11 July 2013 : Column 403W

11 July 2013 : Column 404W

Moira Wallace

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) whether the severance payment given to Moira Wallace met Government rules designed to reduce civil servants' pay-outs; [164300]

(2) whether (a) the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change or (b) anybody else in the Department for Energy and Climate Change consulted his Department before agreeing Moira Wallace's severance payment; [164301]

(3) what rules are in place governing the agreement of severance payments if the recipient has already secured a new source of employment; [164302]

(4) what guidelines apply regarding a permissible severance deal and an acceptable severance deal. [164303]

Mr Maude: The exit package for the former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change was within the rules of the reformed civil service compensation scheme.

The package was agreed by my Department and the Treasury as being within the rules of the reformed scheme. There is provision for clawback of money paid if an individual returns to the civil service within a specified period of time.

In 2010 we reformed the Civil Service Compensation scheme, ensuring significant savings to the taxpayer. Where compensation payments were made, departments estimated that costs would be recouped within a year. The early departure programmes across central Government Departments since 2010 should be seen in the context of overall reductions in civil service employment that has reduced by 78,000 FTE staff, a reduction of 16% since March 2010.

Politics and Government

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2013, Official Report, columns 298-300W, on politics and government, (1) what assessment he has made of the difference between trust levels in the EU Government and HM Government in spring 2012; [164202]

(2) what assessment he has made of the reasons for the drop in trust levels in the Government to 21% in (a) autumn 2009 and (b) autumn 2011. [164203]

Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2013:

As the Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary questions, asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the difference between trust levels in the EU government and HM Government in spring 2012 (164202) and the reasons for the drop in trust levels in the Government to 21 per cent in (a) autumn 2009 and (b) autumn 2011 (164203).

The statistics referred to are not ONS statistics. The estimates are taken from the Eurobarometer, sample surveys of approximately 1,000 adults in each country. Estimates are therefore subject to sampling variability and this should be borne in mind when interpreting the results. The data can be accessed from the website for the Public Opinion Analysis of the European Commission using the following link:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm

The difference between the percentage of adults in the UK who tend to trust the European Union and the National Government, has fluctuated over recent years. In some years adults in the UK have tended to trust the European Union more than National Government, whilst in others the reverse is reported. In spring 2012, the percentage of adults who tended to trust the European Union was five percentage points lower than the percentage of adults who tended to trust National Government.

The percentage of adults in the UK who tended to trust National Government fell from 29 per cent autumn 2008 to 21 per cent in spring 2009 and 19 per cent in Autumn 2009, then from 32 per cent in spring 2011 to 21 per cent in autumn 2011.

The ONS has not undertaken an assessment of the reasons for change in trust levels. However, the UK parliamentary expenses scandal and the financial crisis in 2009 and then the General Election may have had an effect during the periods in question.

Public Appointments

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to increase the representation of (a) women, (b) people with disabilities and (c)

11 July 2013 : Column 405W

ethnic minorities on the boards of public bodies falling within his Department's area of responsibility. [164604]

Mr Maude: The Government have established the Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office to support and work with Departments on public appointments.

Both the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Cabinet Office's Centre for Public Appointments are working with underrepresented groups to identify barriers to applications.

Senior Civil Servants: Business Interests

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cases considered by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments relating to the employment of former senior civil servants were (a) approved unreservedly, (b) approved with conditions and (c) rejected in each of the last three years. [164440]

Mr Maude [holding answer 10 July 2013]: As was the case under the previous Administration the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments provides advice to the Prime Minister (or the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), as appropriate) on the application of the Business Appointment Rules to the most senior members of the civil service, armed services and diplomatic service who wish to take up appointments within two years of leaving Crown service. The Advisory Committee publishes its advice on its website, and in its annual report, once an appointment has been taken up or announced. It does not publish its advice on appointments not taken up.

Unemployment: Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of 18 to 24-year-olds have been unemployed for two years or more in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Barnsley, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) England. [164705]

Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2013:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of 18 to 24 year olds have been unemployed for two years or more in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Barnsley, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) England (164705).

