Export Credits Guarantee Department
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he gave to seeking the inclusion of measures to reform the Export Credits Guarantee Department in the Government’s carbon plan. [47145]
Mr Prisk:
This Department’s contribution to the Government carbon plan mainly focused on the creation of the Green Investment Bank and the importance of
27 Apr 2011 : Column 489W
innovation in developing a low carbon economy and did not include ECGD reforms.
Further Education: Finance
Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from which sources he expects further education colleges to obtain funding following the reduction in entitlement funding. [52530]
Mr Hayes: We are rebalancing investment from public spending towards greater contributions from individuals and employers who benefit most and can afford to pay. Further education colleges and training organisations will seek income from these sources. Grant funding for advanced and higher level qualifications for new learners aged 24 and over will be removed and from the 2013/14 academic year, fee loans, repayable on an income contingent basis, will provide upfront support to enable people to continue to undertake training at these levels.
While the overall budget available for skills will reduce to £3.3 billion over this spending review period, the settlement protected investment in teaching and learning by focusing the reductions on areas which do not directly support participation.
In the 2011-12 year we plan to invest £3.7 billion through the Skills Funding Agency in FE and skills for post-19 learners. This supports the capacity for over 3 million adult training places in the 2011/12 academic year.
Over the spending review period we will:
Increase investment in adult (19+) apprenticeships;
Protect the £210 million per year investment in adult and community learning;
Fully fund basic literacy and numeracy provision and first full level 2 and first full level 3 qualifications for young adults; and
As part of the wider Government agenda to support people into employment, we will also fully fund accredited training for unemployed people in receipt of active benefits, helping them to obtain sustainable work in which they can progress.
Further Education: Learning Disability
Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ensure that further education institutions provide places for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities; and if he will make a statement. [51276]
Mr Hayes: Skills training for people with learning disabilities is a priority for the Government. The Young People's Learning Agency is responsible for funding all learners aged 19-24 who are in receipt of high level and exceptional level additional learning support (ALS) amounts over £5,500 either with or without a Section 140 or 139a learning difficulty assessment. The Skills Funding Agency is responsible for funding all learners aged 19+ who are in receipt of low level ALS amounts up to and including £5,500 either with or without a Section 140 or 139a learning difficulty assessment.
We expect further education colleges and other training providers to recognise the needs of this group of learners within their local communities when planning delivery and to develop innovative ways of responding to their needs, working with a wide range of partners in order to meet them.
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Higher Education: Finance
Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to review the provision of non-prescribed higher education funded via the Skills Funding Agency; and if he will make a statement. [51880]
Mr Hayes: As part of the forthcoming higher education White Paper and subsequent consultation, we will consider the distinctions between ‘prescribed’ and ‘non- prescribed’ higher education in order to ensure that the student funding scheme offers a clear path for students to progress from further to higher education.
Horticulture
Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to offer support to small and medium-sized enterprises to promote skills in the horticultural sector. [51763]
Mr Hayes: Lantra is the sector skills council for the land-based and environmental industries. They are committed to helping the sector to access the training, qualifications, skills and knowledge they need. Lantra actively promotes the sector as a positive career choice to young people and adults, making sure that they are equipped with the right skills for careers in the sector while encouraging people to value and take up skills and development opportunities.
Intellectual Property and Growth Review
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to which Minister in his Department the Hargreaves review on intellectual property and copyright will report. [52392]
Mr Davey: The Hargreaves independent review of intellectual property and growth will report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Post Offices
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the answer of 15 February 2011, Official Report, column 742W, on the Post Office: modernisation, when he anticipates Post Office Ltd’s implementation plans for modernisation of the network will be complete. [51109]
Mr Davey: Post Office Ltd. will be developing implementation plans throughout this financial year, informed by the piloting of new network models, to allow 4,000 Main Post Offices and 2,000 Post Office Locals to be introduced by the end of March 2015.
Research: Finance
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding his Department has provided for translational research partnerships since their inception. [52481]
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Mr Willetts: This Department allocated £595,000 of the strategic investment fund, for distribution by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), to establish the co-ordination function for the therapeutic capability clusters (TCC's) programme. The budget ran from July 2010 to March 2011, over which period a total of £225,000 was provided (subject to a final financial audit).
