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20 Apr 2009 : Column 233W—continued
Children: Databases
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which local authorities have made representations to his Department on the shielding of data on the ContactPoint database; and if he will make a statement. [266661]
Beverley Hughes: We have been working closely with all local authorities to ensure those records which need it are appropriately shielded. All local authorities have been regularly reporting progress and notifying us of any data issues they have encountered, during this pre-deployment phase, as we requested. As of 24 March, 13 local authorities have provided additional written feedback so far via letters or e-mails.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) for what reasons ContactPoint data will be kept for six years after a person reaches the age of 18 years; [266818]
(2) what method will be used permanently to delete a person’s records from ContactPoint; [266819]
(3) how long on average he expects to elapse between the death of a young person and the removal of their data record from the ContactPoint database. [266820]
Beverley Hughes: Six years is the accepted standard for retention of information in accordance with the provisions of the Limitations Act 1980. Once a person reaches age 18 their ContactPoint record will be moved into archive. Once in archive, the record will only be accessible by data managers for a period of one year. After that it is only accessible by our system suppliers in order to support investigations under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, any serious case review or investigation into a child death.
Once a record reaches the end of its archive period, an automatic batch process (purge) permanently deletes it from ContactPoint.
On receipt of notification of death of a child, ContactPoint retains the child record for one year before it is moved to the archive.
Annette Brooke:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has
made of the expenditure which will be incurred as a result of the (a) delay in introducing ContactPoint and (b) the changes to data entry and shielding in the ContactPoint system. [268723]
Beverley Hughes: The ContactPoint budget includes an appropriate contingency element and any additional costs that arise from developments made to the system will be met from those contingency arrangements. It has always been anticipated that this would be the case. We do not anticipate the overall costs for implementing ContactPoint exceeding the original estimate of £224 million.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1336W, on children: databases, which companies bid for his Department's ContactPoint contract. [269794]
Beverley Hughes: In answer to the question I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1336W.
Children: Internet
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress he has made on the proposal for an e-safety week announced in the Byron Review Action Plan; and when he expects it to take place. [268943]
Beverley Hughes: The Byron Review Action Plan announced that the UK council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) would work with the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and other council members to launch an e-safety week in 2009.
This year UKCCIS supported a Safer Internet Week (9 to 13 February) by assisting CEOP to run national newspaper advertisements throughout the week and circulating information to council members and interested parties, specifically promoting Safer Internet Day 2009 on 10 February.
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he expects Ofsted next to report on lessons learnt from serious case reviews. [264383]
Beverley Hughes: Lord Laming’s report ‘The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report’ was published on 12 March. The Government announced, on the same day, that all of the recommendations had been accepted, and undertook to provide a detailed response to all 58 recommendations by the end of April.
Recommendation 49 of the report said:
‘Ofsted should produce more regular reports, at six monthly intervals, which summarise the lessons from Serious Case Reviews’.
Ofsted will also be responding to this and other relevant recommendations by the end of April.
Ofsted has commenced the planning for its second report on the outcomes of its evaluations on serious case reviews. However, the report by Lord Laming
recommended that Ofsted produce reports at six monthly intervals and they will consider whether they need to bring the next evaluation forward in the light of this.
The Government already commission biennial overviews of Serious Case Reviews to draw out their key findings and identify their implications for policy and practice.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to publish the assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing referred to in the Byron Review Action Plan. [268941]
Beverley Hughes: The assessment in to the impact of the commercial world was launched on the 7 April 2008. It is being led by Professor David Buckingham from the Institute of Education. The work has involved stakeholders from many sectors including education, business and NGOs. The assessment is nearing completion but there is as yet no firm publication date.
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to page 60 of The Protection of Children in England: a progress report, HC330, what recent estimate he has made of the number of police officers with the specialist training necessary to work on child protection available to each local authority. [265235]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
Data in relation to the number of police officers specially trained in child protection available to each local authority are not held centrally.
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families intends to publish a detailed action plan in response to Lord Laming's recommendations by the end of April.
Departmental Buildings
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what properties his (a) Department and (b) Department's (i) executive and (ii) non-departmental public bodies have sold in each of the last five years; and how many of these have been sold for housing development. [266494]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The following properties have been sold in the last five years:
(a) In 2004 the Department for Children, Schools and Families sold Letchworth Skillcentre in Hertfordshire and in 2008 it sold Middlesbrough Skillcentre Annex and Wales Bar in Rotherham. None of these sales was for housing development.
(b) The Department has no agencies.
(c) In 2006 The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) sold a property in Preston, Lancashire to a developer, although the property did not have a residential planning permission.
In 2004 the Children and Families Courts Advisory Service (CAFCASS) sold 5 Upper Park Road, Bromley, Kent.
In 2005 it sold 65 Alma Road, Windsor, Berkshire.
In 2006 it sold Darwen Health Centre, Blackburn, Lancashire and 90 Finkle Street, Cottingham, Yorkshire.
In 2007 it sold a property in Dudley in the West Midlands.
None of these sales were for housing development.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many staff in his Department (a) were disciplined and (b) had their employment terminated as a result of a poor sickness record in each of the last 12 months. [262245]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information on sickness absence in the Department can be found on the DCSF website:
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent progress his Department has made towards its target for energy efficiency per square metre of its Estate; and if he will make a statement. [266887]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has a target to reduce its energy consumption to 283.9 kWh per square metre by 2011/12.
The returns for the 2007-08 Sustainable Operation of the Government Estate (SOGE) showed that the DCSF estate consumed 325 kWh of energy per square metre. The full report can be found under the following link at:
This has reduced from 334 kWh/m2 in the baseline year 1999/2000.
Departmental Finance
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding has been allocated by his Department to each of its capital funding programmes, excluding the Building Schools for the Future programme, for 2010-11. [268366]
Jim Knight: The Department's 2010-11 capital Estimate, excluding the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, after the Spring Supplementary exercise are detailed by function in the following table.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266699]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The cost of production and printing for the Departmental Report and the Autumn Performance Report was £24,875 and £24,238.69 respectively.
Other costs relating to the reports can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent on media training for each Minister in his Department in each of the last three years; how many sessions have been provided; and who provided the training. [268301]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Training is provided to Ministers as necessary in order to carry out their duties effectively under the ministerial code.
Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent establishing local education partnerships to date. [268476]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department provides funding support of £0.5 million to each local authority for local education partnership (LEP) establishment costs. The Department has incurred £9 million for the 18 LEPs currently established.
Education Act 2002
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many notifications under the Education Act 2002 his Department and its predecessor (a) received from (i) independent schools and (ii) grant maintained schools and (b) sent to the schools inspectorate in each case in each year since April 2005. [267293]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 27 March 2009]: The number of notifications sent to schools inspectorates since April 2005 is 87. These relate to individuals who resigned or were dismissed from independent schools because they were considered unsuitable to work with children. Details are given in the following table. The hon. Member will recall from previous answers that in the case of maintained schools, Ofsted can approach the local authority concerned in respect of notifications from its schools.
| Referrals to I nspectorates | ||||||
| Inspectorate | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Total |
| (1) The seven referrals made to the former Commission for Social Care Inspection (now Ofsted) were also referred to the relevant education inspectorate and are thus included in the totals for ISI and Ofsted above | ||||||
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