Supplementary Schools: Attendance
Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the number of pupils attending supplementary schools; and what assessment he has made of the effects of such attendance on mainstream educational attainment. [36982]
Mr Gibb: In February 2010, the Department published research on the impact of supplementary schools by the London metropolitan university and the National Centre for Social Research. This research estimated that between 3% and 8% of all pupils aged five to 16 were in contact with supplementary schools at any one time.
Qualitative research as part of this project showed a perception amongst parents, local authority and staff, that attendance at supplementary schools increased children's attainment at mainstream school, improving their confidence and pupils' interest, motivation and engagement with education.
Sure Start: Bolton
Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department has withdrawn any previously-allocated Sure Start funding in (a) Bolton South East constituency, (b) Bolton and (c) England for (i) 2010-11 and (ii) the next four financial years. [44829]
Sarah Teather: The Early Intervention Grant is a new un-ring-fenced and un-hypothecated funding stream which from 1 April 2011 will give local authorities greater flexibility to target resources strategically and intervene early to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The Government have ensured there is enough money within the Early Intervention Grant to maintain a network of Sure Start Children’s Centres, accessible to all but identifying and supporting families in greatest need. To date only the EIG funding for the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 has been announced and is only available by local authority—the figures for Bolton and all other local authorities in England are available at:
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/xls/e/early%20intervention%20grant%20-%20final%20allocations%20methodology.xls
Up to the end of the 2010-11 financial year funding for Sure Start Children’s Centres has been made through the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG).
The base allocations for Sure Start Children’s Centres for the financial year 2010-11 remain as announced at the start of the 2008-11 comprehensive spending review period. For Bolton and England those figures are as follows:
|
|
Bolton | England |
The Department does not allocate funding at constituency level. It is for local authorities to determine how best to allocate available funding within their areas. The allocations for all local authorities can be found on the Department’s website at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare/a0071955/sure-start-early-years-and-childcare-grant-and-aiming-high-for-disabled-children-ahdc-grant-la-funding-allocations-for-2010-11
Published allocations for Sure Start Children’s Centres are not individually ring-fenced within the main revenue block of the SSEYCG and therefore are notional. Local authorities have the freedom to spend the available funding flexibly within that block to best meet local objectives and priorities, subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Memorandum of Grant letter.
In addition to the capital base allocation the Department had been able to offer some carry-forward of unspent SSEYCG capital funding from prior years. Given the unprecedented fiscal deficit the Department restricted carry-forward of SSEYCG capital (which includes Sure Start Children’s Centres) to cases where funding was required for the completion of the children’s centres programme, or where there was evidence of a contractual commitment either with a building contractor or for goods.
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The Department’s calculations of carry-forward are predicated on levels of expenditure from prior years. We are awaiting audited financial returns from a number of local authorities, at which point carry-forward for all local authorities will be finalised.
Teachers: Pensions
Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on the status of any pension fund liabilities for non-teaching staff employed in schools that become academies. [44708]
Mr Gibb: Academy Funding Agreements require Academy Trusts to offer Local Government Pension scheme (LGPS) membership to all non-teaching staff. The Commercial Transfer Agreement (CTA), which includes LGPS arrangements, sets out the Department's policy that liabilities are calculated on the basis of the academy's staff profile of eligible employees.
Teachers: Vetting
Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons he has made it his policy to make the list of barred teachers publicly available. [46821]
Mr Gibb: Under proposals in the Education Bill, there will be a list of teachers who are barred from the profession. As under the current General Teaching Council for England system of regulation, we propose that employers and members of the public will be able to access information on the list of those who have been prohibited from teaching. We want employers and the public to have confidence in the profession and to ensure that those who have been barred from teaching are not re-employed as teachers. By providing public access to the list, employers will able to check that any potential employees have not been barred and the members of the public more generally would be able to assure themselves that whoever is teaching their children has not been barred.