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI) will co-ordinate the establishment of translational research partnerships, building on the existing TCC's. The NIHR biomedical research centres and units, to be designated in summer 2011 and in which the NIHR will invest £775 million, will form the basis of these partnerships.
Research: Trade Competitiveness
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment his Department has made of the competitiveness of the UK as a destination for international private sector research and development investment. [52491]
Mr Willetts: This Department does not collect data on the competitiveness of the UK as a destination for private sector research and development investment.
A proxy for this is provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its Main Science and Technology Indicators Database, which shows that in 2008 23.5% of business expenditure on research and development (BERD) was financed from abroad, the highest percentage amongst OECD countries which provide comparable data. Whilst this is a useful indicator as to the success of the UK's business sector in attracting overseas financing, these data are limited as they do not capture inflows of foreign private sector research and development funds which go to non-business institutions such as universities.
Retirement: Age
Mr Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on the number of age discrimination cases dealt with by employment tribunals of the abolition of the default retirement age. [52319]
Mr Davey: The Government's central estimate is that there will be an increase of around 260 employment tribunal (ET) cases due to the abolition of the default retirement age. This is a net change based on an estimated saving of 340 ET cases that can no longer be brought against employers on procedural grounds and an estimated extra 600 age discrimination claims as a direct result of the abolition of the default retirement age.
Further information can be found in the final impact assessment at:
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/p/11-634-phasing-out-default-retirement-age-impact-assessment.pdf
Science: Finance
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the Lisbon goal of achieving science funding of 3% of gross domestic product. [52490]
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Mr Willetts: The target of 3% of EU GDP to be spent on research and development (R&D) in the Lisbon strategy, which ran from 2000 to 2010, is also a target under the Europe 2020 strategy published in March 2010. At the European Council meeting in June 2010 the UK and other EU member states confirmed the five Europe 2020 strategy targets, which included the 3% R&D target. It was also agreed that member states would implement the policy priorities at national level according to national decision making procedures.
Consistent with our public sector transparency framework, the Government do not intend to adopt national targets for the proportion of GDP spent on R&D, nor for any of the other Europe 2020 targets. However, the Government acknowledge that R&D and innovation are key drivers of economic growth, as demonstrated in the “Plan for Growth”, which we published alongside the 2011 Budget.
Service Agreements
Mr Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what shared service agreements his Department has with other Government Departments. [51581]
Mr Davey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) currently has shared service agreements for several corporate services with the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Some research and analysis, estates and ICT services are shared with the Department for Education. BIS shares a number of specific ICT systems and applications with other Government Departments and shares a building with the Department for Work and Pensions.
Stem Cells: Research
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding his Department has provided to the cell therapy industry in each of the last five years. [52482]
Mr Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills indirectly funds the development of cell therapies by industry through its sponsorship of the Technology Strategy Board. This is a wide-ranging cross disciplinary field spanning areas such as stem cells, tissue engineering, biomaterials, cell-based gene therapy, immunomodulation cell therapies, cell cancer vaccines and other related fields.
While some of the research under each of these themes can be classified as support for the cell therapy industry, it would not be accurate to, for example, apportion all stem cell research as falling under this heading. As information on “cell therapy” support is not held centrally it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Data on Technology Strategy Board support for the specific area of stem cells are as follows:
2005-06: £893,000
2006-07: £2.5 million
2007-08: £2.9 million
2008-09: £1.5 million
2009-10: £2.2 million.
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The Technology Strategy Board also coordinates public sector funding for the public-private partnership, Stem Cells for Safer Medicine.
The Technology Strategy Board recently announced that a technology and innovation centre will be established in the area of cell therapy. This will build on over £200 million in public investment in basic and translational stem cell science since 2003, and the launch of the Technology Strategy Board/Research Council £21.5 million regenerative medicine programme in 2009, to support the development and commercialisation of relevant technologies.
Students: Finance
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many key facts leaflets for full-time students communicating the changes to student finance in 2012-13 will be produced; if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of producing such leaflets; and what plans he has for their distribution. [51734]
Mr Willetts: The key facts leaflet for full-time students has been produced as an e-flyer, intended to be downloaded from suitable websites. It has been distributed at no cost, via email, to a range of organisations and websites.
A total of 245 copies have been printed internally for use in correspondence, including mailing to vice chancellors and the parliamentary Library. The cost of this printing cannot be separately identified as it is part of the total departmental printing budget.