ONS compiles labour market statistics for local geographies from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Whilst the APS does collect data on duration of unemployment, no reliable estimates can be produced for South Yorkshire, Barnsley and Barnsley Central because of the relatively small sample sizes.

The number of people aged 18 to 24 years who were unemployed for over two years, according to survey responses from the APS during the period April 2012 to March 2013, in England was 92,000 or 1.9%. As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

11 July 2013 : Column 406W

As an alternative in table 1 we have provided the number and percentage of people aged 18 to 24 who were claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for over two years in May 2013, the latest available period, for all requested geographies.

The number of people claiming JSA for over two years is generally significantly lower than the number of people reaching this duration of unemployment under the ILO definition, measured using survey information. This gap is particularly large for 18 to 24 year olds. There area number of reasons for this, including:

ineligibility of students for JSA, who may be actively seeking work and therefore meet the ILO definition of unemployment;

breaks in period of JSA claim due to, for example, periods of training, reducing the number of JSA claimants reaching longer claim duration periods,

the smaller proportion of people being eligible for means tested JSA, once their entitlement to contribution based JSA has expired after a maximum of six months.

Although these effects make comparisons between long term unemployed and long term JSA claimants impractical, comparisons of long term JSA claimants between different geographic areas are still valid.

National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at

http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Education

Academies: Nottinghamshire

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what date he expects construction of the new Serlby Park Academy School to begin. [164591]

Mr Laws: The Education Funding Agency is currently working with the group of schools that contain Serlby Park Academy. We anticipate inviting contractors to tender to deliver for this group of schools before the end of this year.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children went missing from care in each year since 2010; how many such children were missing for over one month; and what estimate he has made of the number of those children who may have been trafficked. [164247]

Mr Timpson: The Department currently collects information on children looked after by local authorities in England who went missing from their agreed placement for a period of 24 hours or more.

11 July 2013 : Column 407W

The number of children who went missing from their agreed placement, and the number who were missing for a period of 30 days or more is shown in the following table. Children who went missing on more than one occasion during the year have been recorded only once for that year. Figures for 2013 will be published in September. Although these figures may include some children who may have been trafficked, it is not possible to determine from the data collected if any children were trafficked.

It is known that there is some under-reporting of children missing from their agreed placement by local authorities and hence in the statistics we publish. Comparisons with other data sources on missing children indicate that the figures presented are an undercount of the true figure, in part due to definitional issues (e.g. the Department only collects information on children missing for more than 24 hours). Work was undertaken in 2012 to improve the quality of the data returned by local authorities and this is likely to have contributed to the rise in the numbers of missing children reported. This quality improvement work is on-going this year and will continue in future years.

Children's Centres

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many Sure Start centres offer relationship support. [164600]

Elizabeth Truss: The Department does not hold information about the number of children's centres offering relationship support to families. However, the “Evaluation of Children's Centres in England”, a survey in September 2011 of over 500 centres serving deprived areas, showed that 93% provided services under the category: “parents and family support/parenting classes/relationship support”.

Families

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the answer of 6 December 2012, Official Report, columns 867-8W, on families, which relationship support programmes are being funded by the £30 million referred to in the answer; and how many families have so far been helped by such programmes. [164574]

Mr Timpson: In 2011-13, the Government allocated around £15 million to 11 expert providers in the voluntary and community sector to deliver a range of relationship

11 July 2013 : Column 408W

support services. The following information details the grants that were funded in that period and the numbers of people who providers reported were helped by the relevant programmes:

1. Relate undertook public policy work and campaigning to raise awareness of the value of relationship support. It also piloted iRelate, an online counselling service in schools providing 4,572 hours of counselling.

2. One Plus One evaluated programmes on managing conflict and parental separation and trained practitioners in Children's Centres to recognise and respond to parents experiencing relationship difficulties.

3. Marriage Care delivered marriage preparation and relationship education services to over 6,000 couples.

4. Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (TCCR) delivered training for expert practitioners and senior Children's Centre staff and provided 12,000 couple and psychotherapy sessions.