Vocational Guidance
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 28 February 2011, Official Report, columns 288-89W, on vocational guidance, if he will make available additional funding to prevent redundancies in local authority and Connexions services (a) before 31 March 2011 and (b) to the establishment of the All-Age Careers Service. [44619]
Mr Gibb: The new Early Intervention Grant will provide a substantial funding stream (a total of £2,222 million in 2011-12 and £2,307 million in 2012-13) with new flexibility to enable local authorities to act more strategically and target spending early, where it will have the greatest impact. The organisation of services is for local authorities to determine, in the light of their statutory responsibilities. Any changes that may be necessary in the current provision of careers guidance services will be for local authorities to work through, involving, where appropriate, Connexions service providers.
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Voluntary Organisations: Finance
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the monetary value was of the strategic grants his Department has made to third sector organisations in each year since 2007-08; and how much funding he plans to provide through such grants in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15. [19275]
Sarah Teather [holding answer 25 October 2010]: There is no single definition of what is meant by the term “strategic grant” and it is therefore not possible to give a comprehensive answer. The voluntary sector receives money directly from the Department and its arm’s length bodies, through the money we give to local authorities and from services commissioned by schools. However, some examples of grants that have in the past been given for purposes that could be deemed strategic include the Children, Young People and Families Grant Fund 2010-11 which allocated some £12 million in grants for capacity building.
On 25 February, Ministers announced the results of the new DfE grants competition which is worth some £120 million over two years. As part of that we have started a new strategic partners programme which will fund 5 strategic partners to work with us, and we are also awarding funding for capacity building. Those two aspects of the grants programme are worth some £22 million over two years.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to answer question 26511, on student financial support in further education, tabled on 22 November 2010 for ordinary written answer. [34171]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 17 January 2011]: A response to the hon. Member's question was issued on 9 March 2011, Official Report, columns 1107-08W.
Young Apprentices Scheme: Education Business Partnership
Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects to announce the local authority funding arrangement for the (a) Young Apprenticeship Scheme and (b) Education Business Partnership. [44414]
Mr Gibb: We plan to announce decisions shortly. I will write to my hon. Friend.
Young People: Unemployment
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of young people aged between 16 and 19 years did not attend school or were not in employment in each (a) local authority area and (b) constituency in each year for which figures are available. [35711]
Mr Gibb: Estimates of participation in education, training and employment for those aged 16 to 18 are published by the Department in a Statistical First Release (SFR) each June and can be found on the Department’s website:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000938/index.shtml
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The SFR also contains additional tables that show the number and proportion of young people who participate in education and work based training in each local authority. However, these estimates only cover 16 and 17-year-olds, and they do not include information on young people’s employment.
Connexions Services collect information on the proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each local authority
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area in England. These have been published annually on the DfE website since 2006:
http://www.education.gov.uk/16to19/participation/neet/a0064101/strategies-for-16-to-18-year-olds-not-in-education-employment-or-training-neet
Figures for 2006-09 are shown in the following table. Figures for 2010 are due to be published on 31 March 2011. These cannot be broken down by parliamentary constituency.
| Proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
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2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
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| Source: CCIS | ||||
Deputy Prime Minister
Recall of Members of Parliament
Ian Lucas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to publish his proposals to enable electors in a parliamentary constituency to recall their elected hon. Member. [47650]
Mr Harper: The Government are committed to bringing forward legislation to introduce a power, to recall Members of Parliament where they have engaged in serious wrongdoing. We are currently considering what would be the fairest, most appropriate and robust procedure.
Communities and Local Government
Departmental Public Bodies
Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information on costs including (a) consultancy, (b) interims, (c) professional services, (d) legal fees and (e) advertising and marketing incurred by public bodies sponsored by his Department is collected centrally. [47401]
Robert Neill [holding answer 17 March 2011]: The Department's Finance Division do not currently collect data, at the level requested, from public bodies sponsored by the Department. However from 2011-12 under the new ‘Single Administration budget’ public bodies sponsored by the Department will be required to provide monthly monitoring information at a more detailed level.
However, information on purchasing including (a) consultancy, (b) interims, (c)professional services, (d) legal fees and (e) advertising and marketing incurred by public bodies sponsored by this Department is collected centrally by the Department for the annual Public Sector Procurement Expenditure Survey (PSPES).
