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Children’s Centres

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many Sure Start centres there are in each local education authority area. [281502]

Dawn Primarolo: At the end of April 2009 there were 3,018 Sure Start children’s centres across England. By 2010 there will be at least 3,500: one for every community. The information requested on the number of children’s centres in each local authority area will be placed in the House Libraries.


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Pre-School Education

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what representations he has received on the effects of mandatory early learning requirements on (a) diversity of provision and (b) parental choice. [281769]

Dawn Primarolo: Since the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in September last year, Ministers have received representations from a wide range of stakeholders on the EYFS learning and development requirements. The vast majority of these have been extremely positive and welcoming of the EYFS as an important step forward for children. Concerns have been expressed about the early learning goals by some providers and representative groups, but we have yet to see any evidence of an impact on diversity or parental choice.

We have introduced a process whereby providers and parents can apply for exemptions from the EYFS requirements and will also continue to listen to the sector and monitor the EYFS in the lead up to the review of EYFS in 2010.

Primary Education

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what research he has evaluated for benchmarking purposes on educational attainment at age seven for children in (a) England and (b) EU member states where children begin formal education after the age of five. [281768]

Dawn Primarolo: There are no international comparisons studies of educational attainment at age seven that would enable us to benchmark our performance against other countries.

Schools: Sport

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department and its predecessors have allocated for the encouragement of physical exercise in schools in (a) Mid-Bedfordshire constituency and (b) the East of England in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [278860]

Mr. Iain Wright: The national strategy for PE and sport in schools was introduced in 2003-04. Prior to then, the only funding specifically dedicated for PE and sport from this Department was the additional funding for specialist sports colleges. Other funding for PE and sport was included in the standards fund grants to schools. Dedicated funding for PE and sport from this Department for Mid-Bedfordshire and the East of England has been as follows:


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Mid-Bedfordshire
£

Sports colleges School sport partnerships Total

2003-04(1)

189,680

(2)

189,680

2004-05

146,538

151,194

297,732

2005-06

155,904

151,194

307,098

2006-07

152,736

381,463

534,199

2007-08

152,736

380,387

533,123

2008-09

153,381

386,917

540,298

2009-10

151,833

394,177

546,010


East of England
£

Sports colleges School sport partnerships Sports facilities grant Total

1997-98(3)

(3)

1998-99

182,500

182,500

1999-2000

301,500

301,500

2000-01

815,432

815,432

2001-02

1,663,283

1,663,283

2002-03

2,507,293

2,507,293

2003-04

£3,467,024

£3,467,024

2004-05

4,408,361

(2)5,408,330

9,816,691

2005-06

4,943,816

8,575,414

13,519,230

2006-07

5,549,469

14,342,900

19,892,369

2007-08

5,894,816

14,888,011

20,782,827

2008-09

6,083,790

16,748,747

(4)1,452,500

24,285,037

2009-10

5,835,975

17,063,137

2,460,000

25,359,112

(1) There were no sports colleges in Mid-Bedfordshire prior to 2003-04.
(2) Sport England funded school sport partnerships prior to 2004-05.
(3) There were no sports colleges in East of England prior to 1998-99.
(4) Sports facilities grant was only in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding will be provided to (a) the Association for Physical Education and (b) other sports professionals for continued professional development under his Department’s PE and Sport Strategy for young people in the period 2008-11. [277789]

Mr. Iain Wright: The Department has allocated funding of £3.1 million per year over the three financial years from 2008-11 for the PE and Sport professional development programme. This programme is being delivered by a consortium made of the Youth Sport Trust, the Association for Physical Education and Sports Coach UK.

Young Offenders

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to tackle the causes of youth criminality. [281232]

Dawn Primarolo: The Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP), published in July 2008, set out the Government’s plans for tackling offending by young people. It detailed our plans for a ‘triple track’ approach which involves early intervention and prevention, tough enforcement and non-negotiable help and support. It also states our ambition to reduce the rate of young people entering the criminal justice system by one fifth by 2020. This commitment is supported by close to £100 million over three years, in addition to the existing significant investment in children’s and youth services, to support local authorities in making inroads into youth crime locally.

