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30 Jun 2009 : Column 225W—continued
Sub-Saharan Africa: Malaria
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent representations he has received on the provision of mosquito nets in sub-Saharan Africa. [282315]
Mr. Thomas: Representatives of Malaria No More met with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Michael Foster) on 10 June 2009. I understand there has been no other formal representation made to Ministers since 1 January 2009 at which the issue of the provision of bed nets in sub-Saharan Africa has been raised.
Sudan: Elections
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has allocated to support elections in Sudan; and how such funding will be disbursed. [281964]
Mr. Thomas: In 2007, the Department for International Development (DFID) earmarked £11 million to support the electoral process in Sudan.
DFID has already provided £1 million for media, civic education and electoral conflict management programmes, and £1.5 million to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its preparatory support to the elections. The National Elections Commission has yet to present its overall strategy, but once we are content with this plan, we will be able to transfer remaining funds to UNDP and determine any further support the UK may provide.
UK funding supports a range of activities: voter and civic education through local organisations, training workshops for journalists and programmes to support media monitoring, support to domestic observer groups, assistance to the National Elections Commission and training for the Political Parties Affairs Council.
United Nations: Females
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2009, Official Report, column 1W, on United Nations: females, what proposals his Department has put forward for the (a) remit and (b) leadership of a United Nations Agency for Women; and if he will make a statement. [282321]
Mr. Thomas: The UK Government are arguing for the creation of a single powerful agency for women, merging existing bodies, with a strong visible leader.
Children, Schools and Families
Apprentices
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the minimum (a) number of hours a week for an apprenticeship and (b) number of guided learning hours for an apprenticeship framework will be for apprentices aged 16 and 17 following the raising of the age of participation in education or training to 18. [283050]
Mr. Iain Wright: At present, there is no minimum number of hours a week for an apprenticeship. The minimum number of hours spent each week on an apprenticeship is a matter for agreement between employer and apprentice.
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill which is currently before Parliament would give the Secretary of State the power to bring forward regulations through a Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England to set out the minimum requirements for all apprenticeship frameworks delivered in England. We expect these regulations to include a requirement that all frameworks must include a minimum of 280 guided learning hours per year. Subject to the will of Parliament, this would ensure that all apprentices aged 16 and 17 would benefit from the minimum level of learning guided learning required to be considered as being engaged in education and training.
Child Workforce Development Council
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding has been allocated to the Children’s Workforce Development Council in each year since its creation. [282013]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) was established in 2005. The allocation for each financial year from Department Children, Schools and Families(1) was:
(1) Or it's predecessor DFES.
| £ | |
| Note: For the current financial year, 2009-10, the available allocation is £106,070,875 | |
Children in Care: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were in care in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [274241]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the number of looked after children in Essex is available from table LAA1 in the Statistical First Release entitled ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2008’, which is located at
Table LAA1 can be found within the first set of additional tables.
Information on the number of looked after children are only collected by the Department at local authority level; therefore information for Castle Point is not available.
Children in Care: Missing Persons
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children of each (a) sex, (b) age group and (c) ethnic group were reported missing from local authority care in the last 12 months. [273287]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 7 May 2009]: The information is shown in the following table.
Children: Databases
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to ensure that computers infected with malware are prevented from gaining access to the ContactPoint database. [274317]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 11 May 2009]: Before any organisation can connect to ContactPoint they are subject to an accreditation process which ensures that they have in place the necessary regulatory, security and operational requirements. This provides assurance that the use of ContactPoint is subject to appropriate supervision, monitoring and controls.
As part of the accreditation process each organisation must demonstrate that they have appropriate security policies and processes in place for protection from malware, viruses and spyware. They are also required to show that content analysis is performed on incoming and outgoing data, including the virus checking of emails and attachments. These checks will provide assurance that workstations are free from known threats such as malware or spyware before they are used to access ContactPoint and are protected from any future compromise.
Children's Centres: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children's centres there are in Tamworth constituency; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of such provision for children under five in Tamworth. [282582]
Dawn Primarolo: Tamworth currently has six designated Sure Start children's centres, offering access to services to over 6,300 children under five and their families.
In general Staffordshire is making good progress with the establishment and development of children's centres. It is a major programme which I understand has been well managed, with good community involvement, consultation and links to extended services in schools.
Demos
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what (a) private meetings and (b) public engagements Ministers in his Department have attended at which representatives from the think-tank Demos were present in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [279516]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the volume of carbon dioxide emissions arising from road-based transport used for administrative operations by his Department in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 (i) in total and (ii) per full-time equivalent member of staff. [281015]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children, Schools and Families estimates that the tonnage of carbon dioxide emissions arising from road-based transport for administrative operations by the Department is as follows.
The data requested were for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). DCSF was established under Machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007, therefore the response covers its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
The carbon emissions arising from road-based transport for staff in (a) 2006-07 was 935 tonnes with 0.271 full-time equivalent staff (b) 2007-08 was 1479 tonnes with 0.534 full-time equivalent staff.
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the volume of carbon dioxide emissions arising from air travel by staff in his Department in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 (i) in total and (ii) per full-time equivalent member of staff. [281016]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The information requested is as follows:
The data requested were for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). DCSF was established under Machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007, therefore the response covers its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
The carbon emissions arising from air travel for staff in (a) 2006-07 was 432.05 with 0.125 for full-time equivalent staff (b) 2007-08 was 186.80 with 0.068 for full-time equivalent staff.
The data have been provided air travels bookings made by the Department's contractor for travel booking, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many breaches of information security there have been at his Department and its predecessor in the last five years. [281069]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: In the last five years there have been seven breaches of information security. The Department for Children, Schools and Families and its agencies report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the ICO. Information on personal data security breaches are published on an annual basis in the Department's annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
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