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24 Mar 2009 : Column 351W—continued
Regional Development Agencies: Meetings
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what guidance his Department provides to regional development agencies on the publication of (a) agendas and (b) minutes of their meetings. [264455]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 18 March 2009]: All RDAs publish documents in line with the Information Commissioner’s model publication scheme drawn up under the Freedom of Information Act. The model scheme includes publishing requirements relating to management board meetings and similar meetings where decisions are made about the provision of services.
Royal Mail: Reorganisation
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent discussions his Department has had with private sector companies on the future ownership and management of Royal Mail. [264933]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 March 2009]: The Department and our advisers have had discussions in recent weeks with a number of potential partners with experience of transforming a major business who are interested in entering into partnership with Royal Mail.
At this stage of the process only TNT has made their interest public. For commercial confidentiality reasons it would not be appropriate to reveal details on the nature of these discussions or who else wishes to explore the possibility of entering into a partnership with Royal Mail.
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which postal operators have expressed interest in forming a strategic partnership with Royal Mail to date. [265291]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 March 2009]: Government have received a number of expressions of interest regarding a partnership with Royal Mail. At this stage of the process only TNT has made their interest public. For commercial confidentiality reasons it would not be appropriate to reveal details on who else wishes to explore the possibility of entering into a partnership with Royal Mail.
Taxation: Small Businesses
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) when businesses will be entitled to apply for the Small Business Finance Scheme; [243135]
(2) when he expects the first payments to be made under the Small Business Finance Scheme. [243136]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 15 December 2008]: The Small Business Finance scheme announced in the pre-Budget report was launched as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee on 14 January 2009 and is available from 23 approved lenders including all the main UK high street banks.
The first payments have already been issued and thus far around 400 loans worth more than £40 million have been offered or in progress.
Children, Schools and Families
Child Minding
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of registered childminders are on (a) the Early Years Register and (b) the Ofsted Childcare Register. [260036]
Beverley Hughes: These are matters for Ofsted. The Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and copies of her replies have been placed in the Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 16 March 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for reply. You will be aware that people can apply to join one register or both registers at the same time.
The latest set of available figures, published on 13 March, show that there were 61,929 registered childminders at the 31 December 2008. At that time, 61,428 (99%) were on the Early years Register and 61,556 (99%) were on the Ofsted Childcare Register. Since not all providers inform Ofsted that they have ceased provision, these numbers are likely to be higher than the actual number of active childminders.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Children: Internet
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department has published for parents on protecting children from harm arising from use of the internet. [263940]
Beverley Hughes: In partnership with Childnet International, the department has published a range of guidance and resources for parents under the “Know It All” brand to promote safe and positive use of the internet. This award-winning family of products has so far been distributed to over one million parents in England.
In addition we have published comprehensive online guidance on both departmental websites and those of our partners. We are currently updating guidance on social networking websites and have established a public awareness working group as part of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety to further promote the importance of internet safety to families.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made on implementation of the recommendations of the Byron review, Safer children in a digital world. [263941]
Beverley Hughes: In September 2008 the Government launches the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) Safety (UKCCIS) as part of its commitment to implement the recommendations of the Byron review. The Council consists of over 100 organisations from across industry, government, law enforcement and the third sector. An Executive Board to the Council has been appointed which has agreed the immediate priority activities and established a number of working groups to draw together expertise and assist in the implementation of the report.
The Council will publish the first ever Child Internet Safety Strategy later this year to provide an overview of how the Byron recommendations will be met. Significant progress has already been made on a number of specific recommendations including the publication of new advice to parents and teachers, commissioning research to develop the evidence base for policy making and providing support for initiatives to reduce cyber-bullying and promote European Safer Internet Day.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made on the development of the child internet safety strategy. [263942]
Beverley Hughes: The Government published their Byron Review Action Plan in June 2008 which outlined how we will implement all the recommendations contained in Dr. Byron's Report. At the first meeting of the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) in December 2008, the board agreed the immediate priorities for UKCCIS activity.
At its most recent meeting on 10 March, the board agreed that the Child Internet Safety strategy should be published in the autumn and following extensive consultation with stakeholders.
This will be taken forward through a number of recently set up UKCCIS working groups.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions the UK Council on Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has met; how much his Department has spent on UKCCIS; and how much is planned to be spent on UKCCIS in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11. [263943]
Jim Knight: The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) was launched in September 2008. Since then the Executive Board to the Council has met twice—in December 2008 and March 2009. Four working groups have been established and will meet shortly. These meetings will be supported by online discussions and other smaller gatherings of council members to look at specific issues. The council as a whole will meet on an annual basis at its summit to review progress and agree forward work.
The Government allocated £300,000 to support the activity of UKCCIS for 2008-09, and £450,000 for 2009-10. This does not include the cost of officials working within the UKCCIS secretariat or the delivery of Dr. Byron’s recommendations which will rely on building digital safety into planned activities and services that are already funded, such as £9 million on a safety awareness campaign for children that will include internet safety.
The budget for 2010-11 is yet to be decided.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on what date the Child Internet Safety Summit will be held. [263944]
Beverley Hughes: On March 10, the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, made up of representation from across Government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector, agreed that the Child Internet Safety Summit should take place in the autumn.
The Government expect to announce the exact date shortly.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions the Executive Board of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety has met; and if he will place a copy of the minutes of each meeting in the Library. [263945]
Beverley Hughes: The Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety has met twice. The first meeting was on 9 December 2008 and the most recent was 10 March 2009. The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for 9 June.
Meeting notes from all Board meetings are published online on the UKCCIS website:
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he and the Secretary of State for Health expect revisions to the guidance to and systems of accident and emergency departments to be made. [264379]
Ann Keen: I have been asked to reply.
The Government will produce a detailed action plan in response to the recommendations in Lord Laming’s report, “The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report”—including that referring to accident and emergency departments—by the end of April.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to page 16 of The Protection of Children in England: a progress report, HC330, what formalised and explicit performance indicators are planned to be introduced for primary care trusts. [265234]
Ann Keen: I have been asked to reply.
This will be addressed in the detailed action plan in response to the recommendations in Lord Laming’s
report, “The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report” that the Government have promised by the end of April.
Children's Centres: Sunderland
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what expenditure his Department incurred on children's centres in the city of Sunderland in each of the last 10 years. [265030]
Beverley Hughes: Sure Start local programmes (SSLPs), the forerunner of Sure Start children's centres were introduced in 1999-2000. Details of expenditure in Sunderland on SSLPs and children's centres since that time, which totals £45.4 million, are shown in the following table:
| Sunderland children's centre and SSLP expenditure | |||||
| £ | |||||
| Financial year | Children's centre revenue expenditure | Children's centre capital expenditure | SSLP revenue expenditure | SSLP capital expenditure | Total expenditure |
Children's Trusts
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what minimum qualifications are required of the chairmen of children's trusts; [265227]
(2) who chairs each children's trust. [265228]
Beverley Hughes: The Government do not prescribe a minimum level of qualifications for those who chair children's trust boards. Boards should be chaired in a way that most effectively meets the needs of children and young people. That is a matter for local determination. Proposals to strengthen children's trust boards in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill—which is currently before Parliament—will be supported by guidance which will cover the process for appointing the chair and the chair's role on the board.
Current information suggests that about 80 per cent. of children's trust boards are chaired either by the lead member for Children's Services or the director of Children's Services.
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