5. Project for Advocacy Counselling and Education (PACE) developed a Charter Mark to improve the way mainstream services work with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender people.

6. Care for the Family piloted short relationship education sessions for first-time parents reaching 2,105 parents.

7. Asian Family Counselling Services (AFCS) delivered 2,072 marital counselling sessions, 790 family sessions and 1,515 individual counselling sessions.

8. Families Need Fathers delivered support for separated and separating parents reaching 221,749 people with their website, 6,913 through their helpline and 1,527 through their branch meetings.

9. Gingerbread delivered 59 single parent support groups in disadvantaged areas.

10. The Centre for Separated Families delivered training to Children's Centre practitioners and day nursery practitioners to recognise and respond effectively to support families experiencing relationship difficulties.

11. Contact a Family delivered range of relationship support and information services reaching over 12,000 families with disabled children.

The Department for Education has recently awarded further contracts and grants worth a further £15 million for relationship support services up to March 2015. Expert organisations from the voluntary and community sector are offering support as detailed as follows. It is too early to know how many individuals and families will be helped by these services.

1. Marriage Care, in partnership with Relate and PACE, will deliver preventative relationship support services at key transition points in the lives of couples, such as moving in together, getting married and becoming first-time parents.

2. TCCR, in partnership with Family Action, will deliver an evidenced-based preventative intervention which works with couples who are particularly likely to face relationship stress or be at risk of relationship breakdown and estrangement.

3. One Plus One, in partnership with Working Families, Claremont, Dadinfo, Netmums, Youthnet, TheStudentRoom and Contact a Family, will deliver a series of campaigns and culture change messages aimed at employers, new parents and young people to raise awareness and normalise help-seeking.

4. Relate, in partnership with Marriage Care, TCCR, PACE, AFCS, and Contact a Family, will deliver a package of relationship support services aimed at helping couples resolve conflict.

5. TCCR, in partnership with 4Children and Fatherhood Institute, will deliver training to early years practitioners and leadership staff to help them encourage positive relationships between parents and to improve front-line staff capacity to engage well with fathers on relationships and parenting.

11 July 2013 : Column 409W

6. Contact a Family will deliver training to children and families' workforce practitioners to support them to recognise and respond to the emotional and practical pressures families with disabled children face.

7. TCCR, in partnership with Relate, PACE and Marriage Care, will deliver training programmes for relationship support specialists.

8. Relate, in partnership with TCCR, OnePlusOne and Marriage Care, will build capacity and sustainability within the sector and support the development of local infrastructure.

9. TCCR will evaluate its Parenting Together programme, an intensive service supporting parents to work collaboratively, ensuring non-resident parents and their children can maintain contact.

Financial Services: Education

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress his Department has made on plans to improve financial literacy in schools. [164154]

Elizabeth Truss: Our proposals for the new national curriculum include making personal finance education a requirement within the citizenship programmes of study for key stages 3 and 4. From September 2014, pupils will be taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and the need to understand financial risk.

In addition, the proposed national curriculum programmes of study for mathematics have been strengthened to give pupils from five to 16 the necessary mathematical skills they need to make important financial decisions about mortgages and loan repayments.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pieces of correspondence his private ministerial office responded to in the most recent year for which figures are available. [164646]

Elizabeth Truss: Private office correspondence is recorded on the Department's central correspondence handling system. This shows that Ministers' private offices dispatched 12,991 replies to correspondence in 2012, of which 2,137 are recorded as responses from the Secretary of State for Education. These figures will not include individual items of correspondence which were sent by private offices outside the system, records of which are not held centrally.

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his private ministerial office spent on access to (a) digital television and (b) internet media in the most recent year for which figures are available. [164648]

Elizabeth Truss: The Secretary of State for Education's private office has incurred no costs for digital television. With regard to the cost of internet media, the private ministerial office access the internet using the general facilities provided to the entire Department. As such, the information requested is not readily available.

