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14 May 2009 : Column 1008W—continued
Social Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate has been made of the market value of homes owned by registered social landlords in each of the last three years. [270627]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 1113W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties previously available for social rent from registered social landlords were sold in each local authority area in each year since 1997. [273646]
Mr. Iain Wright: A table showing the number of registered social landlord (RSL) properties sold in each local authority area in each year from 2001-02 to 2007-08 has been placed in the House Library.
These figures are taken from returns made by RSLs through the regulatory and statistical returns (RSR) to the Tenant Services Authority. The figures show RSL sales under the following schemes; right to buy, preserved right to buy, right to acquire, voluntary purchase grant, social homebuy and other shared equity homebuy schemes. It also includes other shared ownership sales (such as new build and open market homebuy), including sales of initial shares. Sales to other RSLs, and sales to the private sector for non-social housing use, cannot be broken down to LA level, but are included in the England total.
These figures are not available from RSR returns before 2001-02.
Tenant Services Authority: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the administration costs of the (a) Tenant Services Authority and (b) Homes and Communities Agency in each of the next three years; and what percentage of each organisation's estimated (i) income and (ii) grant in aid these sums represent in each such year. [274863]
Margaret Beckett: Decisions on allocations for the next three years will be made as part of the corporate planning process for both organisations.
Tenant Services Authority: Public Relations
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Tenants Services Authority has commissioned any (a) public affairs and (b) public relations companies since its creation to date; and at what cost to the public purse. [274740]
Margaret Beckett: The TSA have commissioned the following to date:
Public Affairs consultancy—APCO: £1,200
Public Relations—Engage: £33,000.
Unitary Councils: Pay
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy to publish details of the remuneration and redundancy packages for senior local authority staff arising from the recent unitary restructuring. [273211]
John Healey: Disclosure in each council’s statement of accounts of the number of its staff whose remuneration (i.e. all amounts paid to or receivable by an employee) is in the band £50,000-£59,999, and the number in each subsequent £10,000 band, is currently required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003.
In the recent local government reorganisation, the Local Government (Structural Changes) (Further Transitional and Supplementary Provision and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009 require the 2008-09 accounts for those abolished councils to be finalised, and the annual statement of accounts to be published, by the relevant new unitary council. These accounts and the accompanying documentation, as for that of all local authorities, must be open for inspection by local electors for the area for 20 working days as part of the audit procedures, and the statement of accounts for the year must be published by the end of September.
The Department is currently consulting on proposals to amend the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 to improve transparency of reporting of remuneration of senior officers in public bodies. Further information is available at
Zero Carbon Hub
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the business plan for the Zero Carbon Hub. [270117]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Zero Carbon Hub's final business plan for 2008-09 to 2009-10 has been made available on the zero carbon hub's website:
Children, Schools and Families
Academies: Sponsorship
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which academy sponsors have withdrawn from the academy process (a) before and (b) after signing an expression of interest. [275173]
Jim Knight [holding answer 13 May 2009]: A sponsor’s legal commitment to an academy project (as a member of the academy trust) occurs when a funding agreement is signed. Since the first academies opened in 2002, one lead sponsor (Chelsfield) and two co-sponsors (Intercity and Toc H) have withdrawn after signing funding agreements, but before the academies opened.
Records of academy sponsors that have withdrawn before and after signing an expression of interest, but before signing a legally binding funding agreement, are kept in individual project records and are not held centrally.
Children and Young People's Services Ministerial Group
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what mechanism exists for non-ministerial representation on the ministerial sub-group of the Cabinet sub-committee on children, young people and families in place of Ministers. [275704]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A sub-set of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Families, Children and Young People, chaired by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and including the Secretaries of State from the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice will meet with Sir Roger Singleton, Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children, quarterly. Officials and experts may also be invited to attend this group to provide expert advice from time to time.
Children: Day Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of registered child minders were (a) male and (b) female in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [274288]
Beverley Hughes: The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information about the numbers and proportions of male and female staff in the child care and early years providers workforce. Table 1 shows the numbers of childminders that were male and female in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Data on numbers of childminders of each sex are not available prior to 2005, although the data on the proportions are available for 2003. Table 2 shows the proportions of childminders that were male and female in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. No data are available on proportions or numbers prior to 2003.
| Table 1: Numbers of male and female childminders in the child care and early years providers workforce | ||
| Male | Female | |
| Table 2: Proportions of male and female childminders in the child care and early years providers workforce | ||
| Percentage | ||
| Male | Female | |
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether staff of his Department made any representations in respect of Lord Laming's most recent report on safeguarding prior to its publication; and if he will make a statement. [275705]
Beverley Hughes:
As is common practice, officials in this Department were kept informed about the development of Lord Laming's independent report and were given
the opportunity to comment at key stages. We ensured that Lord Laming received the resources and support that he needed to complete his report which was independent and is based on the evidence provided to him from a wide range of sources.
