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2 Jun 2009 : Column 441W—continued
School capital allocations by the Department in respect of England and Leicester for each of the last five years are set out in the following table:
| £ million | |||||
| 2004-05 Outturn | 2005-06 Outturn | 2006-07 Outturn | 2007-08 Estimated outturn | 2008-09 Projection | |
The England allocation figures are taken from table 8.3 of the 2008 departmental annual report.
In addition, Leicester is in Wave 1 of the Building Schools for the Future programme, with a secondary school programme estimated to cost some £256 million.
The Department does not maintain an estimate of the average cost of providing a new primary school or secondary school, year by year. This is due to the fact that costs vary greatly according to size and type of school, local cost factors, site constraints and other abnormal factors, and whether VAT is payable.
Regarding the strategic Building Schools for the Future programme, the average cost of a new secondary school across the programme has been approximately £26 million.
Schools: Complaints
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many complaints have been made about schools to Ofsted by parents resident in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [274239]
Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 14 May 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for reply.
Ofsted’s powers to consider complaints about schools became effective in April 2007; we do not hold data relating to complaints about schools prior to this. Ofsted may consider a complaint about a school from any person, not just a registered parent. This means the data below may include complaints from persons other than parents. Our systems do not record where a parent resides.
Since April 2007 Ofsted has received 88 complaints about schools located in the Essex local authority area. Four of these complaints were about schools located in the Castle Point parliamentary constituency. Annual totals are indicated in the table below. The reporting period for each year is from April to March.
| Table A: Complaints about schools received by Ofsted | ||
| Essex | Castle Point | |
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Schools: Standards
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on field forces in each year since 1997. [269879]
Jim Knight: The Department has recently undertaken a review of its field forces working with local authorities (LAs) and children's trusts. The term field force has been used in a wide sense to cover all advisers funded or jointly funded by DCSF to work directly with LAs and children's trust partners. This includes NDPB staff where relevant, directly contracted groups of advisers, advisers who are co-located with the Government Office Children and Learner Teams and sections of DCSF Head Office directly supporting LAs e.g. Youth Task Force. In 2008-09, the costs of these advisers were around £90 million. Comparable information for every year since 1997 is not available.
Secure Children’s Homes
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which secure children’s homes in England and Wales (a) closed in each of the last 12 years and (b) are scheduled for closure in the next 12 months; what funds his Department has allocated to all secure children’s homes in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [276752]
Beverley Hughes: The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) does not maintain a central record of children’s homes in England and Wales that have closed in each of the last 12 years.
Following the announcement of the new Youth Justice Board (YJB) contracts, there are four secure children’s homes in England currently contracted with the YJB who will not be offered a new contract. These are Kyloe
House, Northumberland; Sutton Place, Hull; Atkinson Unit, Exeter; and, Orchard Lodge, London. DCSF and the YJB will work with those units to agree transition arrangements which support the sustainable provision of welfare beds, while the YJB moves to its contracted total of 191 beds by March 2010. Any decision taken on the future of each home will be made by the relevant local authority or, in the case of the privately owned Orchard Lodge, Glen Care Group Ltd.
DCSF will continue to build on its previous capital investment by investing up to a further £50 million in the sector over the next four years to significantly improve the accommodation and facilities available in secure children’s homes. The bulk of that sum will be made available over 2009/10 and 2010/11. Further funding thereafter will be subject to the next spending review.
DCSF is currently in negotiations with the secure children’s homes with regards to the precise level of funding required this year for major capital improvement works.
Sixth Form Education: Finance
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many representations he has received on the funding allocations made by the Learning and Skills Council to schools for post-16 education in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [271053]
Jim Knight [holding answer 24 April 2009]: We have been working across Government to identify additional funding for the recent unanticipated surge in demand for education and training in part due to these exceptional economic times. Thanks to the £655 million funding announcement in the Budget, we will be able to deliver this and more, and fund learning for an additional 54,500 young people this year and next. The funding is split £251 million in 2009-10 and £404 million in 2010-11 and will fund an additional 54,500 learners each year. This will mean that we have funding for at least 1,550,000 for 2009/10 and 2010/11.
This will mean we have quickly reassured school and college leaders who had previously feared their financial allocations would not fund their growth in the number of young people wanting to continue learning. It will also mean that we can fund a further 20,000 young people who have yet to make their choice of learning place.
The LSC are currently working through the final 2009-10 school sixth-form and FE college allocations and will be writing out to them as soon as possible. At close of business on 21 April 2009 the Department had received 573 written representations regarding the post 16 funding allocations for 2009-10.
Social Services: Children
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many serious case reviews there have been regarding the death of a child in Essex in each of the last 10 years. [268004]
Beverley Hughes:
I refer my hon. Member to the reply given on 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 442W. This indicates that, of all notifications received
between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008 of serious child care incidents, one Serious Case Review had been initiated where a child died and abuse or neglect was known or suspected to be a factor in Essex.
