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2 July 2009 : Column 365W—continued
| Table 2: Registration of newly diagnosed cases of male breast cancer: England, 1997 to 2006 | |
| Number of cases | |
| Note: Breast cancer is coded to C50 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Source: Office for National Statistics | |
Stress
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether her Department provides facilities for meditation for its staff. [283103]
Angela E. Smith: The Cabinet Office provides facilities which can be used for prayer, meditation and reflection.
Third Sector
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment has been made of the cost- effectiveness of Government funding for (a) charities, (b) social enterprises and (c) voluntary organisations. [284206]
Angela E. Smith: The Office of the Third Sector provides over £515 million of funding for third sector programmes and has commissioned a number of evaluations of individual programmes including Capacitybuilders, Futurebuilders and Grassroots Grants. All of these independent evaluations consider the cost-effectiveness of Government funding and have been or will be published.
One of the most significant developments in evidencing the cost-effectiveness of funding has been the establishment of the Economic and Social Research Council's £10 million Third Sector Research Centre last year. The Office of the Third Sector is providing £5million funding to this new centre, which will look at measuring the economic impact of the sector, including considerations of cost-effectiveness of statutory funding.
The National Audit Office's recent value for money report, published in February 2009, considered cost effectiveness of Government funds for capacity building the sector. Other work by the NAO on Public Funding of Large Charities (August 2007) and Implementation of Full Cost Recovery (June 2007) also looked at issues of cost effectiveness.
OTS has recently completed and published a guide to the value of Social Return on Investment (May 2009). Social Return on Investment is a way of measuring and accounting for a broader range of outcomes (such as social and environmental outcomes) rather than constraining cost effectiveness to the financial element alone. This work is of particular value when demonstrating the effectiveness of funding to the third sector.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies have taken (a) less than one year, (b) between one and two years, (c) between two and three years and (d) more than three years to open following (i) the initiation of the brokering phase and (ii) the statement of interest. [278081]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 4 June2009]: We do not have a central record of when brokering discussions begin for academy projects, and it would be above the cost threshold to collect these data. The Statement of Intent phase has only been a formally recorded part of the process since 2007.
Of the open academies with Statements of Intent (SOI) none has taken less than a year to progress from SOI to open, 14 have taken between one and two years and none has taken longer.
Children: Emigration
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many leave to remove applications have been brought in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how many such cases have been granted in each such year. [283303]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
Data on applications for leave to remove a child from the UK are not held centrally. However, the following table shows the number of individual cases where there was an order granting leave to remove a child from the UK. Data were not collected prior to 2000.
| Number of cases in England and Wales where leave to remove a child from the UK was granted | |
| Notes: 1. The data are taken from the HMCS FamilyMan database. 2. Data include cases in England and Wales county courts and high courts but exclude a small number of cases in family proceedings courts (FPCs). 3. Leave to remove a child from the UK may be granted as part of residence order proceedings. 4. An order granting leave to remove a child from the UK may refer to more than one child. | |
GCSE
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) in how many and what percentage of schools which had staff absent for an average of five or more days per teacher 30 per cent. or fewer pupils achieved five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in the last year for which figures are available; [283432]
(2) how many and what percentage of schools in each decile of (a) area deprivation by school residence and (b) area deprivation by pupil residence have been recorded as having a teacher absence rate of at least five days per teacher in the last year for which figures are available; [283502]
(3) how many and what percentage of schools in which (a) 50 per cent., (b) 60 per cent., (c) 70 per cent. and (d) 75 per cent. or more of teachers were absent for one or more days had 30 per cent. or fewer of their pupils achieve five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in the last year for which figures are available. [283504]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available. Teacher absence information is limited to that caused by sickness and this is collected at the local authority level which cannot be linked to individual schools' GCSE attainment or area deprivation information.
Members: Correspondence
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to respond to the letter of 12 May 2009 from the right hon. Member for Maidenhead on Aiming High for Disabled Children. [283606]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: A reply to the letter, signed by the Secretary of State, was sent to the hon. Member on 19 June 2009.
Personal Social and Health Education
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of schools that cover issues related to violence against women in personal, social, health and economic education classes. [283600]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: We do not have statistics for the number of schools teaching about violence against women in PSHE education.