The cost to the public purse for typesetting the document was £1,236.00 (excluding VAT of £247.20).
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on producing a key facts flyer for part-time students communicating the changes to student finance. [51735]
Mr Willetts: We expect to make available an e-flyer on key facts for part-time students soon after the May elections, when there is greater clarity about the legislative changes needed to limit the fees which can be charged for part-time courses.
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what radio stations his Department plans to use to communicate changes to student finance arrangements to prospective students. [51736]
Mr Willetts: Radio advertising will be part of our student finance communications campaign. The selection of radio stations across England, which is yet to be finalised, will be made using expert advice and industry radio listening research from the Central Office of Information (COI) and its relevant agencies to ensure the best reach for our target audiences.
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what budget he has allocated to communicating changes to student finance arrangements for 2012-13. [51738]
Mr Willetts:
The Department considers it essential to ensure that prospective students and their families know about the full package of support available to support
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access to higher education. This Department is working with the Central Office of Information to develop an effective and proportionate information campaign.
We have appointed an advertising agency to support this campaign and expect its costs to be in the region of £150,000, including their charges for production of press and online advertisements. The budget for chosen media is yet to be determined.
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many unique visits the www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance website received between 18 February 2010 and 16 March 2010. [51739]
Mr Willetts: There were 952,555 visits to the student finance home page http://www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance between 18 February 2010 and 16 March 2010.
Mr Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many unique visits the www.bis.gov.uk/studentfinance website received between 1 February 2011 and 17 March 2011. [51740]
Mr Willetts: Between 1 February 2011 and 17 March 2011, the http://bis.gov.uk/studentfinance pages received 53,558 visits.
Third Sector
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department provided to each charity it funds in each of the last five years; and how much he has allocated for funding to each such charity in each of the next five years. [48286]
Mr Davey: Officials are currently looking at the best way for Departments to regularly report publicly on spending, in terms of both baseline levels and how these levels change through the spending period.
It is therefore not currently possible to provide this information without the Department incurring disproportionate costs.
Details of all new central Government contracts are now available online at:
http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk
Education
Children: Poverty
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2011, Official Report, columns 1175-7W, on children: well-being, what recent progress has been made on the production of a child poverty strategy; and what steps he plans to take to eradicate child poverty by 2020. [52019]
Tim Loughton: The Government published their child poverty strategy, “A New Approach to Child Poverty: Tackling the Causes of Disadvantage and Transforming Families' Lives” on April 5.(1) The strategy provides a framework for ending child poverty by 2020 and delivers a comprehensive three-year plan to lay the foundations for a new and more effective approach.
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The strategy contains detailed timelines showing when the measures included in the strategy will take effect.
(1) http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload /CM-8061.pdf
Curriculum: Humanities
Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what definition his Department uses of a humanities subject. [51650]
Mr Gibb [holding answer 26 April 2011]: Section 85 of the Education Act 2002 (amended by SI 2003 (No2946)) establishes humanities as one of the four national curriculum entitlement areas for 14 to 16-year-olds (key stage 4). It defines humanities as comprising history and geography.
Departmental Accounting
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether any ministerial directions have been issued to the accounting officer of his Department since his appointment. [51999]
Tim Loughton: No ministerial directions have been issued to the Department's accounting officer since the Secretary of State's appointment in May 2010.
Education: Assessments
Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average number of (a) A, (b) AS and (c) A2 level subject entries per student was in (i) year 12 and (ii) year 13 in maintained schools and sixth form colleges in academic year (A) 1996-97 and (B) 2009-10. [27596]
Mr Gibb: In 1997, the average number of A Levels sat per pupil aged 17 at the start of the academic year in maintained schools and sixth form colleges was 3.32. In 2010, the average number of A Levels sat per pupil at the end of key stage 5 in maintained schools and sixth form colleges was 1.95.
The cohort of pupils at the end of key stage 5 is composed of 16 to 18 year olds who were entered for level 3 qualifications at least equivalent in size to one GCE/Applied GCE A Level and this includes both early and late takers.
AS results are not collected in year 12 and only the results that have been reported to the exam board (or “cashed in”) are cumulatively counted in year 13. Advanced subsidiary (AS) courses were introduced as part of the 2000 curriculum. Prior to that, pupils could take an advanced supplementary (AS). The difference in AS qualification types prevents comparison between 1997 and 2010 results.
