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23 Jun 2009 : Column 817W—continued
State Retirement Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) with reference to the answer of 28 October 2008, Official Report, columns 868-69W, on the state retirement pension, if she will revise her estimate of the number of cases of pensioners potentially entitled to lump sum payments of backdated retirement pension through payment of Class 3 National Insurance contributions to take account of pensioners, identified by her Department’s special exercise; how much has been paid out in such lump sums to date; to how many people; when she expects to complete this exercise; and if she will make a statement; [269292]
(2) with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 1008W, on state retirement pensions: females, if she will estimate the number of women who will be entitled to a (a) lump sum pension back payments only, (b) lump sum back payments and home responsibilities protection (HRP) and (c) HRP only by the end of the special exercise; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse in each case. [269293]
Angela Eagle: To date we have paid out £2 million to 2,738 women. As a result of this exercise we estimate around 26,000 women may benefit from paying voluntary contributions, correction of home responsibilities protection or both. For lump sum pension back payment only and home responsibilities protection only we estimate the total costs to the public purse to be between £14 and £16 million in benefit payments. For combined lump sum and home responsibilities protection cases we still do not have sufficient data to be able to reliably extrapolate costs. We expect to complete the exercise by the end of 2009.
State Retirement Pensions: EU Nationals
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what her most recent estimate is of (a) the change in the number of EU citizens who will be entitled to the state pension and (b) the likely change in public expenditure as a result of changes to national insurance contribution conditions in the Pensions Act 2008 over the next 25 years. [269827]
Angela Eagle: The Pensions Act 2008 changed the rules relating to voluntary national insurance contributions, allowing people who reach state pension age between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2015 who already have at least 20 qualifying years (including Home Responsibilities Protection) to purchase up to an additional six missing years in their national insurance record since 1975.
This policy is expected to have no effect on the number of EU citizens who will be entitled to state pension and overall the policy is estimated to be cost neutral.
Vacancies: Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobs have been advertised at the job centre in Milton Keynes in each of the last 12 months. [281575]
Jim Knight: The information is in the following table.
| Number of v acancies in Milton Keynes Jobcentre | ||
| N otified vacancies | L ive unfilled vacancies | |
| Notes: 1. Data are unrounded. 2. Care should be taken in interpreting time-series data; changes to Jobcentre Plus vacancy handling procedures have led to a major discontinuity in the vacancy statistics pre and post May 2006. 3. These are not whole economy figures. Coverage relates just to vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and as such represent a market share of vacancies throughout the whole economy. This proportion varies over time according to the occupation of the vacancy and industry of the employer and by the local area. Comprehensive estimates of all job vacancies (not just those notified to Jobcentre Plus) are available from the monthly ONS Vacancy Survey since April 2001, based on a sample of some 6,000 enterprises. However the ONS survey is currently designed to provide national estimates only. 4. Notified vacancies: monthly data on the inflow of newly notified vacancies to Jobcentre Plus. 5. The stocks of live unfilled vacancies reflect more accurately job opportunities available via Jobcentre Plus. In the case of unfilled vacancies, use of the figures on live vacancies is recommended (i.e. excluding suspended vacancies) and this is the default option. Live vacancies may still include some vacancies which have already been filled or are otherwise no longer open to recruits, due to natural lags in procedures for following up vacancies with employers. 6. These figures are published at: www.nomisweb.co.uk. Source: Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System. | ||
Children, Schools and Families
Child Minding
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2009, Official Report, column 9, on child care (summer holidays) (1) what recent assessment he has made of (a) fall in the number of child minders and (b) the supply of child care through child minders over the last two quarterly returns; [281641]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on his Department’s records on the number of child care places provided through child minders of recent changes to the methodology used in calculating that number. [281642]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 22 June 2009]: Ofsted publish statistics on a quarterly basis showing the number of child care providers and the number of child care places recorded in the early years register and the general child care register. The latest set of figures showed a modest overall drop in the number of child care providers (-0.8 per cent.) and child minders (-1.6 per cent.), but a rise in the number of places offered by both group child care providers (13 per cent.) and child minders (11 per cent.).
Recent changes in methodology may have had an impact on these results. Future reports will give a clearer indication of trends.