Data prior to 1 April 2007 are not available in this form. However, the Department commissions an academic biennial analysis of all Serious Case Reviews to help ensure lessons are clearly identified and disseminated.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what funding his Department has allocated for the implementation of the latest Laming Report’s recommendations; and from what budgets such funding has been drawn; [273664]
(2) what funding his Department plans to provide for child protection as a result of the Laming inquiry and the Baby P case. [271465]
Beverley Hughes: The Government are investing £130 million in social work reform over the full spending review period, of which, £57.8 million is additional new investment announced on 6 May 2009 as part of the Government’s detailed response to Lord Laming’s Report. This represents a substantial commitment to improve the recruitment and training and development of social workers and will significantly increase the capacity of the system to implement change immediately.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) by what date he expects a usability review of each integrated children’s system and related local authority infrastructure and implantation system to have been completed; [275397]
(2) from how many local authorities the Social Work Task Force took documentary evidence as part of its work on the integrated children’s system; [275398]
(3) whether local authorities will have discretion to opt out of the national integrated children’s system recommended by Lord Laming in his report on Safeguarding Children. [275399]
Beverley Hughes: Lord Laming’s report “The Protection of Children in England” identified a number of concerns in relation to the Integrated Children’s System. Lord Laming recommended that the Government should, in consultation with social workers and their managers, take steps to improve the utility of the system to support them in their role and to ensure appropriate transfer of essential information across organisational boundaries. Lord Laming also recommended that the DCSF should undertake a feasibility study with a view to rolling out a single national Integrated Children’s System better able to address the concerns his report identifies, or find alternative ways to assert stronger leadership over local systems and their providers.
In immediate response to Lord Laming’s report, the DCSF asked the Social Work Task Force to accelerate its advice in relation to the Integrated Children’s System and to advise how Lord Laming’s recommendations in should be taken forward.
The task force’s advice was informed by consultation with practitioners, managers and IT implementation staff at events around the country, by a number of visits to local authorities and by 649 submissions of on line
evidence from individual practitioners and managers, and local authorities. It was set out in the task force’s first report on 5 May.
As set out in “The Protection of Children of England: action plan”, the DCSF has accepted the task force’s recommendations in relation to steps it can take immediate to improve usability of the system and to support greater local leadership. We will shortly be writing to local authorities to set out detailed next steps, including explaining the arrangements and time scales for usability reviews of each local system.
The Government have also accepted the task force’s advice that the future model for the Integrated Children’s System should be locally owned and locally led, within a strong and simplified national framework which reflects the statutory requirements for children’s social care, rather than a single national system.
In line with Lord Laming’s recommendations, we are also taking forward a national study into issues relating to interoperability of ICS with other IT systems and how this can best be supported.
We expect the task force to make more detailed recommendations to us, in October, about the reforms necessary to support high quality social work practice. The Government will consider any further improvements to the Integrated Children’s System as part of the comprehensive programme of reform for social work which we have committed to bringing forward in the autumn.
Social Workers: Manpower
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many full-time children’s social workers there were in each local authority in each year since 1997. [276650]
Beverley Hughes: Detailed information on all staff, including children’s social workers, directly employed by social services departments is collected through the Personal Social Services staff of Social Services Departments return (SSDS001) which was introduced in 1993 by the Department of Health. In 2004-05 responsibility for the collection of this data passed to the NHS Information Centre for health and social care. These data have been published on an annual basis with breakdown by local authority available in the supporting annexes published alongside each report.
Reports published from 2006 onwards are available on the NHS Information Centre website here:
Reports published between 1996 and 2005 are available on the Department of Health website here:
Sure Start: Rotherham
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children in Rotherham have enrolled in Sure Start in each year since 2003. [275354]
Beverley Hughes:
Rotherham local authority currently has 21 Sure Start Children's Centres offering access to
services to around 14,000 children under five and their families. The Department does not hold information centrally on how many children in Rotherham have enrolled in Sure Start in each year since 2003.
Sure Start: Warrington
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children in Warrington have enrolled in Sure Start in each year since 2003. [276530]
Beverley Hughes: Warrington local authority has 11 Sure Start Children's Centres offering access to services to around 11,500 children under five and their families.
The Department does not hold information centrally on how many children in Warrington have enrolled in Sure Start in each year since 2003.
Teachers: Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers took early retirement benefits under the Teachers' Pension Scheme in the last five years for which figures are available. [272652]
Jim Knight: The following table provides the number of teachers who were awarded early retirement benefits from the Teachers' Pension Scheme in England and Wales in each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08, the latest year for which figures are available.
| Teachers awarded early retirement benefits( 1) from the Teachers' Pension Scheme, 2003-04 to 2007-08, England and Wales | |||
| Local authority maintained schools | Other establishments( 2) | Total | |
| (1) Includes, teachers retiring under the actuarially reduced, premature and ill-health retirement arrangements. Under phased retirement arrangements some teachers will remain in teaching service. (2) Other establishments are academies, CTCs, sixth-form colleges, other FE colleges, and independent and HE institutions that are members of the Teachers' Pensions Scheme. (3) Provisional. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Pensioner Statistical System and Database of Teacher Records. | |||
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