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30 Nov 2009 : Column 394W—continued
Social Security Benefits: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claiming (a) incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) income support in Peterborough constituency have been in receipt of that benefit for (i) between five and nine, (ii) between 10 and 11 and (iii) 12 years or over. [302014]
Jonathan Shaw: The most recent available information is in the following table.
| Number of claimants for benefits as shown by duration, in Peterborough as at May 2009 | |||
| 5 to 9 years | 10 to 11 years | 12 years or over | |
| (1) Figures are nil or negligible. Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. Benefits are arranged hierarchically and claimants are assigned to the topmost benefit which they receive: Job seeker-claimant of Jobseeker's Allowance Incapacity Benefits-claimant of either Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance Income Support Lone Parents-Income Support claimant with a child under 16 and no partner Carer's Allowance-where also receiving income support Others on Income Support-those getting Income Support but not in the categories above. Source: DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study | |||
Work Capability Assessment
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who will carry out the independent review of the work capability assessment; how the views and experiences of people with mental health problems and carers will be taken into account in the review; and who will have access to its results. [302374]
Jonathan Shaw: The independent review of the work capability assessment is currently being commissioned and it is not yet known who will be carrying it out. It will begin in the new year and the reviewer will determine how views and experiences of individuals will be incorporated. The report will be published upon completion.
Women and Equality
Departmental Air Travel
Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many domestic flights within Great Britain officials from the Government Equalities Office took in an official capacity in 2008-09; and at what cost to the public purse. [300971]
Michael Jabez Foster: In the 2008-09 financial year, Government Equalities Office staff travelled on 44 domestic flights at a total cost of £5,848.25.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many first-class flights were taken by each Minister in the Government Equalities Office in 2008-09; and what the (a) origin, (b) destination and (c) cost was of each such flight. [301408]
Michael Jabez Foster: During 2008-09, the Government Equalities Office spent £5,026 on first-class air travel. The details of which are as follows:
| Minister | Origin | Destination | Cost (£) |
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many (a) page hits and (b) visitors the Government Equalities Office's website received in 2008-09. [301841]
Michael Jabez Foster: From 23 November 2008 to 23 November 2009 the Government Equalities Office website received:
(a) 670,258 page hits;
(b) 168,474 individuals who made at least one visit to the site.
Children, Schools and Families
Ewing School: Withington
20. Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will visit Ewing school in Manchester, Withington constituency to discuss its work in teaching children with speech and communication difficulties. [302066]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given earlier today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
Educational Attainment: One-parent Families
21. Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent representations he has received on levels of educational attainment among children in one-parent households; and if he will make a statement. [302067]
Mr. Iain Wright: Ministers have received no recent representations on this subject.
We do not routinely collect data on levels of educational attainment among children in one-parent households but we do hold survey data on GCSE results and progression to A-level for 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2006.
Data from the 2006 Youth Cohort Survey and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England showed 42 per cent. of children from father-only families achieving five GCSEs at A*-C that year, along with 47 per cent. of children from mother-only families.
School Inspections Framework
22. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to review the implementation of the new framework for school inspections; and if he will make a statement. [302068]
Mr. Coaker:
HM chief inspector is responsible for the school inspection framework and its implementation. I am advised by Ofsted that in addition to its own internal
evaluations and quality monitoring, it plans to commission two independent surveys. They will focus on the impact and implementation of the new school inspection arrangements. Both survey reports will be published by the end of August 2010 and the findings will be used to inform future inspection development.
Discipline
23. Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to improve standards of discipline in schools; and if he will make a statement. [302069]
Mr. Coaker: We have made a commitment that all schools will have good behaviour, strong discipline, order and safety. To secure this ambition, we have launched a new strategy to enable all schools to achieve good or outstanding behaviour standards. The strategy includes a range of measures to support and challenge schools. It builds on existing work which has resulted in the numbers of schools with inadequate behaviour being driven down to less than 1 per cent.
Organ and Blood Donation
24. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Health further steps to promote in schools the NHS Blood and Transplant Service Give and Let Live organ donation education programme. [302070]
Dawn Primarolo: I can confirm that we are in regular contact with our colleagues in the Department of Health on all aspects of promoting the health and well-being of young people including the importance of blood and organ donation.
We consider the Give and Let Live programme, produced by the NHS Blood and Transplant Service, to be extremely useful in helping pupils to improve their knowledge and understanding of key issues relating to organ donation.
School Refurbishment: Warrington
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will bring forward proposals to fund renovation and building of schools in Warrington; and if he will make a statement. [302065]
Mr. Coaker: I informed the House today that Warrington is one of 12 projects that will be joining the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme today. Warrington, alongside Brent, Darlington, Devon, Havering, Kingston and Croydon, Lancashire, Norfolk, Plymouth, Sefton, Tameside, and Wakefield, will embark on their BSF schemes between January and March 2010.
Schools: Discipline
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what misbehaviour by a pupil is (a) mandatorily informed to parents, (b) mandatorily not informed to parents and (c) a matter of discretion. [300407]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 23 November 2009]: Schools are currently not required by law to inform parents about their child's misbehaviour. All schools are required to have a behaviour policy setting out the standards of behaviour expected of all pupils.
The Government are committed to improving the information that parents receive from schools on their children's behaviour. The Children, Schools and Families Bill includes a new Parent Guarantee which will clarify the rights and entitlements that every parent can expect to receive from their child's school. This will include a new Home School Agreement, which will ensure that all parents understand the expectations of them and their child and the consequences of not acting to support the school in addressing their child's behaviour issues.
In addition, the Department is currently consulting on amendments to the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, which is the law governing school records and the annual reports that schools send to parents on their children's educational progress.
The proposals we are consulting on include a new statutory requirement for the head teacher's annual report to include information to parents on their child's behaviour.
New measures in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 introduce a requirement on governing bodies to put into place a system for recording and reporting to parents significant incidents of the use of force by school staff. The provisions allow that the school may report the incident to the local authority where they believe the pupil is likely to be at risk of significant harm if they reported the incident to parents. These provisions are expected to come into force from 1 September 2010.
Schools: Sanitation
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer of 26 October 2009, Official Report, column 200W, on schools: buildings, whether the discussions with the Paediatric Continence Forum on the adequacy of water and toilet provision in schools are to cover (a) minimum standards of provision for existing schools and (b) the design of toilet facilities in new build secondary schools covered by the Building Schools for the Future programme. [302785]
Mr. Coaker: The discussions with the Paediatric Continence Forum on 1 December will include these issues.
Schools: Sports
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whose responsibility it is to ensure that disabled children are offered opportunities to participate in inter-school games on a similar basis to that on which other children have such opportunities. [300758]
Mr. Iain Wright
[holding answer 23 November 2009]: It is the responsibility of head teachers to ensure there is adequate provision of PE and sport for all their pupils, including those with a disability. They are supported in this role through their PE teaching staff and the
Government-funded network of School Sport Co-ordinators and Primary Link Teachers across their School Sport Partnership. In addition, the national network of 225 competition managers are working within and across School Sport Partnerships to ensure there are sufficient opportunities in competitive sport for any pupils who want them.
The Government take disability sport very seriously and are investing £2.4 million in the current spending period to provide 450 multi-sport disability clubs, identifying ability days across the country, 1,350 teachers trained to identify ability in young disabled people, and over 400 regional and county disability multi-sport festivals.
Teenage Pregnancy
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many girls older than 12 and younger than 18 years old became pregnant in each local authority area in 2008. [302543]
Dawn Primarolo: Annual under-18 conception data for 2008 are not yet available. They will be published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February 2010.
Free School Meals
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals did not achieve five GCSEs at A* to C in 2009; and if he will make a statement. [302057]
Mr. Coaker: Between 2002 and 2008, the percentage of free school meals pupils achieving five GCSEs at A*-C rose by 17 percentage points, compared to a 13.3 percentage point rise for non-Free Schools Meals pupils-so GCSE attainment for all pupils is rising over time, and gaps are narrowing.
The 2009 GCSE results broken down by pupil characteristics will be published on 15 December.
Energy and Climate Change
Biofuels: Boilers
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he intends to take to ensure that boilers fired by the fuel B30K remain compliant with sections of table 12 draft Standard Assessment Procedure 2009 and cannot be switched to operate on other heating oils. [300403]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 23 November 2009]: We are liaising with the industry to ensure they are taking steps to guard against a switch to using other heating oils. We understand that the industry plan to check that the installation is labelled as suitable for the grade of fuel to be delivered before any delivery commences.
The potential problems associated with switching would also be a deterrent. The conversion of a boiler to burn the kerosene/bio-liquid blended fuel B30K is not easily reversible, at least not without further costs for adapting the burner and flushing the oil tank. The
B30K blend has different material properties to 100 per cent. kerosene at ambient and operational temperatures and burning kerosene in a B30K installation would lead to boiler firing problems and damage to the equipment.
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