| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Nov 2009 : Column 344W—continued
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
Your question refers to the recently published report Learning Lessons, taking action: Year 2, which covered the period April 2008 to April 2009. Of the three children who were victims of homicide and were on the child protection register, one of these resided in Bexley and two resided in North Somerset.
The two children who were victims of homicide and were previously referred to social care services prior to the incidents, but were not receiving services at the time of the incident, both resided in Birmingham.
The ten children who were not known to Children's Services resided in Doncaster, Dorset, East Sussex, Hampshire (two children), Kirklees, Peterborough and Sutton (three children).
A copy of this reply has been sent to right hon. Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the. Library of both Houses.
Children's Centres
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to ensure all parents and children are able to access their nearest Sure Start centre. [297047]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government are allocating over £1 billion a year to local authorities to support services in Sure Start Children's Centres. Our practice guidance makes it clear that parents and families should have access to the support they need irrespective of where they live. Children's centres are changing the way many parents' access essential services during their children's early years by delivering them closer to homes and in ways that suit the needs of families.
All Sure Start Children's Centres are expected to provide outreach services to help make a real difference to families who cannot or choose not to access services, providing important information and access to services such as childcare and family support.
In addition, we are working to improve parents' awareness of their local children's centre, including the launch in September of a national communications campaign to raise awareness of Sure Start Children's Centres among parents, with a particular focus on those living in areas of high deprivation.
We are on track to achieve our target of at least 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres (one for every community) by March 2010, offering access to services for all children under five and their families.
Departmental Annual Reports
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families under which budgetary heading in Table 8.4 of his Department's Annual Report 2009, pages 175-76, his Department's expenditure on (a) the Youth of Today programme and (b) the Travelling to School Initiative falls. [297025]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department's funding allocation shown aggregated in DCSF's Departmental Annual Report 2009, table 8.4, for the year 2010-11 is shown as follows:
(a) Youth of Today programme falls under;
Youth Programmes-£130,000 allocated to the national youth agency and national voluntary youth agency, and
(b) Travelling to Schools Initiative falls under;
Area Based Grants-£6,874,000, and
Schools Other Miscellaneous Programmes-£300,000.
Departmental ICT
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with which organisations his Department has had exclusivity agreements in relation to information technology (a) hardware and (b) software in each of the last five years; and whether such agreements were breached in each of those years. [298669]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not currently have any exclusivity agreements relating to information technology for either hardware or software and has not had any such agreements in the last five years.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 13 October 2009, Official Report, column 15WS, on official receptions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the list of the guests who attended each reception. [293877]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: These events were attended by media correspondents and key Stakeholders.
Departmental Pilot Schemes
Mr. Timpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pilot schemes his Department has commissioned in each year since 1997. [298636]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The number of pilot schemes commissioned by the Department and its predecessors in the last ten years cannot be established without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Rail Travel
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on first class train tickets for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [280174]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The spend figures for the financial year 2008-9 for first class train travel are:
(a) For Ministers was £8,352 and
(b) for officials was £3,195,655.
Excluding Ministers, there were 17,209 first class rail tickets issued to officials for business travel.
Staffs in grades SEO and above have a formal entitlement to fist class travel. It is departmental policy that, all staff regardless of grade, should consider in advance;
if they need to work on the train then there may be occasions when first class travel will be less busy and noisy than standard class.
if they intend to eat a full meal on the train and claim reimbursement they should consider whether they would get a better deal by opting for a first class package which includes meal vouchers.
if they have a disability or a temporary condition such as a broken limb then first class travel is likely to be more comfortable.
All Members of the Department have a responsibility to make appropriate decisions on how to travel and to secure value for money in the use of travel budgets.
Travel by Ministers and civil servants, is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code respectively.
The data has been provided by the department's contractor for travel booking, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department and its predecessors spent on first class rail travel for officials in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [293327]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The data requested was for the Department for Children, School and Families (DCSF). DCSF was established under the machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007, therefore the response covers its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
First class spend for rail travel for each of the last three years is as follows.
| £ | |
Dogs: Young People
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much the Government have spent on educating young people in responsible dog ownership in the last 12 months. [297275]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: We do not hold information on how much the Government have spent specifically on educating young people in responsible dog ownership during the last 12 months.
However, pupils in primary and secondary schools learn about animal welfare issues including understanding about the responsibility of humans to care for animals, through Citizenship Education.
Guidance from QCDA on teaching Citizenship includes the units, 'How the law protects animals-a local-to global study' and 'Animals and Us'. Both of these resources support learning about animal welfare.
