Developing Countries: Politics and Government
Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department will continue to support (a) the Humanitarian Leadership Development Programme and (b) other initiatives that build humanitarian leadership. [81451]
Mr Duncan: The Government attach high priority to improving leadership in international humanitarian activities, as set out in its Humanitarian Policy "Saving Lives, Preventing Suffering and Building Resilience" (a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House). For example, we are working with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Inter Agency Standing Committee to support a strengthening of leadership within the humanitarian sector at all levels.
Developing Countries: Roads
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department provided to improve road safety in each developing country in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [81496]
Mr Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) views road safety as being the primary responsibility for country governments and the multilateral development banks as major international funders of infrastructure. However, in response to the recent International Development Committee inquiry on DFID's role in building infrastructure in developing countries we are giving further consideration to the appropriate level of engagement by DFID on this issue.
Pakistan: Floods
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided to people affected by flooding in Pakistan. [81019]
Mr Duncan:
In August 2010, the UK launched its largest ever humanitarian response to help Pakistan
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recover from catastrophic flooding. The UK provided safe drinking water to over 2.6 million people; health support services to over 2.8 million people, and emergency food rations to over 400,000 women and children, among many other life-saving items.
In anticipation of further flooding this year, the UK prepositioned relief supplies, including 5,000 family tents, 10,000 tarpaulin sheets and 35,000 thermal blankets in 12 locations across Pakistan via the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), which are currently being distributed. UKaid also funded the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to supply shelter to over 37,000 families and supported the World Health Organisation (WHO) disease early warning system to help prevent health epidemics.
In response to the initial UN Rapid Response Plan, the UK provided further support to IOM to deliver emergency shelter and flood resistant new homes to more than 255,000 affected people in Sindh.
Education
Young People: Employment and Education
16. Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the number of young people aged 16 to 19 who are not in employment, education or training. [81770]
Mr Hayes: The most recent annual data showed that 141,800 16 to 18-year-olds were not in education, employment or training at the end of 2010. This was a reduction from 186,900 at the end of 2009.
Pupil Premium
19. Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the change in average expenditure on schools in real terms per student following the introduction of the pupil premium. [81774]
Sarah Teather: Average funding per pupil for 2011-12 has been kept cash flat at £5,082 per pupil, plus the Pupil Premium. The Pupil Premium totals £625 million this year, rising to £2.5 billion in 2014-15. The Pupil Premium provides £488 for each free school meal child and looked after child. In addition, children of families in the armed services will attract £200.
Children's Centres
24. Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect of reductions in funding by local authorities on services provided through children's centres. [81779]
Sarah Teather: The Department has commissioned the Evaluation of Children's Centres in England to assess the impact of children's centres, particularly in reaching and supporting the most disadvantaged families.
We have kept statutory duties to provide sufficient children's centres to meet local need, and have refocused their core purpose on improving outcomes, particularly
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for the most vulnerable. We are reflecting those priorities in statutory guidance and payment by results arrangements.
We will continue to evaluate the impact of children's centres and in particular the impact of policies such as payment by results and parenting support.
Academies: Halifax
Mrs Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the effect of academies on education equalities in Halifax. [81762]
Mr Gibb: We believe that teachers and head teachers know best how to run schools. Academies give them the freedoms and flexibilities to help drive up standards, narrow the gap in educational attainment and ensure that all pupils are equally able to fulfil their full potential. The first academy in Halifax has been open for just over a year and is already reporting impressive results. We are confident that as the number of academies grows in Halifax as elsewhere that this success will continue.
Rural Schools Funding
Dr Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to ensure that small rural schools are not adversely affected by future pupil funding reviews. [81775]
Tim Loughton:
The Government recognise the vital contribution made by rural schools to their communities. We believe that in many parts of the country the current funding system has not supported rural areas properly. Our recent consultation on reforming the funding system
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looked carefully at how small schools should be supported. We aim to consult on more detailed proposals in the spring.