Data for A2 level subject entries are not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Source:
The School Performance Tables.
Free School Meals
Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children received free school meals in each ward in the Gateshead borough council area in the last year for which figures are available. [51603]
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Mr Gibb: Information about the number of school pupils resident in each ward in Gateshead who are eligible for free school meals is provided in the following table.
| Number and percentage of resident pupils (1,) () (2) eligible for free school meals (3) in each ward (4) in Gateshead in January 2010 | ||
|
|
Number of resident pupils (1) (, ) (2) eligible for free school meals (3) | Percentage of resident pupils (1, 2) eligible for free school meals (3) |
| (1) Includes full-time and part-time pupils, including boarders, who are sole or dual registrations, attending maintained nursery, primary, middle deemed primary, secondary and middle deemed secondary schools, City Technology Colleges, Academies and all Special Schools. (2) Figures rounded to the nearest 10, totals may not sum due to rounding. (3) Pupils eligible for free school meals who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between five and 15. (4) Census Area Statistic (CAS) Wards. Source: School Census (Final) | ||
Free Schools
Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the average amount of funding his Department will contribute to the establishment of a free school in 2010-11; and whether he has made provision for additional funding to be allocated to free schools in the event that his Department's annual budget for contributing to establishing such schools is exhausted before the end of a year. [51712]
Mr Gibb: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 30 March 2011, Official Report, column 419W.
Grammar Schools: Human Rights
Bill Esterson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what information his Department has made available to selective grammar schools on their obligations under
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the Human Rights Act 1998 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [52173]
Tim Loughton: The Department has not sent any information about the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) or the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) specifically to selective grammar schools.
Marriage Guidance
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the House of Lords debate of 10 February 2011, Official Report, House of Lords, column 390, on marriage, what steps he is taking to reduce the stigma against seeking relationship advice; when he intends to review relationships education in schools; and what plans he has for training Sure Start health visitors in (a) relationship support and (b) pointing couples to relationship support. [52014]
Tim Loughton: The Department for Education is grant funding 12 voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations to deliver relationship support services. Some of these services will include measures to reduce the stigma against seeking relationship advice, for example Relate plans to carry out a national awareness raising campaign on the benefits of relationship support, using agony aunts and social media.
The schools White Paper, “The Importance of Teaching”, announced our intention to conduct an internal review of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. This includes sex and relationships education (SRE). We will announce details of the review shortly.
Five of the organisations funded by the VCS grant scheme are planning to deliver training to staff in Sure Start children's centres on relationship support and pointing couples to relationship support. This could include Sure Start health visitors.
Marriage Guidance: Grants
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) which voluntary and community sector awards have been provided under the fund for relationships support; [51675]
(2) which awards and how much of the funding under the voluntary and community sector grants scheme will be provided for (a) preventative couple relationships support, (b) relationship counselling for couples in difficulty and (c) work with families which have already experienced break-up; [51677]
(3) whether he plans to monitor the amount of couple relationship support funding provided by his Department which is spent on supporting (a) married couples, (b) cohabiting couples, (c) civil partners and (d) parents; [51744]
(4) what provision for black and minority ethnic couples he plans to make from the relationships support grant; [51674]
(5) what mechanism he plans to put in place to assess the effectiveness of couple relationship support funded by grants from his Department. [51743]
Tim Loughton
[holding answer 26 April 2011]
: £7.5 million has been made available from the Department for Education’s voluntary and community sector (VCS)
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grants scheme to support couple relationships in 2011-12. The following organisations have been awarded funding (subject to grant negotiations):
Asian Family Counselling Service
Care for the Family
Centre for Separated Families
Contact a Family
Families Need Fathers
Gingerbread
Marriage Care
National Association of Child Contact Centres
One Plus One
PACE (Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education)
Relate
Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships
The majority of the organisations deliver a mix of preventative couple relationship support, relationship counselling for couples in difficulty and work with families which have already experienced break-up.
