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9 Nov 2009 : Column 102W—continued
Peru: Dams
Gregory Barker:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial contribution the UK has made to hydroelectric dam projects in Peru via the (a) World Bank Group, (b) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, (c) European
Investment Bank and (d) other financial institutions funded from the public purse; and if he will make a statement. [297406]
Mr. Thomas: The UK has made no recent bilateral financial contribution to hydroelectric dam projects in Peru via (a) World Bank Group, (b) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), (c) European Investment Bank (EIB) or (d) other financial institutions.
The UK holds shares or capital in the World Bank Group, EBRD, EIB and Inter-American Development Bank. It is not possible to allocate these pooled contributions to specific projects. Information on financial contributions made to hydroelectric dam projects in Peru via these or other financial institutions using UK funding is not held centrally.
The EBRD is not active in Latin America, so has made no financial contribution to any projects in Peru.
Peru: EC External Trade
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with (a) the European Commission and (b) his European counterparts on the environmental and social effects of the EU free trade agreement with Peru; and if he will make a statement. [297405]
Mr. Thomas: The Secretary of State for International Development has not personally had discussions with European colleagues regarding the European Union (EU)-Andean Nations multiparty trade agreement.
The UK Government regard the environmental and social impacts of all free trade agreements as important considerations. Officials in the joint Department for International Development/Business, Innovation and Skills (DFID/BIS) Trade Policy Unit have worked with the EU to ensure a strong chapter on sustainable development, and are working with other member states to improve the Sustainability Impact Assessment process. Officials are also working to ensure that any trade agreement with the Andean nations will contain a human rights clause as an essential element. The UK Government regard agreements of this nature as important for economic growth in developing countries, which by helping to reduce poverty will improve social welfare in these countries.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his policy is on the suspension of EU free trade agreement negotiations with Peru; and if he will make a statement. [297407]
Mr. Thomas: The negotiations on the EU-Andean Nations (comprising Peru and Colombia) multi-party trade agreement have not been suspended. We support the negotiations and believe that the agreement will be important for further economic, and hence social, development in the region.
The UK Government regard the environmental and social impacts of all free trade agreements as important considerations. Officials in the joint Department for International Development/Business, Innovation and Skills (DFID/BIS) Trade Policy Unit have worked with the EU to ensure any agreement with the Andean
nations includes a strong chapter on sustainable development, and are working with other member states to improve the Sustainability Impact Assessment process. Officials are also working to ensure that a human rights clause will be included as an essential element.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what estimate he has made of (a) the number of and (b) the cost to his Department of unfilled places for 16 to 19 year-olds in academies; [297039]
(2) what mechanism exists for the return to his Department of funding allocated to academies for 16 to 19 year-olds that remains unused at the end of financial year 2008-09. [297046]
Mr. Coaker: The Department identifies unfilled places in local authority maintained schools and academies through an annual surplus places survey. In 2008 the survey established that there were 2,673 or 8 per cent. of unfilled 16 to 19-year-old places in academies with all year groups present. However, each year academy 16 to 19-year-old funding is normally allocated on the basis of estimates by the academy of the number of pupils aged over 16 that are on roll for the next September (except for that small minority of academies where these are based on actual census numbers). Each academy's estimate is considered in the light of its actual recruitment against funded numbers, with a view to ensuring that unfilled funded places for 16 to 19-year-olds are kept to an absolute minimum. This process takes account of local Learning and Skills Council information on provision in the relevant area.
For those academies where funded places are based on estimates, a clause in their funding agreement stipulates that an adjustment will be made to the following year's formulaic grant allocation if the actual numbers recruited across all year groups are more than either 10 per cent. or 2.5 per cent. (depending on the funding agreement) below the total estimated numbers on roll, 16 to 19-year-old pupils are included in this calculation.
Academies: Sponsorship
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the monetary value is of sponsorship funds provided by his Department for united learning trusts, broken down by (a) year of funding and (b) academy school in receipt of the funds in the last three years. [296534]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 29 October 2009]: The Department does not provide funding for sponsors. Sponsors establish not-for-profit charitable companies to set up and run the academies; and these companies receive funding from the Department and sponsors.
There are two models for sponsors' payments: traditional procurement and the endowment model. On the first of these, the sponsorship payment is a contribution to the construction cost of academy buildings, normally of £2 million, but in the case of sponsors with their fourth or more academy, £1.5 million. The timing of this payment is usually phased and varies from academy to
academy and is agreed between the Department and the Academy Trust. ULT sponsors 13 traditional procurement academies:
Manchester;
Lambeth;
Northampton;
Salford;
Barnsley;
Paddington;
Sheffield Park;
Sheffield Springs;
Walthamstow;
North Oxfordshire;
Swindon;
William Hulme; and
Stockport
The traditional procurement model was changed to the endowment model when responsibility for the provision of academy buildings was transferred to Partnerships for Schools (PfS).
