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21 July 2009 : Column 1406W—continued
Children: Exercise
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding the Government has allocated to encourage children in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point to adopt more active lifestyles in each year since 1992. [285924]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Government do not allocate discrete funding for this purpose on an area basis and it is not possible to provide an answer in the format requested.
Encouraging all children and young people to adopt a more active lifestyle is a priority for this Government. Our strategic approach to this is set out in 'Be Active, Be Healthy', 'Healthy lives, brighter futures: the strategy for children and young people's Health' and 'Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a Cross-Government Strategy for England'.
These strategies support the Chief Medical Officer's recommendation that children and young people should achieve a total of at least 60 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity each day, and at least twice a week this should include activities to improve bone health, muscle strength and flexibility.
Individuals can achieve this level of activity through a variety of routes, including everyday activity, such as walking or cycling, active recreation, such as play, dance, or swimming, and through sport, both for competition and for individual exercise. The role of parents and carers in influencing children's activity levels is crucial, so the Government support initiatives to improve family based activity as well as a range of initiatives in children's settings, all of which are available to children and young people in Castle Point and Essex.
Initiatives which focus on supporting children and their families to be physically active include:
the Change4Life social marketing campaign, backed by £75 million of funding over three years to 2011, promotes an 'eat well, move more, live longer' message to families with children aged five to 11. Since its launch in January 2009, over 255,000 families have contacted Change4Life and received tailored materials on physical activity and healthy eating as a result;
Sure Start Children's Centres, which should engage parents to promote a whole-family approach to eating well and keeping active, and organise and promote physical activities;
the universal, NHS-delivered Healthy Child Programme for ages 0 to five supports parents in keeping their children healthy, and focuses on developing and maintaining healthy nutritional and lifestyle habits from a very early age;
the Play Strategy, through which 3,500 new or refurbished play areas and 30 staffed adventure playgrounds are being delivered, aimed at eight to 13-year-olds, with a focus on disadvantaged
areas. Details of funding for play schemes in Essex and Castle Point were given in answer to a previous question (Commons written question 282065);
nearly 60 per cent. of local authorities have promised to provide free swimming for the under 16s and have opted-in to the Free Swimming Programme which the Government are supporting with £140 million over the period 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Initiatives which are delivered through early years settings, schools and colleges include:
the PE and School Sport for Young People strategy, through which 90 per cent. of pupils aged five to 16 now participate in at least two hours a week of high quality PE and school sport. The strategy also aims to ensure that all five to 19-year-olds have the opportunity for an additional three hours of sport a week outside the school day;
the National Healthy Schools Programme: almost every school in the country has achieved, or is working towards, Healthy School status, which sets national standards for health and well-being around four core themes, including physical activity;
schools offering access to Extended Services offer access to a wide range of services from 8 am to 6 pm, 48 weeks a year. The services include play, recreation and sports, and community access to facilities including adult learning and sports facilities;
the £140 million joint DCSF and DFT Travel to School Initiative promotes walking and cycling: 17,392 (69 per cent.) of schools have active travel plans worth around £5,000 for a typical primary and around £10,000 for a typical secondary school;
the Bikeability scheme aims to train 500,000 children to level 2 by 2010. Over 146,000 have already received training;
since September 2008, sports co-ordinators have been appointed in 358 FE colleges, so almost all FE colleges have a co-ordinator in place.
Children: Protection
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how he plans to monitor the effectiveness of the provisions of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 in protecting vulnerable young people under the age of eight. [287241]
Dawn Primarolo: Once we phase in registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), there will be duties to check registration, and penalties for non-compliance. If, for example, a person permits staff to look after children under the age of eight in a crèche, it will be an offence if that person does not check that the staff are ISA-registered, or uses staff who are not ISA-registered, or knowingly uses staff who are barred from working with children. If anyone suspects that a person is committing such an offence, they should report it to the police.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to improve child protection services in Castle Point. [287504]
Dawn Primarolo:
Ofsted's 2008 Joint Area Review of Essex County Council's children's services judged services for safeguarding and looked after children to be inadequate. Essex County Council's 2008 Annual Performance Assessment included an inadequate judgment for the Every Child Matters outcome "staying safe ". The Government subsequently issued the Council with an Improvement Notice setting measurable targets that
must be met within twelve months. External experts have been appointed to carry out a review of policies and procedures relating to child protection, children in need and looked after children and to undertake an audit of a broad sample of individual cases. Experts have also been appointed to undertake a review of the Local Safeguarding Children Board and to sit on the Government Office chaired Improvement Board to provide additional external scrutiny and challenge of progress in Essex.
The Government have made clear their determination to make sure that child protection services in every area meet the needs of the vulnerable children they serve. That is why we asked Lord Laming to prepare an urgent report of progress across the country in implementing effective arrangements for safeguarding children. The Government have accepted all of Lord Laming's recommendations and published a detailed action plan on 6 May.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people were on the barred list maintained under the Protection of Children Act 1999 in each of the last five years. [287922]
Dawn Primarolo: The total number of people who are included on the barred list maintained under the Protection of Children Act 1999 in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Calendar year | Number |
Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will bring forward proposals for automatic, independent and public reviews of any unexpected death or serious injury involving children in care or in custody. [288438]
Dawn Primarolo: There is already a process for investigating such deaths or serious injury. Where a death in custody engages the investigative requirement in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the requirement would normally be met by means of an inquest or a combination of the inquest, criminal proceedings and serious case review. In addition, any death in custody will be the subject of an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. In the case of a death or serious injury of a child who is looked after by a local authority, and where abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor, the Local Safeguarding Children Board will consider whether a Serious Case Review (SCR) should be undertaken, as they would following the death of any child in those circumstances. Executive Summaries of SCRs are made publicly available.
Natascha Engel:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of progress in the implementation of the
recommendations of the UN Secretary-General's Study on violence against children (A/61299) in ensuring that every child is protected from all forms of physical, sexual and mental violence. [288440]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government took note of the 'World Report on Violence against Children' and welcomes UN follow-up work, including the appointment, in May this year, of the Special Representative on violence against children. It has made clear its determination to do everything possible to make sure that all child protection services meet the needs of the vulnerable children they serve, and that child protection arrangements are effective everywhere. That is why the Government asked Lord Laming to prepare an urgent report of progress across the country in implementing effective arrangements for safeguarding children.
Lord Laming's progress report confirmed that robust legislative, structural and policy foundations were now in place, but stressed the need for a renewed commitment to child protection at every level of government and across all local services.
The Government have accepted all of Lord Laming's recommendations. Implementation will include a revision of the statutory guidance, 'Working Together to Safeguard Children', which sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
The Government have also published new guidance on safeguarding children from specific forms of child abuse, including sexual exploitation and trafficking, and have recently consulted on guidance aimed at safeguarding children and young people who may be affected by gang activity.
Children's Centres: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many Sure Start children's centres were operating in (a) Test Valley borough and (b) the City of Southampton on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such centres were originally planned to be operational on that date; [288389]
(2) how many Sure Start children's centres are planned for (a) Test Valley borough and (b) the City of Southampton; and when he expects all such centres to be operational; [288390]
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of children in each age group who are eligible for participation in the Sure Start children's centres programme in (a) Test Valley borough and (b) the City of Southampton; what the capacity of such children's centres was in those areas on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such children were participating in that programme on that date. [288397]
Dawn Primarolo: Sure Start children's centres provide a universal service for all children under five and their parents or carers when they need it. Local authorities are responsible for planning and delivering sure start children's centres in their areas.
Test Valley borough council currently has four Sure Start children's centres up and running, offering access
to services to around 4,285 children under five and their families. A further two centres are planned for the Test Valley area by March 2010. The city of Southampton currently has 11 children's centres offering services to approximately 10,057 children under five with a further three planned by March 2010.
There are 12,600 children under five(1) in Southampton and 71,700 in Hampshire. We are unable to provide figures for the Test Valley area as figures are set at local authority level. The Department does not collect information centrally on the number of children using children's centres services.
(1) Source:
ONS Survey 2007.
Citizenship: Education
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what contribution his Department has made to the development of citizenship education in mosque schools through the Islam Citizenship Education Project; [286116]
(2) what financial contribution (a) the Schools Development Support Agency and (b) community-based organisations have made to the development of citizenship education in mosque schools. [286117]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Islam and Citizenship Education (ICE) Project is jointly funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Communities and Local Government. We awarded a contract, worth £318,652, to the School Development Support Agency (SDSA) running from February 2008 to July 2009 to develop and pilot citizenship lessons for use in mosque schools. The SDSA, working in conjunction with Muslim communities, has successfully delivered this contract. We are currently in the process of tendering for the next stage of the ICE Project to roll out the lessons to mosque schools nationally. Apart from fulfilling their contractual obligations, the SDSA and community-based organisations have made no financial contribution towards the ICE Project.
Class Sizes
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were taught in classes of more than 30 pupils in (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency, (b) Dacorum, (c) Hertfordshire and (d) the South East in each year since 1997. [285892]
Mr. Coaker: The available information is shown in the table.
Dacorum is a local government district within the local authority of Hertfordshire. Data for Dacorum have been included for three years only as to provide for the full 12-year period would incur disproportionate cost.
The tables cover classes in primary and secondary schools. There is a legal limit of 30 pupils for infant classes.
| Maintained primary( 1) and state-funded secondary( 1,2) schools: number of pupils in classes( 3) of more than 30 pupils-As at January each year in south-east Government office region, Hertfordshire, Dacorum, and Hemel Hempstead constituency | ||||||
| South-east | Hertfordshire | |||||
| Number of pupils in classes of over 30 | Number of pupils in all classes | Percentage of pupils in classes of over 30 | Number of pupils in classes of over 30 | Number of pupils in all classes | Percentage of pupils in classes of over 30 | |
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