Spending over £500 on goods and services is published online by my Department and its arm’s length bodies, as part of the new Government's transparency initiative.
EU Grants and Loans: North East
Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any staff dealing with European funding bids are to be transferred from One North East to his Department. [40624]
Robert Neill [holding answer 14 February 2011]: Yes. The existing ERDF staff working in One North East will be transferred to my Department by the beginning of July.
Local Government Finance
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he provides guidance to local authorities on the proportion of their top-tier budgets that should be held as a reserve over the comprehensive spending review period. [47372]
Robert Neill: I refer the right hon. Member to a letter sent by the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Andrew Stunell), to local authorities on 27 January 2011. A copy is available in the Library of the House.
Planning Permission: Halifax
Mrs Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of planning applications in Halifax have been refused in the last 12 months. [44552]
Robert Neill: In the six months ending September 2010, Calderdale (the local authority of which Halifax is a part) refused 19% of all planning decisions. As the latest published information is for July to September 2010 the most recent information we can provide is for the six months ending September 2010.
Rented Housing: Cannabis
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what responsibility landlords have to ensure that their tenants do not grow cannabis in rented premises. [47821]
Andrew Stunell: It is usual practice for both social and private sector landlords to have a standard term prohibiting criminal activity in their tenancy agreements. If the prohibition is breached, this allows them to seek possession of their property without having to wait for a conviction. Where a written tenancy agreement is not in place, as is possible in the private rented sector, a landlord can rely on ground 14 in schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 which allows possession where a tenant has been convicted of allowing their property to be used for an illegal purpose.
Local authorities may introduce selective licensing schemes in areas suffering from significant and persistent antisocial behaviour. Landlords of privately rented properties within a selective licensing designation will have to be identified to the local authority as ‘fit and proper’ persons and will be required to take appropriate steps to deal with their tenants' antisocial behaviour. However, licensing is not designed to tackle serious criminal activity, which is a matter for the police.
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Work and Pensions
Child Tax Credit
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of ensuring that childcare is provided for families affected by the total cap on benefit entitlement. [47757]
Maria Miller: Support for child care costs is provided to those in receipt of working tax credit. We have announced that households which include a member that is in receipt of working tax credit will be exempt from the benefit cap. In this way the benefit cap will support our plans to ensure work pays.
We are still considering the precise criteria for an equivalent exemption from the cap under universal credit. Support for childcare costs will be provided by an additional element as part of universal credit.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of ensuring that childcare is provided for families affected by the total cap on benefit entitlement where childcare costs are covered up to (a) 60% (b) 70% and (c) 80% [47758]
Maria Miller: Support for child care costs is provided to those in receipt of working tax credit. We have announced that households which include a member that is in receipt of working tax credit will be exempt from the benefit cap. In this way the benefit cap will support our plans to ensure work pays.
We are still considering the precise criteria for an equivalent exemption from the cap under universal credit. Support for childcare costs will be provided by an additional element as part of universal credit.
Cold Weather Payments: Care Homes
Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will issue guidance to residential care homes on best practice in distributing cold weather payments to their residents. [46724]
Steve Webb: People who live in residential care homes are not eligible for cold weather payments as they are not responsible for meeting additional heating costs during periods of extreme cold.
Crisis Loans
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's impact assessment on proposed amendments to payment on account provisions, what estimate he has made of the potential effect of his proposals on the number of successful applicants for the proposed loans to replace crisis loans. [46386]
Steve Webb: The amended payments on account provisions will provide a simple and efficient method for dealing with the issue of alignment once Social Fund crisis loans are abolished. We do not anticipate any significant effect on success rates due to this change.
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Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's impact assessment on amendments to payment on account provisions, when he expects to publish the details of his proposals for new arrangements for payments on account. [46387]
Chris Grayling: We intend that a new system of payments on account of benefit will replace interim payments of benefit, social fund crisis loan alignment payments and budgeting loans. Further detail will be made available during the parliamentary passage of the Welfare Reform Bill 2011.
