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25 Jan 2010 : Column 612W—continued
Developing Countries: Schools
Mr. Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to develop links between schools in the UK and in developing countries. [311877]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) supports the Global School Partnerships programme, implemented by the British Council. This facilitates active partnerships between schools in the UK and schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The programme aims to raise young people's awareness of global development issues and equip them with the skills and knowledge to become active global citizens. To date, 2,000 UK schools are involved in this programme.
Overseas Aid
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2010, Official Report, column 1014W, on overseas aid, how much expenditure by Government departments qualified as official development assistance in the last financial year; and what percentage of such expenditure was undertaken by (a) his Department, (b) the Ministry of Defence and (c) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. [312347]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Official development assistance (ODA) is reported on a calendar year basis in line with definitions laid out by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). UK ODA totalled £6.4 billion in 2008. Of this total:
The Department for International Development (DFID) contributed £5.4 billion.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) contributed £164 million.
£134 million in ODA was spent through the Conflict Prevention Pool (CPP) and Stabilisation Aid Fund (SAF). Of this amount, £97 million was managed by the FCO and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), with the remainder managed by DFID.
The remaining amount was attributed to smaller contributions from other Government Departments, debt relief and net investments by CDC.
2009 ODA figures will be available in April. Further details of UK ODA is available through the OECD Development Assistance Creditor Reporting System database available at
Children, Schools and Families
Sex Education
8. Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his policy is on teaching about homosexuality in personal, social, health and economic education lessons in state-funded schools. [312585]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: We expect schools to provide a broad programme of well planned and age appropriate sex and relationships education (SRE) through non statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. As part of this programme we expect secondary schools to teach about human sexuality and types of relationships that exist within society, including homosexual relationships.
Teacher Recruitment
16. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to recruit additional teachers of (a) mathematics and (b) science; and if he will make a statement. [312594]
Mr. Coaker: The Training and Development Agency for Schools has recruited beyond its targets for secondary mathematics and science trainees in 2009/10 for the first time by:
advertising the benefits of teaching mathematics and science,
running effective recruitment events,
marketing to career changers through employers,
providing subject knowledge enhancement courses for those whose degree subjects are not exactly what they plan to teach, and
paying bursaries to trainees on £9,000 to Postgraduate Certificate of Education courses.
Adoptive Placements
18. John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department's estimate is of the number of children who returned to care after an adoptive placement in the latest period for which figures are available. [312597]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not collect information relating to the number of adoptive placements that breakdown or are disrupted. It is not possible to identify those children who have been returned to care from the data the Department collects from local authorities on looked after children in England.
Once the 'Adoption Research Initiative' is complete consideration will be given to the need for further adoption-related research, including research on placement breakdown.
National Challenge for Schools
19. Phil Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made in the national challenge for schools; and if he will make a statement. [312598]
Mr. Coaker: In 1997, approximately 1,600 schools did not reach the National Challenge benchmark of 30 per cent. of pupils achieving five good GCSEs including English and maths, but this number has fallen progressively to 640 in 2007 and 439 in 2008.
GCSE results in 2009 improved in National Challenge schools across the country. The number of schools below the benchmark has fallen further to just 247 this year.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools did not meet the national challenge benchmark in their GCSE results for 2009. [312601]
Mr. Coaker: GCSE results in 2009 improved in National Challenge schools across the country. The number of schools below the benchmark of 30 per cent. of pupils achieving five good GCSEs including English and maths has fallen to just 247 this year.
And we will continue to work hard in partnership with schools and local authorities to fulfil our ambition so that no school is below the benchmark by 2011.
Children's Centres
20. Christine Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress his Department has made towards its objective of opening 3,500 children's centres by 2010. [312599]
Dawn Primarolo: We are on track to meet our target of at least 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres by March 2010. By the end of December 2009, there were 3,381 designated centres, providing access to services for over 2.7 million young children and their families.
Exclusion
21. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he next expects to meet representatives of teachers' unions to discuss policy on exclusions. [312600]
Mr. Coaker: Ministers have regular contact with school work force unions. I chair the Ministerial Stakeholders' Group on behaviour and attendance. This is a forum to discuss a wide range of behaviour issues, including exclusions when appropriate.