Mobile Phones

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what contracts his Department has with mobile telephone operators for the provision of mobile

11 July 2013 : Column 410W

telephones for

(a)

staff in his private office and

(b)

his own ministerial use. [164706]

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has a contract with Vodafone. The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), and staff in his ministerial private office are issued BlackBerry devices that operate on the Vodafone mobile network.

Photographs

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many official photographs have been taken of (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials in his Department for use in Government publications since May 2010; how many staff of his Department are expected to undertake photography with the ministerial and senior leadership team as part of their duties; and if he will make a statement. [164645]

Elizabeth Truss: Photographs of our six Ministers and eight senior officials are displayed in the reception area of our London headquarters. These photographs were commissioned on appointment and produced by members of staff at minimal cost. They are regularly re-used in publications. There is no dedicated resource for photography within the Department and it does not form part of staff duties.

We recently changed the policy so that in future, no taxpayer's money is spent on ministerial photographs.

Public Appointments

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to increase the representation of (a) women, (b) people with disabilities and (c) ethnic minorities on the boards of public bodies falling within his Department's area of responsibility. [164606]

Elizabeth Truss: The Government are committed to attracting a strong and diverse field of candidates to public appointments and has a specific aspiration to increase the number of women on the boards of public bodies.

Appointments to public bodies which fall within the Department for Education's remit are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Ministers, civil servants and the Commissioner ensure that appointments processes routinely seek to achieve equality of opportunity.

The Commissioner promotes equal opportunities and diversity in a number of ways. These include:

1. Specific principles and requirements in the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies.

2. Regularly meeting and presenting information about public appointments to targeted groups in order to encourage a wide range of people to apply.

3. Conducting investigations into potential barriers which may affect particular members of society from applying for public appointments.

4. Collecting statistics annually in relation to appointments and reappointments within the Commissioner's remit by reference to gender, ethnicity, age and disability. These statistics are published in the Commissioner's annual report.

11 July 2013 : Column 411W

Schools: Governing Bodies

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if his Department will review the (a) current incentives for and (b) requirements on businesses that release their staff for school governor duties. [164711]

Mr Timpson: The Department is considering whether to review the current incentives for, and requirements on, businesses to release their staff for governor duties. This follows a recommendation made by the Education Select Committee in its report on the role of school governing bodies which was published on 4 July 2013. We will respond to the Committee in due course.

Senior Civil Servants

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many senior civil servants left his Department and public bodies under voluntary exit and received a severance payment in each of the last three years; and what the value of such payments was. [164398]

Elizabeth Truss: During the last three financial years, 36 senior civil servants have left the Department for Education under voluntary exit and received a severance payment: nine during 2010-11, 13 during 2011-12 and 14 during 2012-13.

The cost of each release to the Department was as follows:

A single payment of £400,000-£449,999 was made to an individual who had reserved rights and therefore

11 July 2013 : Column 412W

received a severance payment of up to six and two-thirds years’ pay under the voluntary flexible early severance terms. Reserved rights no longer apply and payments are now capped at 21 months pay for all voluntary exits and redundancy.

The Department does not hold this information for its public bodies.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he had with (a) non-governmental organisations and (b) other stakeholders to inform the preparation of the UK's submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. [164351]

Mr Timpson: The UK Government are due to submit a report on implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in the United Kingdom to the United Nations in January 2014. The report will provide a brief update on the UK's position in relation to the three UNCRC Optional Protocols, including the one on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Preparation of the report is underway and will continue over the coming months. Department for Education officials have regular and on-going dialogue with other Government Departments, the devolved Administrations and non-governmental organisations in support of this exercise.

Young People: Education

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of (a) 16, (b) 17 and (c) 18 year olds were in full-time education or training in each year from 2010 to the latest available date. [164284]

Matthew Hancock: The information requested is provided in “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year olds in England” Statistical First Release (SFR), which is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-by-16-to-18-year-olds-in-england-end-2012

A copy of “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year olds in England” Statistical First Release (SFR) will be placed in the House Library.