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7 July 2009 : Column 762W—continued
Social Services: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the rate of (a) absence and (b) absence resulting from injury at work was among those social services employees for which his Department is responsible in (i) Essex and (ii) Castle Point in each of the last five years; what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of such absences; and if he will make a statement. [283885]
Dawn Primarolo: Children and families' social care workers are employed locally by a range of organisations across the statutory, third and private sectors. The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not collect employer-level data about absences of social care staff or the costs of such absences.
Sure Start Programme: Coventry
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much money his Department allocated to Sure Start initiatives in Coventry in the last 12 months. [283500]
Dawn Primarolo: Funding for Sure Start Children’s Centres and predecessor Sure Start local programmes is allocated to local authorities as part of the Sure Start, Early Years and child care grant. The following table sets out Coventry City council’s children’s centre revenue and capital allocations for the current spending review period, 2008-11. Local authorities have flexibility within the terms of the grant to decide how much they spend on centres.
| £ | |||
| 08/09 | 09/10 | 10/11 | |
| (1) Revenue figures include the element within the Sure Start Early Years and Child care Grant that is ringfenced for children’s centres based on the earlier Sure Start local programmes in Coventry. | |||
Teachers: Vetting
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of teachers who have not had a Criminal Records Bureau check; and if he will make a statement. [275451]
Dawn Primarolo: We have not made any estimate of the number of teachers who may not have had a Criminal Records Bureau check. All teachers currently working in the school workforce will have had either an enhanced CRB disclosure or a check against the old police records system if they were in post prior to the introduction of the CRB, and all teachers will also have been checked against the list of those barred from working in educational establishments (List 99). All new appointments, both teaching and support staff, in the school workforce now require an enhanced CRB disclosure under the terms of the School Staffing (England) (No2) Regulations 2006, and those regulations also require schools to maintain a record of the vetting checks they have carried out on their staff. From November 2010 all new appointments to the school sector will have to register with the new vetting and barring scheme, and all existing staff in school will have to register by 2015. The ISA registration process incorporates a CRB check. The CRB collect some statistics on the volume of checks being made in the education sector on a monthly basis.
However, this is for all school staff not just teachers, and some teachers will have had more than one check if they are involved in supply work or work for more than one employer so we would be unable to make an estimate of the number of teachers who have not had a CRB check.
Young People: Carers
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of the number of young carers in (a) Merseyside and (b) Crosby. [282548]
Dawn Primarolo: The 2001 census, which is the only source of nationally comparable data on the number of carers of all ages, indicated that there were some 6,000 children and young people aged under 18 in Merseyside who were offering some care to family members, neighbours, friends or others. Data for Crosby are not available but for the Sefton area the figure was 1,000.
The census records young people who are described by the adults in the household as offering care to their families or communities. This includes young people who are responsible for the care of a family member (which is how young carers are usually defined) plus others who may provide more occasional support such as child care for their parents or care for neighbours and friends.
Young People: Public Participation
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on (a) the effectiveness of his Department’s arrangements for the engagement of young people in decision-making and (b) means to increase such engagement. [280747]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Government are committed to listening to and reflecting the views of children and young people. We believe that children and young people should be given opportunities to express their opinion in matters that affect their lives.
For example, the Children and Youth Board (CYB) regularly helps shape the Department’s thinking and policy making. Most recently the CYB has helped shape the Children’s Plan, the Byron Review, and the Play Strategy.
Our White Paper published on 30 June, “Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future: building a 21(st) century schools system” sets out an entitlement that all pupils should have the opportunity to say what they think of their school and how it could be improved.
Aiming High, the Department’s 10 Year Youth Strategy, set out our commitment to engaging young people in decision making at a local level by empowering them to have greater influence over the services that are provided for young people in their area. Over one and a half million young people have benefited from initiatives such as Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds which require not only that funding applications are made by young people, but that young people are part of the panel that decides which applications are successful. An independent evaluation carried out last year showed that the empowerment of young people through these funds is not only leading to increased participation in higher quality things to do and places to go, but challenging stereotypes and perceptions of young people in our communities.
We have also issued “Working Together: Listening to the voices of children and young people” which promotes the participation of children and young people in decision-making in school, local authority and related settings. 99 per cent. of schools have pupil voice activity and 95 per cent. have a student council, (Institute of Education, September 2007).
Business, Innovation and Skills
Apprentices
Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of people undertaking apprenticeships are (a) new recruits to and (b) existing staff in the organisation employing them. [282733]
Kevin Brennan: This information is not currently collected. In England, more than 130,000 employers offer Apprenticeships because they understand the benefits that apprentices bring to their business—increased productivity, improved competitiveness and a committed and competent workforce. Employers use Apprenticeships to ensure that their workforce has the practical skills and qualifications they need either as part of an organisation’s recruitment strategy or as part of their workforce development strategy.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the proportion of apprentices starting this year who are (a) new employees hired as apprentices and (b) existing employees converting to apprentices; and what the equivalent figures were in each of the last three years. [283961]
Kevin Brennan: This information is not currently collected.
Basic Skills
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the (a) research and (b) total cost was of preparing and publishing the Evaluation of the impact of skills for life learning report. [279889]
Kevin Brennan: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further Education on 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1065W and on 2 March 2009, Official Report, column 1310W.
Business: Political Donations
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit small companies from making donations to political parties. [284205]
Mr. Wills: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have no current plans to do so.
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, and the Political Parties and Elections Bill which is before Parliament, require certain conditions to be satisfied in order for donors to be deemed permissible. Under the 2000 Act, for a company to be a permissible donor, it must be registered under the Companies Act 1985 or the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, incorporated within the United Kingdom or another member state in the European Union, and must carry on business in the United Kingdom. The Political Parties and Elections Bill contains measures to strengthen the controls on political donations—including those from companies—by requiring all donations over £7,500 to be accompanied by a declaration as to the identity of the true donor.
Businesses: Staffordshire
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in Tamworth constituency were declared bankrupt in each of the last five years. [283846]
Ian Lucas: Table 1 shows the number of bankruptcies among traders in Tamworth constituency for each of the last five years.
| Table 1 | |
| Year( 1) | Bankruptcies among traders in Tamworth constituency( 2, 3) |
| (1 )The Insolvency Trade Classification (ITC) was used to classify trading-related bankruptcies (and company liquidations) until end September 2006. From October 2006 the Standard Industry Classification 2003 has been in use and there have been associated changes to the method used to identify traders among bankrupts. The period covered should not, therefore, be treated as a consistent time series. (2 )Classifying bankrupts into electoral geographies is done using the postcode that the bankrupt individual provides. The use of this in assigning an individual to a constituency is thus only as reliable as the postcode information provided. (3 )In particular, inaccurate or missing postcodes mean that the numbers in the above table will be subject to an element of missing data. Nationally, this proportion has been decreasing from about 12 per cent. in 2000 to about 3 per cent. in 2008. Note: Company liquidation statistics are not currently available on a regional basis within England and Wales. | |
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lynne Jones: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2009, Official Report, columns 1198-99W, on chronic fatigue syndrome, who the members of the panel of experts are; and how often it has (a) met and (b) reported on its findings. [283743]
Mr. Lammy: The membership of the expert group set up by the Medical Research Council is as follows:
Professor Jill Belch (Chair)—University of Dundee,
Professor Stephen Holgate—University of Southampton,
Dr. Esther Crawley—University of Bristol,
Professor Philip Cowen—University of Oxford,
Professor Malcolm Jackson—University of Liverpool,
Dr. Jonathan Kerr—St George's University of London,
Professor Ian Kimber—University of Manchester,
Professor Hugh Perry—University of Southampton,
Dr. Derek Pheby—National CFS/ME Observatory,
Professor Anthony Pinching—Pennisula Medical School,
Dr. Charles Shepherd—ME Association,
Sir Peter Spencer—Action for ME,
Professor Peter White—Bart's and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
The Expert Group has met twice, in December 2008 and March 2009. The notes of those meetings will be published on the MRC website shortly, and will then be accessible to the public.
Export Credits Guarantee Department
Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what projects the Export Credits Guarantee Department has supported through its Fixed Rate Export Finance scheme since 1 January 2009; and what the (a) date of approval, (b) amount of exposure at that date, (c) UK company concerned, (d) destination country for the export and (e) project or product involved was in each case. [283271]
Ian Lucas: The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has provided support for one project through its Fixed Rate Export Finance (FREF) scheme since 1 January 2009. The following details are provided as requested:
(a) 21 January 2009
(b) ECGD provided FREF support for $20 million out of a total loan of $42 million guaranteed by the Department. (ECGD obtained reinsurance for the remaining $22 million from COFACE—the French Export Credit Agency)
(c) Balfour Beatty Rail Projects Ltd
(d) Chile
(e) Extension of the Santiago Metro (supply of track, switches and crossings).
Higher Education: Admissions
Stephen Williams:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of applications from (a) school leavers and (b) mature students to higher education institutions for a first degree course in (i) a
science, technology, engineering or mathematics subject and (ii) all subjects from school leavers were from (A) women and (B) men in each year since 1997. [282729]
Mr. Lammy: Subject coding changed in 2002/03 so time series before and after are not necessarily comparable.
The latest figures showing applications by age are shown in the tables.
| Applications to full-time first degree courses via UCAS from applicants aged 18 and under | ||||||
| STEM subjects | All subjects | |||||
| Female | Male | Total | Female | Male | Total | |
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