CAFCASS: Finance
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's budget was in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and what budget is planned for 2010-11; [307416]
(2) whether the Children and Families Courts Advisory and Support Service expects to overspend on its budget for 2009-10. [307661]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him and my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) on 12 November 2009, Official Report, columns 970-971W. Since then, the Department has allocated CAFCASS an additional £400,000 to commission Family Contact Services in 2009-2010.
The exact level of CAFCASS's total funding for 2010-11 will be finalised in the context of discussions about CAFCASS's remit in 2010-11. The Department will continue to work closely with CAFCASS to monitor financial pressures.
Children: Homelessness
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to ensure that local authorities comply with the judgment of the House of Lords in the case of R (G) v. Southwark LBC [2009] UKHL 26; and if he will make a statement. [307948]
Dawn Primarolo:
The House of Lords judgment in the case of R (G) v. Southwark [2009] UKHL 26 sets out how, under the Children Act 1989, local authorities should respond to the needs of homeless 16 to 17-year-olds. These responsibilities are not new and the judgment was in line with the Department's interpretation of the legislation and previous guidance issued to local authorities. However, following representations from local authorities,
we intend in early 2010 to consult on further guidance to local authority children's and housing services about how they should implement their duties to assess and where necessary accommodate homeless 16 to 17-year-olds.
Ofsted assess children's services in local areas including inspecting services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. For looked after children this includes inspecting the quality of risk management and decision-making in identifying which children need to be taken into care.
Children's Rights Director
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many individual children's cases the Children's Rights Director's office considered in 2009. [310289]
Dawn Primarolo: 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 Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 11 January 2010:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for a response.
In the past 12 months (to the end of December 2009), the Office of the Children's Rights Director considered 210 individual child cases.
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.
Classroom Assistants: Stroud
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many full-time equivalent teaching assistants there were in schools in Stroud constituency in each year since 1997. [312745]
Mr. Coaker: The following table provides the full-time equivalent number of teaching assistants in service in local authority maintained schools in Stroud constituency in each January from 1997 to 2009.
| Full-time equivalent teaching assistants in service in local authority maintained schools, years: January 1997 to 2009, coverage: Stroud constituency | |
| January | Number of teaching assistants |
| Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census. | |
Departmental Assets
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assets of his Department are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the (a) description and (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if he will make a statement. [300193]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children, Schools and Families has disposed of one of its current Headquarters buildings at Moorfoot in Sheffield, which was sold to the local authority during 2009-10 for £3 million; the book value was £3 million. The Department also intends to dispose of its freehold office building at Mowden Hall in Darlington during 2012-13 for an estimated value of £2.8 million; the book value is currently £2.8 million.
These two items are the only significant asset sales currently planned for the Department during the period 2009-10 and 2013-14.
The Government have stated their intention to realise £16 billion in asset disposals over the period 2011-14 and will publish further details of opportunities to commercialise business assets in the coming weeks.
The sale of other less significant assets, such as furniture, IT equipment and motor vehicles, is unplanned and disposed of on an ad hoc basis when they reach the end of their useful economic life; either through obsolescence or fault.
Departmental Drinking Water
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on bottled drinking water since 1 April 2009; and if he will make a statement. [313288]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: There has been nil expenditure on bottled water during this period due to the contract for the supply of bottled water being terminated in December 2008.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much expenditure his Department has incurred in respect of (a) air, (b) rail, (c) taxi and (d) car travel undertaken by each Minister in his Department since June 2007. [303139]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: All travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code. Since 1999, the Cabinet Office has published a list of ail overseas travel over £500 undertaken by Ministers. Information for the financial year 2008-09 was published on 16 July 2009 and can be viewed at:
Information regarding the cost of rail and taxis is not collected in the format requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 January 2010, Official Report, columns 918-19W which details the number of and cost to Departments of the provision of allocated cars and drivers by the Government Car and Despatch Agency to Ministers.
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