The Department invited proposals from the voluntary sector to encourage couples to take up preventative support to develop and sustain their relationship and, where relationship breakdown does occur, to put in place effective parenting arrangements so that any negative impacts on children are minimised. The areas of work for which proposals were invited included: cultural change to encourage families to seek help earlier; training of key practitioners, particularly in Sure Start children's centres, to recognise and respond appropriately to relationship distress in order to minimise any negative impacts on children; evaluation of effective practice to build the evidence base of effective interventions; and innovative approaches to relationship support—including provision of relationship support which meets the needs of those lower-income families who might struggle to pay and who are at most risk from breakdown.
Service delivery will be monitored through key performance indicators. In addition, the Department plans to commission evaluation which will consider the effectiveness of relationship support interventions.
All of the services funded by the relationships support grant are expected to make their provision accessible to black and minority ethnic couples. In addition, the Asian Family Counselling Service (AFCS) has been funded to provide counselling and support to members of the Asian community whose relationships are under stress and who find it hard to access mainstream services.
Schools: Nurses
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on increasing (a) investment in and (b) empowerment of school nurses. [51670]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 26 April 2011]: The Secretary of State for Education and his ministerial team have ongoing discussions with colleagues at the Department of Health about areas of common interest. School nurses are employed by the national health service and currently provide a number of services. These include carrying out developmental screening, undertaking health interviews, administering immunisation programmes, and providing health and sex education within schools.
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Schools have long valued the contribution school nurses make to the health, well-being, and achievement of the children and young people in their care. The school nursing service can have a pivotal role in both providing and arranging specific training for schools in the management of long-term conditions, for example asthma and diabetes.
It is currently for primary care trusts (PCTs) and their partners to determine, on the basis of a local health needs assessment, how many school nurses there should be and how they should be deployed. The Government want to increase local flexibility and therefore have no plans to change these arrangements.
Sure Start Programme: Closures
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of Sure Start children's centres at risk of closure in 2011. [51828]
Tim Loughton: Sure Start children's centres are at the heart of the Government's vision for supporting families with young children and intervening early to prevent problems from becoming crises. The Government have ensured there is enough money in the system to maintain a network of Sure Start children's centres.
The Department for Education collects data on the number of Sure Start children's centres in each local authority area in England, but does not collect data on local authority plans for changes to children's centres. It is for local authorities, in consultation with local communities, to determine the most effective way of delivering future services to meet local need. Local authorities continue to have duties under the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure sufficient provision of children's centres, so far as is reasonably practicable, and to consult before opening, closing or significantly changing children's centres.
Teenage Pregnancy
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2011, Official Report, columns 614-5W, on teenage pregnancy: personal income, which wards his Department has classified as teenage pregnancy hotspots. [52501]
Tim Loughton: In her response to the hon. Member’s previous question, the Minister for Children and Families said that wards with high rates of teenage pregnancies were found in virtually every local authority in England. We do not classify wards by their rate, but would regard a high rate ward as being one of the 20% of wards with the highest rates. In 2006-08 this means wards with a rate of at least 53.1 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15-17.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces statistics on conceptions, which are estimates based on the number of live births, stillbirths and legal abortions, but not including miscarriages and illegal abortions. Ward under-18 conceptions data are not publicly available, to protect the privacy of individuals. However, under a service level agreement (SLA) between ONS and my Department, local authorities in England can request ward level under-18 conception figures, aggregated over three years, from ONS to enable them to target their early intervention services to prevent teenage pregnancies
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in the areas with the highest rates. This information enables local areas to plan their approaches to reducing teenage pregnancies, which they are best placed to determine.
The list names all those wards in England where in 2006-08:
the ward was one of the 20% of wards with the highest rates (a rate of at least 53.1 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15-17);
the rate was statistically significantly higher than the England average (41.0 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15-17). This is to exclude wards where the rate is based on a very small number of conceptions where the rate may change considerably from year to year.
Wards defined as being “high rate” are found in nearly all top-tier local authorities (138 out of 152).
I will place a copy in the House Libraries.
As some wards have very small populations of women in the 15-17 age group, their under-18 conception rates can fluctuate by chance from year to year and may not indicate a consistently high incidence of teenage pregnancy. For this reason, ward rates are aggregated over three years. Ward population estimates, which are used in the calculation of ward-level conception statistics, are also experimental statistics and as such have not yet been assessed against the rigorous quality standards normally applying to National Statistics. The estimates are made available to users as the best population estimates for these small geographical areas and to allow user feedback on the quality of the statistics.
