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20 May 2008 : Column 232W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will reply to the letter of 11 March 2008 to the Minister of State on the planning application to convert 203-211 London Road, Staines into an administration and interview centre for the UK Border Agency. [205333]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 13 May 2008]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 9 May 2008.
Official Residences
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2008, Official Report, column 806W, on official residences, if she will place in the Library a copy of the Savills report, redacting the commercially confidential elements. [204863]
Mr. Byrne: I will be happy to consider doing so when the report is received and has been considered by my officials.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2008, Official Report, column 807W, on official residences, what the valuation of the Government House in Pimlico at its previous valuation was prior to the most recent valuation; and on what date that previous valuation was made. [204865]
Mr. Byrne: The previous valuation was carried out in 2001 and valued the property at £1.8 million.
Political Impartiality
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance was given to (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in her Department on public communications during the local election purdah period. [204921]
Mr. Byrne: Guidance was published on the Cabinet Office website as it is when a local or general election takes place. The Cabinet Secretary also wrote to Departments to remind them of the guidance.
Religious Hatred
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) religiously aggravated offences and (b) offences of religious harassment were recorded in each year since the introduction of such offences, broken down by the religion of the victim; and how many resulted in a (i) charge and (ii) conviction. [206270]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not collected centrally. The Home Office collects statistics on recorded racially or religiously aggravated offences for some specific categories of offence. However, it is not possible to determine (a) whether an offence was of a racial or religious nature or (b) the religion of the victim. Similarly, the religion of the victim cannot be identified from the courts proceedings data collected by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Smoking
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many smoking shelters were built at each of her Department's London buildings in each of the last five years. [205051]
Mr. Byrne: My Department has no central records of building any smoking shelters at our London buildings in the last five years.
Wouter Basson
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the residency status of Wouter Basson was during the period in which he lived in Berkshire. [205151]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 12 May 2008]: It is not Home Office policy to comment on individual cases.
Children, Schools and Families
Children
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of children in families in each income decile lived in (a) two-parent married households and (b) two-adult families in (i) Liverpool, (ii) Manchester, (iii) Islington, (iv) Lambeth and (v) Southwark in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [205704]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available below the level of Government office region.
Children in Care: Religion
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of looked-after children had a known religious affiliation, broken down by affiliation, in the latest period for which figures are available. [206107]
Kevin Brennan: Information on the number and proportion of looked-after children who had a known religious affiliation, broken down by affiliation is not collected centrally.
Although data is not collected nationally, section 22(5) of the 1989 Children Act places a general duty on local authorities to give due consideration, when making decisions with respect to a child whom they look after, to that child’s religious persuasion (among other matters).
Children: Day Care
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) by how much Ofsted’s inspection fees for child care establishments will increase by 2010; [205701]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on playgroups and child care establishments of the increase in Ofsted’s inspection fees in 2010; and if he will make a statement; [205697]
(3) if he will assess the merits of Ofsted’s decision to increase inspection fees for child care establishments in 2010; [205700]
(4) what discussions he has had with child care establishment representative organisations on Ofsted’s increase in inspection fees for playgroups in 2010; [205699]
(5) what representations he has received on the increase in Ofsted’s inspection fees for child care establishments and playgroups in 2010; [205698]
(6) what the reasons are for the increase in Ofsted’s inspection fees for child care establishments and playgroups in 2010; and if he will make a statement. [205696]
Beverley Hughes: The proposals for the levels of fees for the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Ofsted Childcare Register from September 2008 were set out in the consultation—Childcare Act 2006: Future Approach to Fees and Subsidies and the accompanying impact assessment. The consultation exercise ended on 20 February and we received 3,639 written responses. The Government response to the consultation will be published shortly alongside decisions on fee levels for 2008 and the approach to fee setting in the longer term.
As we made clear in the consultation document and impact assessment, our proposals are designed to give effective, locally managed support to the child care sector so that parents and children can have the child care that they need. We proposed that new targeted support arrangements would be administered by local authorities as part of their new child care sufficiency duty. There is no reduction in subsidy under our proposals. The proposal was that we move from a national blanket 100 per cent. subsidy to an arrangement where some funding is available for local decisions about how best to use the money to respond to local market conditions.
During the consultation, we met with many key stakeholders from the child care sector including representative organisations and local authorities, whose views are being taken into account as we analyse the responses to the consultation and make decisions.
Children: Health Services
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when the Child Health Strategy will be published; and what the reasons are for the time taken to publish it. [206105]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 May 2008]: The Child Health Strategy will be developed over the summer, and published in the autumn. This extra time allows for more consultation with key stakeholders, parents and young people over the summer, and enables the findings of Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review to be taken into account.
The strategy seeks to clarify how health services, working with schools and other partners, can work better to improve children and young people’s health. It will build on the work already delivered through Every Child Matters and the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services 10-year plan.
Children's Centres
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children's centres there are in each local authority area; and what funding
each local authority has allocated towards children's centres for 2008-09. [206004]
Beverley Hughes: There are currently 2,907 designated Sure Start children's centres across 150 local authorities. The information requested is given in the following table.
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