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's impact assessment on proposals for the localisation of crisis loans and community grants; what estimate he has made of the potential effect of his proposals on the number of crisis loans; and what assumptions he has made of changes to the budget for crisis loans in each of the next five years. [46398]
Steve Webb: We plan to replace the current system of crisis loans from April 2013 with a combination of local provision (provided by local authorities in England) and payments on account of benefit administered by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The current system of crisis loans is poorly targeted and open to abuse, for example some 17,000 people received 10 or more crisis loans in the last 12 months. As outlined in my written ministerial statement of 3 March 2011, Official Report, columns 45-46WS, we have had to take urgent action to bring spending on crisis loans back under control and ensure we can continue to meet genuine need. We need to monitor the effects of these short-term measures before we are in a position to provide detailed estimates of volumes of demand for the reformed provision.
The Government have committed to core funding (annually managed expenditure) of £178 million for the Discretionary Social Fund as a whole in each of the next four financial years. Funding in 2015-16 will be a matter for the next spending review. However, the budget for crisis loans is set on an annual basis and funding for the next financial year will be announced in a written ministerial statement shortly.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's impact assessment on reform of disability living allowance, what estimate he has made of the likely cost to (a) the NHS, (b) the Department of Health, (c) the Department for Communities and Local Government and (d) local authorities of implementation of his proposed reforms. [46388]
Maria Miller:
There is no information available on the number of DLA recipients accessing health services or local authority services. We would expect individuals to be accessing the relevant support services, regardless of benefit receipt and do not expect the reforms to DLA to significantly impact health or local authority services. As a consequence we do not envisage these
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changes generating additional costs for the NHS, Department of Health, Department for Communities and Local Government or local authorities.
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what training his Department plans to give to people who will be making future assessments on the entitlement to disability living allowance for people with autism; and if he will make a statement; [46513]
(2) what plans he has for future requirements for people with autism to undergo assessments when claiming disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement. [46514]
Maria Miller: The Government proposes to replace disability living allowance with personal independence payment in 2013-14. We are considering the most appropriate delivery model for the personal independence payment assessment. No decisions have been taken, including how it will apply to existing DLA recipients. As part of its successful delivery, we know it will be vital to ensure that appropriate training and guidance are provided for assessors. It will also be important for the assessment process to be appropriate to individual’s circumstances, including individuals with autistic spectrum disorders.
Both I and departmental officials have met with the National Autistic Society to discuss our reform proposals and to seek their views on how the new benefit can best support those with autism. We agree with many of the points raised in the National Autistic Society’s recent report on DLA reform, “Who benefits?”, and we are looking closely at how these recommendations can be incorporated into its design. We are keen to continue to work with disabled people and their organisations as the detail of the assessment criteria and its operation is developed and tested, and we will also seek their involvement to ensure that we get the training and guidance right.
Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on the application of his proposed reform of disability living allowance to people under the age of 16. [46739]
Maria Miller: Personal independence payment will replace disability living allowance for working-age (16-64) adults from 2013 and the new objective assessment is being designed to gather information about adult needs. We want to build on the experience of developing an assessment and applying it to new and existing claimants of working-age to inform our decisions about the arrangements for children. Therefore we will not consider extending personal independence payment to new claims from children or to children already receiving DLA, until we have had an opportunity to consider the effectiveness of the new arrangements for working age people.
In developing the arrangements for children on DLA we also want to take account of ongoing work across Government. The Department for Education's Green Paper Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability, published on 10 March, sets out the Government's aspiration to move towards a single assessment process for a child's social care, health and special educational needs. The
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Department for Education plan to test the approach starting this year and we will look at the findings of the pathfinders to explore whether the single assessment process might also be used to support claims for the disability living allowance and personal independence payment.
Disability Living Allowance: Care Homes
Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that people with disabilities living in care homes are able to exercise choice and control following the proposed removal of the mobility component of disability living allowance for those in residential care. [37750]
Maria Miller: The Government’s policy with regard to care home residents and their eligibility for DLA mobility is to remove any overlap of funding. We remain committed to promoting control as well as supporting independence in line with existing regulations.