With the endowment model, sponsors establish an endowment fund which generates revenue for the Academy Company to use to counteract the impact of deprivation on the communities they serve. This revenue is not used for either capital costs or to meet the academy's running costs, which are funded by the Department.
With the endowment model, payments by sponsors begin only after the academy has opened, and are usually phased over a period of five years. ULT currently sponsor four endowment model academies:
Accrington;
Midhurst Rother;
Kettering Buccleuch; and
Shoreham.
In some traditional procurement model academies (including some ULT academies), particularly where a sponsor has several academy projects and needs time to raise sponsorship contributions, the Department has agreed to pay an additional grant to the Academy Trust to cover part of a sponsor's agreed sponsorship payment. This is then recovered by the Department through deductions from the academy's "General Annual Grant (GAG)", which academies receive to meet their running costs. Academy sponsors then make contributions to the academies to make good these deductions.
For some multiple academy sponsors, such as ULT, who have already committed £2 million to a number of academy projects, we have agreed that the sponsor can use "reasonable endeavours" to raise funds. To date, payments made by sponsors to academy companies in relation to the traditional procurement model amount to almost £100 million, of which ULT have paid almost £11 million.
A table setting out the Department's funding for each ULT academy from 2001/02 to 2009/10 has been placed in the Libraries.
CAFCASS: Finance
Tim Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the training budget for Children and Family Court Advisory and
Support Service practitioners has been (a) in total and (b) per head in each of the last two years. [298688]
Dawn Primarolo: CAFCASS' total spend on training was £1.119 million in 2008/09 and £1.171 million in 2007/08.
CAFCASS does not hold information on the split of these amounts between practitioners and other staff groups so cannot give an accurate per head figure.
Children: Communication Skills
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to assist more local authorities to implement the recommendations of the Bercow review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communications needs; and if he will make a statement. [298787]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Following the Bercow review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), the Government published "Better Communication: An action plan to improve services for children and young people with SLCN", backed by £12 million investment.
As part of the action plan, the Department and the Department of Health have chosen 16 local areas to become SLCN commissioning pathfinders. The 16 pilot areas have been chosen to identify good practice in providing support for children with SLCN through the joint working of organisations such as primary care trusts and local authorities. This will be used to develop a national framework to improve the way services are delivered for children across the country.
Jean Gross was announced as the communication champion on 15 October 2009, and we have established the Communication Council, which met for the first time on 21 September 2009, to support initiatives to improve services for children with SLCN. As communication champion, Jean Gross will raise awareness of the importance of communication, share good practice and lead delivery of a national year of speech, language and communication.
In addition, the University of Warwick has been selected to lead a consortium delivering a three-year, £1.5 million research programme on the cost-effectiveness of interventions and to guide the development of future policy and practice in providing services for children and young people with SLCN.
12 organisations working to support children with alternative and augmentative communication needs have been chosen to share grants totalling £500,000 this year as part of BECTA's commitment to provide £1.5 million of funding over the next three years. These grants aim to support delivery and provision of services.
Children: Day Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the annual cost of providing 10 hours of free childcare to 250,000 two year olds; and in which year he expects such provision to commence. [298467]
Dawn Primarolo: The extension of the free early education entitlement to 250,000 two-year-olds will be in place by 2015. This extension is being fully funded through savings from phasing out tax relief on child care vouchers. More details will be set out in the pre-Budget report.
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people previously convicted of crimes have successfully appealed against a decision to bar them from working with children, broken down by type of offence committed. [294119]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 19 October 2009]: Information on appeals can be found on the First Tier Tribunal's website at:
This contains information on the decisions made by the Tribunal on all appeal cases which have received a hearing since 2001. There are 94 cases where people have appealed against decisions to bar them from working with children. Of these, 34 appeals were upheld by the Tribunal. Locating and retrieving the information requested on whether the individuals had been convicted of offences, and the type of offence would require detailed checks to be made of individual case records and this would incur disproportionate cost.
European Schools
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers working in the European Schools obtained the threshold as a result of the Employment Appeals Tribunal's ruling in favour of John Mason. [297882]
Mr. Coaker: One teacher received threshold pay as a result of the Employment Appeal Tribunal's ruling in favour of John Mason.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many applicants applied for each UK post in the European Schools in each of the last 10 years. [297902]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Number of posts advertised | Number of applications received( 1) | |
| (1) Figures are based on the number of applicants recorded on tables who applied for posts in any given year. The Department only keeps applications for one year after each annual recruitment exercise so figures should therefore be regarded as approximate. | ||
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers employed in the European Schools are paid the threshold. [297904]
Mr. Coaker: 50 teachers employed in the European Schools system receive threshold pay.
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