Further information about conception statistics produced by ONS can be found on its website at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=15055
Voluntary Organisations: Grants
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which organisations received funding though the voluntary and community sector grants scheme; how much funding each organisation requested in its expression of interest; how much funding each organisation requested in its bid document; and how much funding each organisation was awarded. [51678]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 26 April 2011]:The voluntary and community sector plays, and will continue to play, a significant role in delivering and improving services for children, young people and families. Through the grants programme announced on 25 February, DFE will invest around £120 million over the next two years to help support the delivery of key national priorities for children, young people and families. This grant is just one of a range of funding streams from DFE to the voluntary sector and represents a significant investment in a tough financial climate.
Following an open competition, 118 bidders were successful with their applications and grants have been awarded from 1 April 2011.
As expected, the bidding process was highly competitive and the total amounts of funding bid for by organisations significantly exceeded the level of funding available. We therefore had to make tough decisions in order to live within the available funding and this inevitably led to a need to scale back some of the successful bids to ensure the best use of public funding. In a very small number of cases, we awarded more funding to organisations
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than they requested in their bid document in order to secure additional high quality provision to meet national priorities. We also undertook an equality impact assessment to ensure that our funding decisions did not impact disproportionately on children, young people and families in respect of gender, ethnicity and special educational needs and disabilities.
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Information on how much funding was bid for by these organisations at each stage of competition and the amount of indicative awards is provided in the following table. Please note that final negotiations are still taking place and indicative amounts may vary slightly from the final amount awarded.
| VCS grant awards 2011-12 and 2012-13 | ||||||
| £ | ||||||
| Funding requested via EOI (stage 1) | Funding requested via bid (stage 2) | Amount awarded | ||||
| Organisation name/consortium lead | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 |
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27 Apr 2011 : Column 505W
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| Note: Disclaimer: The funding amounts are indicative. Year 1 funding is dependent on successful negotiations on detail of the grants and securing exemption for activity which is subject to the marketing and advertising efficiency controls. Year 2 amounts are dependent on successful delivery of agreed outcomes. | ||||||
Home Department
Departmental Procurement
Mr Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which companies her Department has purchased goods and services of a total value above £1 million in each of the last three years; and how much was spent in respect of each such company. [52310]
Damian Green: The companies from which the Home Department, inclusive of its executive agencies, purchased goods and services of a total value greater than £1 million and the value of spend with each company in each of the last three years are detailed in the table which will be placed in the House Libraries.
Employment Agencies
Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in the last year for which figures are available. [51404]
Damian Green: Information on how much the Home Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. On (b) the Department does not hold contracts with outplacement agencies for services for displaced or redundant staff. On (c) the cash based expenditure by the Department, inclusive of its executive agencies, on staff training to the end of February of the financial year 2010-11 was £8 million.
Homicide
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many homicides there were in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) Brighton and Hove in each of the last five years; how many of those killed were (i) female and (ii) male; what the gender of the perpetrator was in respect of victims of each gender; and whether there was evidence of (A) sexual assault and (B) rape in respect of victims of each gender. [52225]
James Brokenshire: Available data are collected by the Home Office from police forces in England and Wales, including the British Transport Police (BTP), where the offence was committed within England or Wales, and have been extracted from the Homicide Index. These are shown in the following tables:
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| Offences (1) currently recorded by the police as homicide by victim and principal suspect gender, and with ‘sexual’ main circumstances of offence: England and Wales, 2005-06 to 2009-10 (2) | ||||||||
| Number | ||||||||
| Male victim | ||||||||
| Male suspect | Female suspect | Corporate suspect | No current suspect | |||||
| Year (2) | Country recorded | Total victims | Total | Sexual (4) | Total | Total | Total | Total male victims |
| Number | |||||||||
| Female victim | |||||||||
| Male suspect | Female suspect | Corporate suspect | No current suspect | ||||||
| Year (2) | Country recorded | Total | Sexual (4) | Total | Sexual (4) | Total | Total | Sexual (4) | Total female victims |
| (1) As at 28 September 2010; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2) Offences are shown according to the year in which they were initially recorded as homicide. This is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made. (3) Offences recorded by British Transport Police. It is not possible to show where in England or Wales these offences were committed. (4) Offences where it has been judged that a sexual assault or sexual gratification of some sort was considered to be the primary motivation of the homicide. | |||||||||