This Department has also invested in local projects to ensure that young people who are issued with antisocial
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behaviour orders (ASBOs) or Acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are given follow-up support from a mentor to address the causes of their behaviour and prevent them entering the criminal justice system. Between September 2008 and April 2009 nearly 8,000 young people and families benefited from these Challenge and Support projects in 52 areas.

As well as reducing antisocial behaviour, the interventions have improved family relationships, school attendance, and young people’s involvement in youth activities and reduced homelessness and substance misuse.

In addition, the Youth Justice Board are investing £32 million this year to deliver targeted prevention programmes such as youth inclusion programmes (YIPs), which are tailor-made programmes for eight to 17-year-olds, who are identified as being at high risk of involvement in offending or antisocial behaviour; multi-agency youth inclusion and support panels (YISPs) to prevent antisocial behaviour and offending by eight to 13-year-olds; and various parenting programmes which provide parents with opportunities to improve their skills in dealing with the behaviour that puts their child at risk of offending. All of these programmes build on the significant investment committed to other wider prevention programmes which make a contribution to preventing young people’s involvement in criminal activity in deprived areas. Key examples of this are the work done to help young people take part in structured positive activities and to improve facilities in deprived areas through the Positive Activities for Young People and Myplace programmes and additional parenting support such as the Parenting Early Intervention Programme, Family Intervention Projects and expert parenting practitioners.

In the three years to 2011, we will also have invested £6 billion through Sure Start towards securing better services for children young people and their families, with an emphasis on the most disadvantaged communities. This includes co-locating services through Sure Start Children’s Centres and extended schools.

Treasury

Banks: Finance

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fees (a) Barclays Capital, (b) Goldman Sachs, (c) HSBC and (d) the Royal Bank of Scotland received from her Department for taking part in the syndicated Government bond sale of 16 June 2009. [281388]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 19 June 2009]: The four Lead Managers (Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and RBS) of the syndicated offering on 16 June of 4.5 per cent. Treasury gilt 2034 each received £3.08 million in fees. Including fees paid to the Co-Lead Managers, total fees paid were £14.0 million.

Child Poverty Bill

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the cost of implementing the provisions of the Child Poverty Bill (a) in Wales and (b) in total. [281581]


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Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.

The costs of implementing the Child Poverty Bill are set out in the impact assessment, which was published alongside the Bill on introduction. The impact assessment outlines the increase in public sector administrative costs expected to arise from the Bill, estimated at an annualised average of £7,260,000 in 2008-09 prices. This includes the costs of establishing the Child Poverty Commission and producing a child poverty strategy.

None of these costs are attributed to delivery in Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government have introduced their own legislation, the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2009 which includes a duty to prepare a Welsh child poverty strategy. The associated costs are set out in the impact assessment published alongside the Measure. Provisions within the Measure, including a duty on Welsh Ministers to prepare a child poverty strategy for Wales, will be financed through the Welsh Assembly’s budget.

Departmental Food

Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the (a) meat, (b) fruit and (c) vegetables procured by his Department in the last 12 months was produced in the UK. [281937]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: For the financial year 2008-09, 60 per cent. of all foods served by the PFI catering sub-contractor for one HGR were sourced from within the UK.

Departmental Reviews

Mr. Vara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) review and (b) taskforce projects his Department has commissioned in each of the last five years; what the purpose of each such project is; when each such project (i) began and (ii) was completed; what the cost of each such project was; and if he will make a statement. [275985]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Summary information on taskforces and other standing bodies is available in the annual Cabinet Office publication Public Bodies. Copies of Public Bodies 2008 are available in the Libraries of the House. Detailed information on ad hoc advisory bodies is available on Treasury’s website. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the following link, which contains details on Treasury’s independent reviews:

EU Budget

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had at EU level on the contents of the National Audit Office’s 2009 report on financial management in the European Union. [281235]

Ian Pearson: HM Treasury have had no discussions on this annual National Audit Office report to Parliament. HM Treasury does, however, see and comment on the draft of the report before it is published.


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