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22 Feb 2010 : Column 300W—continued
Students: Grants
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students received non-repayable maintenance grants from Gloucestershire local authority in each of the last five years; and what the average grant received by such students was in each of those years. [317083]
Mr. Lammy: The information is as follows:
Summertime
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the merits of introducing British Summer Time and Double British Summer Time. [317516]
Mr. McFadden: This is a subject on which people have a range of differing views, and in relation to which requirements vary in different parts of the country. While the Government do not propose to change current arrangements, we continue to listen to representations we receive and consider any evidence presented to us.
UK Internet Governance Forum
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the financial reports of the UK Internet Governance Forum for each year since its inception. [317947]
Mr. Timms: The UK Internet Governance Forum does not have a budget, its activities being sponsored by various UK stakeholders. It does not prepare annual financial reports.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who decided on the membership of the UK Internet Governance Forum; and by what mechanisms members are nominated to that Forum. [317954]
Mr. Timms: Participation in the UK Internet Governance Forum is voluntary. Any organisation or individual who wishes to participate in its activities may do so.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish records of the meetings of the executive of the UK Internet Governance Forum. [317955]
Mr. Timms: The UK Internet Governance Forum does not have an executive body.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings the UK Internet Governance Forum has had since its inception. [317956]
Mr. Timms: The UK Internet Governance Forum has had five meetings since its launch on 6 March 2008.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who the members are of the UK Internet Governance Forum executive committee; and if he will make a statement. [317957]
Mr. Timms: The UK Internet Governance Forum does not have an executive committee. The "dot.uk" registry, Nominet, takes the lead in organising UK IGF events and its communications with stakeholders (including a website www.ukigf.org.uk) working with other UK private sector stakeholders, BIS, my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) as lead parliamentarian, and non-governmental organisations such as NSPCC, APC, Childnet and the Children's Coalition.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the remit is of the UK Internet Governance Forum. [317958]
Mr. Timms: The remit of the UK Internet Governance Forum is:
(i) to provide a platform for UK stakeholders in the internet, including business, civil society, parliamentarians, Government, academia and users, to consult and prepare for the annual global UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF);
(ii) for the stakeholders who attended the previous annual global IGF to disseminate outputs and information to non-participants; and
(iii) to help increase awareness of IGF activities and of the value of participation in the global, multi-stakeholder, non-decision-making IGF.
Children, Schools and Families
Children In Care: Missing Persons
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of Baroness Morgan of Drefelin of 7 January 2010, Official Report, House of Lords, column 119WA, on people trafficking, whether he plans to introduce a central system for the collection of information on children who have gone missing from local authority care. [313658]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government do not collect details of individual children who have gone missing from local authority care and we do not plan to collect this information centrally in future. Local authorities have the legal responsibility for safeguarding children in their care and holding a central register would serve no real operational purpose and would not offer value for money as the register would have to be maintained and updated on a daily basis. We do collect information once a year about the number of children who are missing from their agreed placement for 24 hours or more, which we use to develop Government policy and guidance.
New 'Statutory Guidance on Children who Runaway and go Missing from Home and Care' was issued in July 2009. This requires that local authorities collect information about missing from care incidents. Local Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocols will set out the arrangements for sharing this information with the police to make sure that action is taken to locate the child and minimise the likelihood of their going missing in future. Local authorities must identify a senior manager to take responsibility for monitoring compliance with RMFHC protocols. This task will involve authorities maintaining a record of the numbers children that they look after who are missing from their
care placements and the actions being taken to locate them and make sure that they are safe. Children's services must make regular reports to council members with responsibility for "corporate parenting" on patterns of children going missing from care.
Children: Human Trafficking
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assistance his Department is providing to the London borough of Hillingdon to support the borough's role in caring for trafficked children. [313059]
Dawn Primarolo: My ministerial colleague, the Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, met officials from the London borough of Hillingdon in March last year to discuss work they are undertaking on child trafficking at Heathrow airport in partnership with officers from the Paladin Team. It is for each local authority to provide services to meet the needs of their local population, including the needs of children who may have been trafficked. To support local authorities the Government published multi-agency guidance targeted specifically at safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who may have been trafficked in December 2007. This contains a comprehensive strategy to improve the identification and safeguarding of child victims of trafficking. Furthermore, in 2009 DCSF also published revised guidance on sexual exploitation and children missing from care and young runways guidance, which include details of how services must work to protect children from trafficking.
Children: Nutrition
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many food vending machines there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) England, (ii) Leicester and (iii) the East Midlands. [311165]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children Schools and Families does not collect this information.
Children: Public Law
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many cases were awaiting allocation in public law on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many children were involved in such cases; [307476]
(2) how many Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service cases were unallocated in London on the latest date for which figures are available. [307482]
Dawn Primarolo: Nationally, as of 11 January 2010, CAFCASS had 688 unallocated public law cases, involving 1,161 children. As of the same date, CAFCASS London had 27 unallocated public law cases, involving 44 children. All of these cases have been reviewed, prioritised and screened for risk and this is a continuous process until substantive allocation takes place. This Department has asked CAFCASS to take urgent action to tackle the unallocated cases and has made available additional resources for London of up to £1.6 million in this financial year to do so.
Class Sizes: Greater London
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average class size for (a) 5, (b) 6 and (c) 7 year-olds in primary schools was in each London borough in (i) 1990, (ii) 1992, (iii) 1997, (iv) 2001, (v) 2005 and (vi) the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [311850]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Class size information was first collected in 1998. Information for 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2009 is shown in the table.
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