Academies: School Meals
Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) established and (b) new academies are being surveyed by the School Food Trust on their approach to meeting the nutritional standards expected of schools subject to the Education (Nutritional Standards for School Lunches) (England) Regulations 2006. [81138]
Mr Gibb: The School Food Trust will be undertaking a qualitative study to look at the approach taken by academies to providing healthy school food for their pupils in 12 academies in January and February 2012. Six of the academies will be established and six will be new academies opened after September 2010.
Adoption
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children left care and went to permanence (a) who were (i) under one, (ii) one to five, (iii) five to 10, (iv) 10 to 16 and (v) 16 and over and (b) by category of permanence in (A) 2009, (B) 2010 and (C) 2011 to date; and what the total increase was in those leaving care to permanence between 2010 and 2011. [78485]
Tim Loughton: The information requested is provided in Table A. ‘Permanence' is defined as one of three scenarios: children who have ceased to be looked after due to adoption, the making of a special guardianship order, or residence order.
| Children who ceased to be looked after by Adoption, Special Guardianship and Residence Order, (1,2,3) years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011, Coverage: England | ||||||||||||
| Numbers | ||||||||||||
| Adoption | Special Guardianship | Residence Order | Total (4) | |||||||||
|
|
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Percentage increase from 2010 to 2011 | ||||
|
|
Adoption | Special guardianship | Residence Order | Total (4) |
| (1) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10, percentage have rounded to the whole number. (2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. (3) x denotes figures which are not shown in order to protect confidentiality. (4) Total of adoption, special guardianship and residence orders. Source: SSDA 903 | ||||
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Carers: Grandparents
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in each local authority area were brought up by their grandparents in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [78671]
Tim Loughton: Information on children who were brought up by their grandparents is not collected centrally. However, information is available on children looked after by parents or other persons with parental responsibility (as defined in the Children Act 1989) and foster placements with relatives or friends at 31 March 2011. This is contained in table A3 which can be accessed via the Excel link ‘England Summary Tables’ in the Statistical First Release (Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (including adoption and care leavers)—year ending 31 March 2011) published on 28 September 2011 at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001026/index.shtml
A recent study on kinship care which highlights the number of children in England living with grandparents was recently published by Hadley Centre. This information can be accessed via this link:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/research/projects/completed/2011/rj5314/finalkinship.pdf
Charities
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what grants his Department made to charitable organisations in each of the last five years. [79076]
Sarah Teather:
DfE's direct grant spend with civil society organisations, which includes charities, was £366 million for the financial year 2010-11 and £166 million
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between April 2011 and 31 October 2011. A number of those grants were awarded through our VCS Prospectus (announced on 25 February 2011) and figures for each funded organisation can be found in the press notice on the DfE website:
http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/a0074906/voluntary-and-community-organisations-awarded-60-million-grant
The sector also receives money from DfE through a number of other routes, including funding through arm’s length bodies, through the money we give to local authorities and from services commissioned from schools.
We are unable to provide information on funding to charitable organisations in earlier years as extracting and analysing that information would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
Children in Care
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many looked-after children there were in (a) England and (b) each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available. [80983]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 14 November 2011]: The number of looked after children in England as at 31 March 2011 was 65,620. This information is contained in the Statistical First Release (Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (including adoption and care leavers)—year ending 31 March 2011) which was published on 28 September 2011 at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001026/index.shtml
Information on the number of children looked after in each local authority for the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2011 is contained in table LAA1 and is shown in the following table. The information can also be accessed in the above Statistical First Release (via the Excel link “Local Authority summary tables” on the release's web page).
| Table LAA1: Children looked after at 31 March, by local a uthority (1,2 ) years ending 31 March 2007 to 2011, Coverage: England | ||||||||||
| Numbers and rates per 10,000 children aged under 18 years | ||||||||||
| Numbers (3) | Rates (4) | |||||||||
|
|
2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
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| n/a = Not applicable. (1) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. (2) Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. (3) England and Regional totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. Other numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. See Technical Notes for more information on rounding. (4) The rates per 10,000 children under 18 years have been derived using the mid-year population estimates for 2010 provided by the Office for National Statistics. (5) In 2009, Cheshire local authority split into Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester. Similarly, Bedfordshire LA split into Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. Source: SSDA 903 | ||||||||||