Education: Young Offenders
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was spent (a) in total and (b) per inmate on education for inmates of young offender institutions in 2008-09. [296970]
Mr. Coaker: The amount of funding allocated to the LSC for the financial year 2008-09, for delivery of learning through the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) to young people aged 15-17 in Prison Service Young Offender Institutions in England was £19,399,065. This does not include information about additional provision outside of the scope of LSC funded provision which is not collected centrally, neither does it include funding for young adults aged 18-20 in YOIs, as this information is not easily disaggregated.
As at 31 March 2009, the YJB commissioned 2,543 beds across the young person's prison service YOI estate, therefore on average £7,628 was allocated per bed.
Faith Schools: Islam
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent representations he has received from the charity Islamic Help on the establishment of a girls' boarding school and teacher training facility in Nelson. [298621]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department has not received any representations from the charity Islamic Help on the establishment of a new school and teacher training facility in Nelson, Lancashire.
Family Intervention Projects
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what sanctions will apply to families which do not comply with the conditions of a family intervention project; [298948]
(2) how many family intervention projects his Department plans to undertake in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011, (d) 2012, (e) 2013, (f) 2014 and (g) 2015. [298949]
Dawn Primarolo: While a family's involvement in a family intervention project is voluntary, the projects draw on and drive home the implications of sanctions that a family or family members may already be facing. These include seeking possession of a family's tenancy, a parenting order, antisocial behaviour order, proceedings to take children into care and juvenile specific orders.
Every local authority has funding for at least one family intervention project and we plan to have 228 in place by the end of 2009. From April 2010 there is additional funding for further projects. The number of projects which will be established will depend on whether local authorities use this money to expand existing projects or set up new ones. However on 30 September 2009 the Prime Minister announced that 10,000 families would be supported by FIPs each year from 2011/12 onwards.
Home Education: Inspections
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which 15 local authorities will be contacted by Ofsted to discuss the potential inspection regime for home education. [296963]
Mr. Coaker: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 5 November 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for a response.
Ofsted is not contacting local authorities to discuss a potential inspection regime for home education. However, as part of Ofsted's annual programme of survey inspections, which was agreed in 2008, we are undertaking a survey of education otherwise than at school. This survey will cover elective education at home, as well as those children that go missing from school. It will provide independent inspection evidence about the quality of provision and outcomes for this group of children and young people.
We have identified a representative sample of 15 local authorities, based on the estimated size of the population of children educated otherwise than at school, and the location and type of the local authority, for example whether it is inner city, rural, urban, coastal or in a conurbation. Ofsted publishes the names of providers and areas visited for survey work in the final report rather than in advance of our visits, enabling us to carry out short notice visits that give us a better picture of practice on the ground. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to provide the individual local authority names at this stage.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Vernon Coaker MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.
Home Education: Special Educational Needs
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has provided to each local authority in England and Wales for children with special educational needs who are educated at home in each of the last five years. [297850]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 5 November 2009]: The dedicated schools grant (DSG) includes funding for high cost pupils for whom the local authority is financially responsible. The DSG does not earmark funds for specific groups of pupils and it is for local authorities to deploy their resources appropriately to meet local needs. Where local authorities fund pupils with special educational needs who are home educated, they should include these pupils in their returns of alternative provision in order to secure a DSG unit of funding for them.
We are not in a position to comment on the practice for Wales, as it is the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales to provide this information.
Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department has taken to assess the suitability of the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation as (a) a school provider and (b) an organisation receiving funds from his Department. [297093]
Ms Diana R. Johnson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: The Independent Schools Standards (England) Regulations 2003, as amended, require that proprietors of independent schools must have a criminal background check conducted to confirm their suitability. In common with all other independent schools the CRB check on the proprietor of the two Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation schools in Haringey and Slough has been undertaken. Beyond this the proprietor must ensure that the school meets all the requirements of the regulations including the quality of the teaching, the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and the welfare, health and safety of pupils. Ofsted conducts regular inspections against these standards and any failings are taken up with the school to ensure they are put right.
DCSF asked Ofsted to inspect both schools in 2007. Both were found to be meeting the standard on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.
There have been follow up inspections of both institutions since and they will continue to be subject to regular inspections.
Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation has received funding from Haringey and Slough local authority for early years free entitlement in relation to their nursery provision. In terms of free entitlement funding the Department sets the framework for how this is distributed in the statutory code of practice. All settings must meet Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. It is for local authorities to decide whether providers meet the criteria, and are therefore suitable to receive funding for the free entitlement.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |