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8 Apr 2010 : Column 1556W—continued
Dawn Primarolo: Children in care are funded by local authorities who are funded via the local government funding system. There is no formula that sets a national amount that should be spent on children's social care. The level of spending on children in care is decided by each local authority based on local circumstances and priorities.
Children: Day Care
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what information his Department holds on the number of childcare providers in (a) Chorley constituency and (b) Lancashire who take part in the childcare voucher scheme. [302383]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available, as employers and employees are not required to report the provision of tax exempt child care vouchers.
However, research commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2005, by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and available at:
estimates the proportion of employers that offer Employer Supported Childcare (ESC) split by Government office region (Table A.7, Appendix A, page 19).
These numbers should be treated with caution as the employee take-up rate and use of vouchers as opposed to other forms of ESC would likely vary from region to region and these figures do not account for employees working in one region and living in another. No estimates are made for Chorley constituency or Lancashire.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) maintained and (b) private, voluntary and independent nurseries have closed in each quarter of the last five years. [317742]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 13 January 2010, Official Report, column 1062W.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of childminders to have entered the profession in each year since 1997. [317747]
Dawn Primarolo: Information is not available specifically on the number of childminders who enter the profession. However, Ofsted have collected information on the number of registered child care providers and registered child care places available to children under eight years of age on a quarterly basis from March 2003.
All information, including numbers of childminders, by local authority, is published on Ofsted's website and can be found using the following links:
Information from 2008 onwards:
Information between September 2006 and August 2008:
Information between March 2003 and June 2006:
In addition, Ofsted has published figures on childminders joining and leaving the register since November 2006, which showed figures for childminders joining and leaving the register between April 2005 and September 2006. These data are shown in each local authority's Early Years Statistical Profile, available via each local authority's page on the Ofsted website:
With the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage in September 2008 Ofsted reviewed its publications and decided to incorporate data on providers joining and leaving registers in its regular quarterly publication on child care providers and places. Ofsted published these datasets together for the first time in January 2010, showing figures of providers joining and leaving the registers between 1 October 2009 and 31 December 2009:
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many childcare places there are in (a) each London borough and (b) nationally; and how many such places are required in each of those areas to meet the Government's 2010 target. [323777]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the number of childcare places registered with Ofsted available nationally and in each London borough is shown in the following table.
In 'Choice for parents: the best start for Children' the Government set out a range of targets and ambitions, to achieve its 10-year childcare strategy, including some to be achieved by 2010. However, many of these were not expressed in terms of delivering a specific number of places.
The ambition to ensure parents can access suitable childcare places has been met by placing duties on all English local authorities to assess and secure sufficient childcare places in their area for children aged 0-14 (18 for disabled children).
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much Ofsted received in registration fees from all child care settings in 2008-09. [325316]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 6 April 2010]: This is a matter for Ofsted. The Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and copies of her reply will be placed in the House Libraries.
Children: Day Care
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many childcare places have been created in Preston since 1997. [311066]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the number of childcare places is not available below local authority level.
Children: Mental Health
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what account the Targeted Mental Health in Schools programme takes of needs related to emotional well-being of children with (a) a learning disability, (b) an autistic spectrum disorder, (c) a physical disability and (d) a sensory disability. [325736]
Dawn Primarolo: The Targeted Mental Health in Schools Programme (TaMHS) builds on the existing universal approaches to supporting emotional well-being that schools are already using, such as social and environmental aspects of learning, by offering targeted therapeutic interventions for individuals or groups of children at risk of developing mental health problems. Funded by the DCSF by £60 million from 2008 to 2011, all local authorities are now involved in offering the programme within school clusters that are participating. The inclusion of special schools is particularly encouraged within the conditions of grant.
TaMHS is focused on identifying the children who may be vulnerable to mental health issues and need additional support, and offering them appropriate evidence-based interventions. While the programme is not designed to replicate or replace other funded support (such as through a statement of Special educational needs) all children's needs should be considered equally when identifying who should be offered targeted interventions through TaMHS. Each child's individual circumstances, including whether they have additional needs, and any funded support that they already receive, will be taken into account when deciding what additional support or interventions might be most appropriate.
Children: Sight Impaired
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent representations he has received on the introduction of testing of school pupils for colour blindness. [324733]
Dawn Primarolo: The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has not received any recent representations on the introduction of testing for colour vision impairments in schools.
Children: Methadone and Protection
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley, Meg Munn of 17 December 2008, Official Report, column 817W, on methadone, if he will take steps to enable the number of child deaths subject to serious case review which are methadone-related to be calculated. [321631]
Dawn Primarolo: Local authorities should notify Ofsted where a death or serious injury occurs and abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor (and so may lead to the commissioning of a Serious Case Review). The precise cause and nature of death may not always be known at the time of the notification, and could change after further investigations are carried out such as a post-mortem or coroner's inquest.
Information held by the Department for Children, Schools and Families is provided by Ofsted and is based on available information at the point of notification by the local authority. Records are sometimes updated if further information is received on the cause of death but this is not undertaken systematically. We have no present plans to extend procedures or the operation of the relevant database in the way suggested. However, making use of the database and of individual anonymised SCRs the authors of the report 'Understanding Serious
Case Reviews and their Impact: A Biennial Analysis of Serious Case Reviews 2005-07', published in June 2009, suggest that:
"A small number of deaths (fewer than six) were as a result of the child ingesting their parent's drug, most often methadone."
Children's Centres: Publicity
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how much was spent on communications and publicity for Sure Start centres in each year since 2004; how much he plans to spend in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement; [301509]
(2) how many changes of design have taken place for Sure Start Children's Centre signage since 2004; what the reasons were for each change; and if he will make a statement; [301510]
(3) how many promotional leaflets for Sure Start Children's Centres were sent out by door drop in each financial year since 2004; how many are planned for 2009-10; in which (a) postcode areas and (b) local authority wards such door drops have taken place in each financial year since 2004; and if he will make a statement; [301511]
(4) how much was spent on radio advertising for Sure Start Children's Centres in each financial year since 2004; how much expenditure is planned for 2009-10; and if he will make a statement; [301512]
(5) how much was spent on press advertisements for Sure Start Children's Centres in each financial year since 2004; how much expenditure is planned for 2009-10; and if he will make a statement; [301513]
(6) how much was spent on creative development of advertising for Sure Start Children's Centres in each financial year since 2004; how much expenditure is planned for 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [301514]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is as follows:
On 16 March, the Prime Minister announced that the Government had met its target for 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres. It is important that all families with young children are aware of the range of services available, and where their local children's centre is. The Department undertook analysis in early 2009 of current research which highlighted a lack of awareness about the range of services available or that it is a universal service. The Department has therefore run the first ever national communications campaign to boost awareness of children's centres which commenced September 2009 and early evaluation is positive-with an increase of over 40 per cent. in the number of parents (in areas targeted by the campaign) who know about their local children's centre.
The amount spent on communications and publicity for children's centres in each year is set out in the following table. It is not possible to provide figures back to 2004, because children's centre communications activity was incorporated into wider communications budgets covering early years and childcare. The amount spent in 2009-10 is higher than previous years as 2009-10 is when the Department ran its first national communications campaign for Sure Start Children's Centres, and represents 0.29 per cent. of the total 2009-10 programme budget for Sure Start Children's Centres.
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