Children: Day Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what criteria apply to the provision of Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development exemptions to childminders; what appeals procedure applies when applications for exemptions are refused; what definition his Department uses of philosophical reasons for exemption; and what assessment has been made of the use of that definition in practice. [281770]
Dawn Primarolo: Any early years provider, including child minders, may apply for exemptions where they are temporarily unable to deliver the full EYFS learning and development requirements; or where the established principles which govern their practice conflict with elements of the EYFS learning and development requirements.
All providers must seek the views of all the parents who have children at the setting and of the local authority and give a clear explanation setting out the rationale for seeking an exemption. Providers should demonstrate that their provision is governed by an established principle if they are applying due to a conflict with the EYFS requirements, evidence may include excerpts from staff handbooks, memorandum and articles of association, or information from the provider’s website. All applications are considered on a case by case basis on the information and evidence provided. Further guidance on the exemption process and types of exemptions that can be applied are available on the QCA website:
There is no appeals process when an application is refused, however providers may resubmit their applications if there has been a change in circumstance or additional evidence is provided that is likely to affect the decision not to grant an exemption or the terms of the exemption.
We will keep this process under review as further applications come to light. However to date, we have only received one application.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many registered childcare places for children under eight years old there were in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in (i) 1997 and (ii) each of the last five years. [281851]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data were collected at local authority level only. Table 1 shows the number of child care places in Essex local authority for 1997. Table 2 and table 3 show the same information for 2004 to 2008 and 2009, respectively. Separate tables have been provided due to changes in Ofsted provider categories.
| Table 1: n umber( 1, 2, 3) of day care places for children under eight years of age by type of provider, Essex local authority area, position at 31 March 1997 | |
| Type of provider | Number |
| (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. (2) Data source: children’s day care facilities survey. (3) Figures may not add up to total due to rounding | |
| Table 2: n umber ( 1, 2, 3) of registered child care places for children under eight years of age by type of care, Essex local authority area, position at 31 March each year | ||||
| Type of care | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. (2) Data Source: Ofsted (3) Figures may not add up to total due to rounding | ||||
| Table 3: n umber ( 1, 2, 3) of registered child care places for children under eight years of age by type of care, Essex local authority area, position at 31 March 2009 | |
| Type of care | Number |
| n/a = not available (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. (2) Data Source: Ofsted (3) Figures may not add up to total due to rounding | |
Ofsted have collected information on the number of registered child care places available to children aged eight and under on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report “Registered Childcare Providers and Places, March 2009”, which is available on their website:
Children: Protection
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has allocated to local authority child protection services for 2009-10; and what recent steps his Department has taken to protect children from abuse. [280706]
Mr. Coaker: Expenditure on children’s social care has increased by over 90 per cent. in real terms between 1997-98 and 2008-09, from £2.218 billion in 1997-98 to £5.728 billion, equating to an average real terms increase of 6.1 per cent. per annum. The budgets for 2009-10 have not yet been finalised. It is the responsibility of all partners on children’s trusts to assess the adequacy of their funding on children’s services.
The Government are also 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 protection of children in England: action plan—The Government’s response to Lord Laming”. This represents a substantial commitment to support the recruitment, training and development of social workers and will significantly increase the capacity of the system to implement change immediately.
The Government have already implemented significant reforms to safeguard children through Every Child Matters, endorsed by Lord Laming as providing robust legislative, structural and policy foundations which set the right direction and are widely supported. We have also taken action to prevent unsuitable people from working with children by strengthening requirements for CRB checks in education and establishing the Independent Safeguarding Authority, and we are introducing a new, tougher vetting and barring scheme under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. We have introduced statutory Child Death Review processes, a world first, so that local safeguarding children boards and their partners look across all child deaths in the local area, with the aim of reducing preventable child deaths and we have invested £30 million in the expansion and modernisation of the NSPCC’s helpline services.
As Lord Laming’s recent report acknowledges, a great deal of progress has been made but we are determined to do everything possible to protect vulnerable children. That is why the Government have accepted all of Lord Laming’s recommendations and have set out a comprehensive action plan in response. This is available from the website at:
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