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9 Mar 2009 : Column 178W—continued
I am withholding the number of GCHQ employees in accordance with government practice not to reveal numbers of personnel working in intelligence at specific locations. I am also withholding the numbers for both the Ministry of Defence Police and the Ministry of Defence Guard Agency for the purpose of the proper enforcement of law, and in the interests of national defence.
Sodexo
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will investigate his Department’s contracts with Sodexo in light of reports about its human rights record. [260628]
Mr. Quentin Davies: We do not intend to investigate Sodexo’s contracts with the Ministry of Defence.
The Ministry of Defence expects all of its suppliers to comply with all relevant UK law and to maintain the highest levels of honesty and integrity. MOD suppliers have a legal duty to comply with the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1988 when they are exercising public functions in the UK.
Somalia: Piracy
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date the European Union's Council of Ministers agreed Operation Atalanta; and on what date the UK Parliamentary Security Group granted its authority. [261032]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Council of Ministers agreed in a Joint Action at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 10 November 2008 to establish operation Atalanta and that it should be launched in December 2008. A draft of the Joint Action was cleared in advance by the European Scrutiny Committee on 22 October 2008. The final version of the Joint Action was submitted to the European Scrutiny Committee by the Foreign Office on 10 November 2008.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to whom the European Union's Operation Atalanta Commander Rear Admiral Philip Jones is accountable; and if he will make a statement. [261033]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: In his role as EU Operation Commander for operation Atalanta, Rear Admiral Philip Jones is accountable to the Political and Security Committee, a council body in which ambassadors from each of the EU member states exercise political control and strategic direction over the operation, on instructions from national authorities.
The Political and Security Committee reports regularly on the progress of the operation to the Council of Ministers, which comprises national Ministers from each of the EU member states.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence under whose direct authority ships deployed in EU operations fall once unanimous agreement is established in the EU Council of Ministers. [261034]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Ships made available voluntarily by countries to participate in EU-led military operations come under the command of the relevant Operation Commander. An Operation Commander is appointed for each EU-led military operation by the Council of Ministers of the European Union. Ships participating in Operation Atalanta, for example, come under the command of the Operation Commander Rear Admiral Philip Jones RN based in his operation headquarters at Northwood.
The Operation Commander for each EU-led military operation reports to the Political and Security Committee, a council body in which ambassadors from each of the EU member states exercise political control and strategic direction over EU-led military operations, on instructions from national authorities.
The Political and Security Committee reports regularly on the progress of each EU-led military operation to the Council of Ministers.
Trident Submarines
Ms Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s plans to build a successor to the Vanguard class submarine on the number of civilians employed at the Naval Reactor Test Establishment, Dounreay. [260951]
Mr. Hutton:
The Department has not yet made any final decisions on the future role of the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) Vulcan in delivering the
successor to the Vanguard class submarine. It is therefore too soon to assess the effect on the number of Rolls-Royce employees who work there.
Trident: Scotland
Ms Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 848W, on Trident: Scotland, (1) how many of the 589 civilians at HM Naval Base Clyde whose jobs directly rely upon the Trident programme are employed in (a) engineering and science, (b) logistics, (c) security, (d) health and safety, (e) outfitting and steel work and (f) other areas; [260953]
(2) how many of the 589 civilians at HM Naval Base Clyde whose jobs directly rely upon the Trident programme are resident in (a) Argyll and Bute constituency, (b) West Dunbartonshire constituency, (c) elsewhere in Scotland and (d) outside Scotland; [260954]
(3) what the (a) skills requirements and (b) geographic distribution of the 250 indirect civilian jobs relating to support activities for the Trident programme in Scotland are. [260955]
Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not held by my Department in that format.
Action is ongoing, however, to update the December 2006 figures as part of a broader package of work. I will write to my hon. Friend when this work is complete.
Children, Schools and Families
Schools Commissioner
12. Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to appoint the new Schools Commissioner. [261301]
Ed Balls: The first Schools Commissioner, Sir Bruce Liddington, did an excellent job supporting the commissioning of new school places, expanding our academies programme and developing National Challenge Trusts. We have decided to wait until the post of director general for schools directorate is filled permanently before taking any decisions on how to continue this work and build on this track record of success.
School Assemblies
14. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department issues to schools on the holding of daily assemblies. [261303]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: All community, foundation or voluntary schools must offer a daily act of collective worship which is broadly of a Christian character in keeping with the religious traditions of this country. This should be appropriate to the age and family background of the pupils. Our policy and guidance on collective worship is set out in the Department’s circular 1/94.
22. Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department’s policy is on the holding of multi-faith assemblies in schools. [261311]
Jim Knight: All community, foundation or voluntary schools must offer a daily act of collective worship which is broadly of a Christian character in keeping with the religious traditions of this country. This should be appropriate to the age and family background of the pupils. Parents have the right to withdraw their children from collective worship and pupils in the sixth form have the right to withdraw themselves from collective worship without parental consent.