Departmental ICT
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many and what proportion of computers in his Department malware was detected in 2008. [275421]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: During 2008, 28,890 computer viruses were detected and blocked from a total of 4,600 DCSF computers. It is not possible to specify the number of computers affected, as the same computer could have been infected several times during the same year.
Integrated Children's System
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what timetable he has set for completion of the feasibility study on a revised Integrated Children’s System. [274254]
Beverley Hughes: Lord Laming has recommended that the Department should complete such a study within six months of his progress report in March, and the Government have accepted this recommendation. In addition, the Social Work Task Force has already made a series of recommendations which, it believes, will improve frontline workers’ experience of ICS. The Government have accepted the Task Force’s advice in this area, and work to put this into effect will start without delay.
The Task Force will report fully to the Government in October and we are committed to bringing forward a comprehensive programme of reform for the profession at that time.
Schools: ICT
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of computers in (a) local authority children’s services departments, (b) Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service and (c) schools were found to be infected with malware in 2008. [275420]
Beverley Hughes: Information on the number or proportion of computers infected with malware is not collected centrally from either local authority children’s services or from schools. However many schools do employ a managed service for their ICT support and those organisations will normally maintain this information and report to schools.
The Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) computer network is supported by an outsourced IT service provider who do not routinely capture this information. However, the CAFCASS network and equipment is protected by anti-virus software and firewalls that prevent unauthorised access, so the potential for a malware infection is low. CAFCASS have no record of any infection by malware in 2008.
Schools: Standards
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions he and his predecessors have intervened in a school which is in special measures in each of the last five years; and what the name of each such school was. [275172]
Jim Knight [holding answer 13 May2009]: The Secretary of State has reserve intervention powers for schools in special measures which are currently contained in sections 67-69 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. These powers have only been used once in the last five years, when the Secretary of State appointed an Interim Executive Board at Ettingshall Primary School in Wolverhampton in May 2007.
Secondary Education: Teachers
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what percentage of classes in (a) academy and (b) non-academy secondary schools were taken by unqualified teachers without assistance in academic year (i) 2003-04, (ii) 2004-05, (iii) 2005-06, (iv) 2006-07 and (v) 2007-08; [275681]
(2) what percentage of those teaching classes unassisted in (a) academy and (b) non-academy state secondary schools were qualified school teachers in academic year (i) 2003-04, (ii) 2004-05, (iii) 2005-06, (iv) 2006-07 and (v) 2007-08. [275682]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Tim Byles
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the duties are of Mr. Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools. [275088]
Jim Knight: As Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, Tim Byles is responsible for delivering the Building Schools for the Future programme and the procurement of Academy schools, within the policy framework set by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. He is responsible for the day to day management of Partnerships for Schools' executive functions as set out in a number of formal documents, including a remit letter issued by the Department. The Chief Executive is also Partnerships for Schools' Accounting Officer and his responsibilities in that context are set out in the Treasury memorandum “The Responsibilities of a Non Department Public Body (NDPB) Accounting Officer”.
Youth Inclusion Programme
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009 to question 256435, what high scores for both deprivation and crime were used to determine which estates were selected. [259305]
Beverley Hughes:
The Youth Justice Board established the first 70 youth inclusion programmes in 2000. In
England, the areas were identified using a combination of the (then) Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions’ “Index of Local Deprivation” and youth offending teams’ own data and knowledge of local levels of crime. Youth offending teams will have also considered other factors, such as local levels of school attendance or unemployment. The Welsh Assembly Government selected the areas in Wales. Since 2005, youth offending teams have determined the areas themselves using the Youth Justice Board’s guidance which advises them to consider a range of crime, economic and population data. Youth offending teams have the flexibility to change the areas over time in order to reflect changing local circumstances.
Women and Equality
Community Learning
5. Angela Watkinson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on community learning opportunities for women during the recession. [275280]
Maria Eagle: We work closely with colleagues on issues affecting women during the recession, including training and skills. Community-based learning opportunities are important at any time but during an economic downturn they are essential. Our £20 million Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities Fund continues to support opportunities for local adults to develop their skills for employment. We also recently announced a support package for Community Learning Champions, who will act as a vital link between learners and providers.
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