However, we acknowledge that schools have an important role in raising awareness of domestic violence and abuse issues by giving children and young people the knowledge and skills to not only deal with their own anger but anger and violence directed towards them.
Schools: Finance
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent research he has evaluated on levels of efficiency in relation to (a) his Department's spending on schools and (b) funds spent by maintained schools. [283096]
Mr. Coaker: In recent years, the Department has sponsored a number of research projects and in-house analytical projects in this area. In relation to the efficiency of the Department’s spending on schools, the Consistent Financial Reporting data collection has been implemented since 2002-03. It is used at national and school level internally for modelling the impact of new policies and used externally at school level via the Financial Benchmarking website. This site enables users to prepare charts that compare their school’s income and expenditure profile with that of similar schools so that they can make informed decisions on how to manage their resources effectively.
In relation to the efficiency of funds spent by maintained schools the Department has constructed school level measures of efficiency derived from Data Envelopment Analysis models. These models generate a measure of efficiency for every secondary school, which express how effective they have been in delivering pupil outcomes given their resourcing levels and pupil context relative to the most efficient school in the sector that faces similar funding and contextual constraints. A similar project for measuring efficiency in primary schools is due to take place this summer.
The details of the efficiency measures for secondary schools can be found in the following publication:
Analysis of Secondary School Efficiency: Final Report, Professor Peter C Smith and Dr. Andrew Street
http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction= productdetails&PageMode=publications&Productld=RR788&
Youth Citizenship Commission
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will publish each (a) letter and (b) email sent from his Department to the Youth Citizenship Commission since the commission was established. [283443]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department has had no contact with the Youth Citizenship Commission either by letter or email since the commission was established.
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing Finance Review
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 22 June 2009, Official Report, columns 642-3W, on council housing, if he will place in the Library a copy of each research report produced by external organisations in relation to his Department's review of council housing finance. [283496]
Mr. Ian Austin: On 30 June the Minister for Housing announced in a written ministerial statement that a consultation document on the review of council housing finance will be published before the summer recess. The research reports will be published alongside this consultation document and subsequently placed in the Library.
Homes and Communities Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date he expects the Homes and Communities Agency to publish its annual report and accounts. [283436]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 202W.
Housing: Armed Forces
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many armed forces personnel living in (a) London, (b) the South East and (c) the East of England region have applied for assistance to (i) purchase a home under the New Build HomeBuy scheme and (ii) rent a home under the intermediate rent scheme in each month since October 2006. [283492]
John Healey: The information requested on applications for assistance under the New Build HomeBuy and intermediate rent schemes is not held centrally. Applications are processed by Homebuy agents (appointed housing associations) as part of the Homes and Communities Agency's National Affordable Housing programme.
Housing: Ex-servicemen
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities have required the Ministry of Defence to obtain a possession order before providing housing assistance to ex-armed forces personnel in each of the last five years. [283497]
Mr. Ian Austin: The information requested is not held centrally.
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which banks (a) participate in and (b) offer mortgage finance for purchasers under the (i) HomeBuy Direct, (ii) OwnHome, (iii) OpenMarket HomeBuy, (iv) the First-time Buyers’ Initiative, (v) MyChoice HomeBuy, (vi) New Build HomeBuy, (vii) Social HomeBuy and (viii) Rent to HomeBuy scheme. [283235]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 10 June 2009, Official Report, column 897W.
Participation in low cost home ownership schemes is a commercial decision for individual lenders. We are engaging regularly with lenders to ensure the continuance of mortgages for HomeBuy purchasers.
For (ii)—OwnHome product is a joint venture between Places for People and the Co-operative Bank. As such the Co-operative Bank is the only lender involved in this scheme.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many housing (a) starts and (b) completions there were under the National Affordable Housing programme in each region in each of the last five years. [283449]
Mr. Ian Austin: The following table shows the number of affordable homes completed through the National Affordable Housing programme (NAHP) in each region in each of the last five years.
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| Notes: 1. Comprehensive figures showing the total number of affordable housing starts are not available. 2. The affordable housing completions include social rent, intermediate rent and low cost home ownership. Not all affordable housing completions are provided through the NAHP. 3. The affordable housing figures are estimates and have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS) | |||||
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