area. [259281]
Beverley Hughes: All local authorities are required to pay particular attention to the needs of families with a disabled child in meeting their duty to ensure there is sufficient child care in their areas.
The Government’s “Aiming High for Disabled Children” programme, announced in May 2007, included additional funding of £35 million for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11 to develop projects to improve access to child care for disabled children and young people and to reduce attitudinal barriers. Pilots began in September 2008 in 10 local authorities, to test out the ways of meeting the needs of disabled children in their areas, with best practice subsequently being rolled out more widely.
Children: Protection
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to ensure that 16 and 17 year olds have sufficient access to child protection services. [249167]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 19 January 2009]: “Working Together to Safeguard Children” (2006) sets out clearly that a child for the purposes of the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 respectively is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. It also stresses that the fact that a child has reached 16 years of age does not change his or her entitlement to services or protection under the Children Act 1989.
In recognition of the fact that a significant number of young people who are the subject of a child protection plan or otherwise known to children’s services may have or are being neglected, the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families has commissioned York university undertake a study on the neglect of adolescents. This includes a review of the literature on the neglect of adolescents and the preparation of evidence-based materials to improve practice in this important area. The work will be published in the spring and disseminated widely within children’s services.
Children: Social Workers
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills about the training of social workers for children. [259326]
Beverley Hughes: In December 2008, we announced a Social Work Taskforce which will make recommendations for long-term reform of social work; social worker initial training will be considered as part of this. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with its remit for higher education is an important partner in responding to these recommendations and ministers and officials from the two Departments are in regular conversations.
Children’s Centres
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many Sure Start children's centres there are in the London borough of Barnet; and if he will make a statement; [259741]
(2) what Sure Start children's centres there are in Hendon constituency; when each opened; which centres are planned in Hendon constituency; when each is planned to open; and if he will make a statement. [259742]
Beverley Hughes: There are 14 designated Sure Start Children's Centres in the London borough of Barnet with a further eight centres planned to be delivered by 2010, to provide universal access to children's centre services for children under five and their families.
Seven children's centres are open in Hendon. Details are given in the following table. There are no additional children's centres planned for Hendon.
| Centre | Designation date |
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) children and (b) families are receiving services at each Sure Start children’s centre in Hendon constituency; how many have received services at each centre since its inception; what estimate he has made of the number of children and families which will receive services at each planned centre; and if he will make a statement. [259740]
Beverley Hughes: The Department does not collect information centrally about the numbers of people accessing individual Sure Start Children's Centres. We expect local authorities and children’s centres to collect data on the take up of services as part of their local performance management arrangements. Sure Start Children’s Centres provide universal services for families with children under the age of five years. By 2010 there will be at least 3,500 Sure Start Children’s centres—one for every community.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the capital start-up cost of each Sure Start children's centre in Hendon constituency was; what the revenue costs of each have been in each year since it opened; what the current annual revenue cost of each is; how much (a) his Department, (b) the NHS and (c) local authorities contributed to the (i) capital start up costs and (ii) annual revenue costs of each; what estimate he has made of the (A) capital start up costs and (B) annual revenue costs of each planned centre in Hendon constituency; and if he will make a statement. [259743]
Beverley Hughes: The Department allocates funding to local authorities for the capital start up and revenue costs of Sure Start Children's Centres through the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant. It is for local authorities to determine how to allocate the funding between individual centres and the Department does not collect information on how much is allocated and spent at centre level. Information on Barnet's capital and revenue allocations for 2008-11 is given in the following table. The Department does not collect information on NHS or local authorities' contributions to the programme.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the performance against objectives of each Sure Start centre in Hendon constituency; and if he will make a statement. [259744]
Beverley Hughes: Local authorities, working with their partners within Children’s Trusts arrangements, are responsible for the overall delivery of the Sure Start Children’s Centres programme in England. They are responsible for monitoring and managing the performance of individual children’s centres in their area. The Department provides a performance measurement framework, including a self evaluation form, for centres and local authorities to use to monitor performance but performance of centres is not assessed centrally. Together for Children, the consortium the Department has under contract to support local authorities during the national roll-out of centres, is also providing additional guidance to local authorities on the performance management of their Sure Start Children’s Centres.
Cross-department Assessment Panel
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 2105W, on Cross-department Assessment Panel, what the names of the panel members are. [258055]
Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer of 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 2105W.
Education Maintenance Allowance: Hemel Hempstead
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students aged 16 to 18 years in receipt of an education maintenance allowance attend each educational institution in Hemel Hempstead. [260088]
Jim Knight: 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). Mark Haysom the LSC’s chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.
Education: Children in Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps the Training and Development Agency for Schools is taking to improve the educational achievement of children in care. [259295]
Jim Knight: Support for the children’s workforce in improving outcomes for children in care is led by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC). This work includes a planned initiative to support the growing number of Virtual School Heads who have a role in promoting the educational attainment of children in care. The CWDC works in partnership with other children’s workforce agencies including the National College for School Leadership and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). The TDA is responsible for the training and development of the whole school workforce, and high quality teaching and learning are an essential part of ensuring the success of all children, including the most vulnerable such as looked after children.
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