Local authorities contract with care homes to meet the assessed needs of disabled people that fall within their eligibility criteria. Care homes must meet those contractual obligations and their conditions of registration which include promoting independent living.
Disability Living Allowance: Autism
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consideration he has given to arrangements for the assessment for disability living allowance of people with autistic spectrum disorders who find face-to-face interviews stressful. [44967]
Maria Miller: We know it is essential that the assessment accurately captures the needs of disabled people with autistic spectrum disorders and this is something that the development group is considering. We are considering the delivery model for the personal independence payment assessment and no decisions have yet been taken, although we recognise the importance of ensuring that the assessment process is appropriate to individual’s circumstances, including individuals with autistic spectrum disorders.
Both I and departmental officials have met with the National Autistic Society to discuss our reform proposals and to seek their views on how the new benefit can best support those with autism. We will continue to work with disabled people and their organisations as the detail of the assessment criteria and its operation is developed and tested.
Employment Schemes
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's plan for the transition to the Work Programme. [46283]
Chris Grayling: I published a written ministerial statement on 14 February 2011, Official Report, column 68WS, announcing the Department's transitional arrangements from legacy provision to the new Work Programme. These arrangements will be managed at a local level in Contract Package Area to take account of the differences in each area.
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Fit for Work
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition of fit for work his Department uses; what proportion of assessment of claimants of employment and support allowance resulted in an assessment of fitness to work in each of the last three years; what proportion of such assessments were appealed against in that period; and what proportion of such appeals was upheld. [43521]
Maria Miller: A person is found to be ‘fit for work’ if they do not have limited capability for work. They may be eligible to claim jobseeker’s allowance.
A key factor in determining eligibility for employment and support allowance (ESA) is the work capability assessment (WCA), which is used to determine a claimant’s capability for work.
Following a determination that the claimant has ‘limited capability for work’, they are placed in either the work related activity group or the support group.
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Those placed in the work related activity group are expected to undertake some work-related activity with a view to moving into employment in the short to medium term.
Those people with the most severe health conditions or disabilities, are placed in the support group and are not expected to undertake work-related activity, although they can do so if they wish. It would not be realistic to expect them to move towards employment in the short-term.
The information requested on the proportion of people found fit for work and the number of appeals against these decisions is published on a quarterly basis. The latest publication for January 2011 is available here:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/esa_wca/esa_wca_25012011.pdf
Table 1 shows the volume and proportion of people found fit for work. Table 3 shows the number of appeals and the outcome of appeal. These tables are reproduced as follows:
| Table 1: Monthly ESA on-flows by month of claim start and result of initial functional assessment | ||||||||||||
| Support group | Work related activity group | Fit for Work | Claim closed before assessment complete | Assessment still in progress | Total | |||||||
| Month of claim start | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| Table 3: WCA appeals heard on ‘Fit for Work’ decision (initial assessments only) | |||||||
| Month of claim start | Fit for Work | Appeals heard (to date) | Percentage Fit for Work with n appeal heard (to date) | Decision in favour of appellant | DWP decision upheld | Percentage decision in favour of appellant | Percentage DWP decision upheld |
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Please note that due to the time it takes for appeals to be submitted to the Tribunals Service and heard, It is likely that there are more appeals that have not yet been heard, particularly for the most recent cohorts of ESA claims, as can be observed from the declining percentage of people found fit for work who appeal in Table 3. These figures should be treated as emerging findings and not final at this stage.
Independent Living Fund
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of the independent living fund on the number of people requiring residential care. [43512]
Maria Miller: The independent living fund is a discretionary trust and payments from the fund do not take precedence over the responsibility of the local authority to make an assessment of a user’s needs. Local authorities have the statutory responsibility to provide social care support to their residents including the assessment of those requiring residential care.
Minister for Social Development
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what occasions he has met the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development since his appointment. [46735]
Chris Grayling: The Secretary of State and Ministers for the Department for Work and Pensions have met with the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development on the following occasions:
| Minister | Date | Type of contact |