Educational Qualifications
15. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps the Government are taking to monitor the effectiveness of qualifications for pupils aged 16 to 19 in measuring their educational attainment. [261304]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The responsibility for ensuring qualifications standards falls to Ofqual, the new independent regulator of qualifications and tests. Ofqual ensures qualification standards are maintained. Ofsted inspections check for high quality delivery. The learning and skills council has developed robust systems for ensuring high quality further education provision.
All this helps to ensure high quality learning routes for all that have led to level 2 attainment increasing by 7 per cent. and level 3 attainment by 6 per cent. since 2004.
Building Schools for the Future: Lancashire
16. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether the Building Schools for the Future programme in Lancashire is on schedule; and if he will make a statement. [261305]
Jim Knight: Lancashire is a wave 1 authority with 10 schools that are to be delivered in three phases across Burnley and Pendle.
The first four schools were opened as planned in September 2008; three more are currently on site, and the final business case for the remaining three is due to be submitted this month.
All schools are scheduled for completion before September 2010 and are therefore on programme. The remaining schools in Lancashire are in later waves of the programme.
Whiteboards
17. Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to improve the safety of whiteboards in use in schools. [261306]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Following changes to Health and Safety Executive guidance on the positioning of projectors used with interactive whiteboards, our lead agency for technology in education wrote to all directors of children’s services on 26 November 2008.
A publicly accessible specification for the installation of AV equipment is being developed via the British Standards Institute which includes the requirement to place permanent warning signs next to whiteboards. This specification is expected to be live for public use in April 2009.
Musical Instrument Lessons: Take-up
18. Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress is being made in assisting more school students to learn to play a musical instrument. [261307]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We have invested £332 million to 2011 in making a reality of our pledge that all primary children will have an opportunity to learn a musical instrument. So far music services report that over 50 per cent. of KS2 children are benefiting from these wider opportunities to access instruments and vocal provision, and their projection is that the figure will rise to 80 per cent. by 2011.
14-19 Diplomas
19 Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of levels of take-up of the 14-19 diplomas; and if he will make a statement. [261308]
Jim Knight: Our latest information shows that around 12,000 young people are currently working towards a diploma qualification. Learners are based in over 140 consortia, in 100 local authorities.
Child Protection: Independent Schools
20. Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether he plans to increase child protection regulation in independent schools. [261309]
Beverley Hughes: Sir Roger Singleton, chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority is currently leading a review of the arrangements for safeguarding children in independent schools, non-maintained special schools and boarding schools. The review will examine the practical operation of the current statutory and non-statutory safeguarding provisions which have been in place for several years and will establish whether any further improvements are needed. Sir Roger is shortly due to report on his findings.
Youth Justice Board: Reoffending
21. Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he last met the Chair of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales to discuss ways to reduce re-offending by young people. [261310]
Beverley Hughes: My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Justice and I last met the chair and chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, to discuss progress on reducing juvenile reoffending on 3 March 2009. There was an 18.7 per cent. reduction in the frequency rate of juvenile reoffending between 2000 and 2006; the 2007 results will be published on 19 March.
School Finances
23. Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his policy is in respect of levels of financial balances and reserves held by schools. [261312]
Jim Knight: It is sound financial management for schools to retain a small surplus from year to year, but balances should not be excessive. We expect schools and local authorities to work together to reduce the level of balances, and we will consider further action if they do not.
Apprenticeships: Preston
24. Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people under 18 years of age resident in Preston completed an apprenticeship in 2008. [261313]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In Preston in 2007/08 160 people aged 16 to 18 completed an apprenticeship, up from only 70 in 2003/04. Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill provisions aim to ensure an apprenticeship place is available for all suitably qualified young people by 2013 and are key to delivering our ambition for one in five young people to be in an apprenticeship in the next decade. We have announced an additional £140 million to provide 35,000 additional places this year, 21,000 of these in the public sector.
Dyslexia
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department classifies dyslexia as a learning difficulty. [261295]
Ed Balls: Yes. My Department’s guidance “Data Collection by type of Special Educational Need” (issued in 2005) explains that pupils with specific learning difficulties may have a particular difficulty in learning to read, write, spell or manipulate numbers so that their performance in these areas is below their performance in other areas. The guidance goes on to say that specific learning difficulties include dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. Dyslexia and dyspraxia are also provided as examples of specific learning difficulties in the SEN Code of Practice.
Children's Services: Public Accountability
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to promote public accountability of the management of children’s services. [261302]
Beverley Hughes: The local authority’s Lead Member for Children’s Services is directly accountable to the local electorate. The LM has a crucial role in defining local priorities and outcomes, and in working with the Director of Children’s Services, to manage children’s services. We will shortly issue revised statutory guidance to clarify the roles and responsibilities of both Lead Member and Director of Children’s Services.
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer of 4 June 2008, Official Report, column 947W, on apprentices, how many apprentices his Department currently employs. [252083]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The number of apprentices the Department currently employs is 20.
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