Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were excluded from school for (a) possession and (b) supply of illegal drugs in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of pupils excluded from school for the possession and supply of illegal drugs. The Department publishes information on the number of pupils excluded permanently or for a fixed period for ‘drug and alcohol’ related reasons. Guidance to schools clarifies that this category includes exclusions for alcohol abuse, drug dealing, inappropriate use of prescribed drugs, possession of illegal drugs, smoking and substance abuse.
Information showing the number of drug and alcohol related exclusions for 2008/09 to 2012/13 has been included in the attached Excel document. Further information on permanent and fixed period exclusions can be found in the “Statistics: exclusions” series [1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils in England in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools were classed as persistent truants in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not collect data on truancy.
Information on the number and proportion of pupils classified as persistent absentees in the 2012/13 academic year is published in the “Pupil absence in schools in England: 2012 to 2013” Statistical First Release[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-2012-to-2013
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of what ages went missing from care in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The number of children looked after who went missing from their agreed placement for more than 24 hours during the year ending 31 March 2014 by age is shown in the below table. It is known in some cases that younger children who go missing from their agreed placement are the children of mothers who are themselves looked after.
Looked after children who went missing from their agreed placement by age1,2,3,4,5
Year ending 31 March 2014
Coverage: England
|
Source: SSDA903
1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements.
3. Where a child went missing from his/her placement on more than one occasion during the year, the child has only been counted once during the year.
4. Data on children missing from their agreed placement are known to be under reported for some local authorities. The Department for Education is currently engaged in a process to improve the reporting for this group of vulnerable children.
5. The number of looked after children who have a period where they are classed as being missing from their agreed placement for a period of more than 24 hours which started during the year ending 31 March.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 906346, what live data health services and local authorities are permitted to share with children's centres.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Education’s Sure Start Children’s Centres statutory guidance states that health services and local authorities should share information such as live birth data and data on families with children under five who have recently moved into the area with children’s centres on a regular basis.
Individual data items that this would include are subject to local partnership agreements or protocols, developed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and which children's centres there were in the 10 per cent most deprived wards in England in (a) 2010 and (b) 2014.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Education does not hold the information in the form requested and to produce the analysis would incur disproportionate cost.
The Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England (ECCE) published in June 2014 shows that of those centres evaluated in 2013, 17 per cent were situated in the 10 per cent most disadvantaged neighbourhoods nationally. This is only based on a small sample (128 centres) and is unlikely to be generally representative.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children in (a) care and (b) need who have parents who misuse alcohol or drugs.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department collects information on the number of children looked after by local authorities in England via the SSDA903 return. However data on the number of children looked after who have parents who misuse alcohol or drugs is not collected.
Figures are provided in the table below for assessments of children in need:
Number of assessments of children referred to social care where alcohol or drug misuse by the parent or carer was identified as a factor, year ending 31 March 2014
Factor identified1 | At initial assessments2 | At continuous assessments2 | |||
Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | ||
Total assessments completed at which factors were reported | 206,000 | . | 145,700 | . | |
Of which reported: | |||||
Alcohol misuse: Concerns about alcohol misuse by the parent/carer | 18,800 | 9.1 | 16,100 | 11.1 | |
Drug misuse: Concerns about alcohol misuse by the parent/carer | 15,300 | 7.4 | 13,800 | 9.5 | |
Source: Children in Need census
1. This data was reported for the first time in 2013/14 for initial and continuous assessments completed in the year. A child may have more than one assessment in the year and an assessment may have more than one factor recorded.
2. An initial assessment is a brief assessment and a continuous assessment is a more in depth assessment of a child’s needs where the child has been referred to children’s social care services with a request that services be provided.
This was the first year this data item was collected. Data was provided by around two thirds of local authorities so this information should be treated with caution.
Factor information is published within table A6 of the ‘Characteristics of children in need: 2013 to 2014’ statistical first release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2013-to-2014
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, (a) how many and (b) which children's centres in each local authority area are run by (i) local authorities, (ii) schools, (iii) voluntary sector providers, (iv) community organisations (v) private sector organisations and (vi) other organisations.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Local authorities are responsible for maintaining records of their main children’s centres (and any additional sites that are open to children and families that are providing children's centre services as part of a network) on the Department for Education’s children’s centre database.
Information from the database about the governance of main children’s centres, at 30 November 2014, was listed as follows:
Governance | Number | % |
Local Authority (LA) | 1974 | 70% |
Private, Voluntary or Independent provider (PVI) | 665 | 24% |
Other Community Group | 105 | 4% |
Health | 71 | 3% |
NULL | 1 | 0% |
Total | 2816 | 100% |
Further details about governance and the list of children’s centre names by each governance type (giving the type and/or name of the organisation) have been provided in the attached Excel file.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which (a) voluntary sector providers, (b) community organisations and (c) private sector organisations run children's centres; and which such centres each such organisation runs.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Local authorities are responsible for maintaining records of their main children’s centres (and any additional sites that are open to children and families that are providing children's centre services as part of a network) on the Department for Education’s children’s centre database.
Information from the database about the governance of main children’s centres, at 30 November 2014, was listed as follows:
Governance | Number | % |
Local Authority (LA) | 1974 | 70% |
Private, Voluntary or Independent provider (PVI) | 665 | 24% |
Other Community Group | 105 | 4% |
Health | 71 | 3% |
NULL | 1 | 0% |
Total | 2816 | 100% |
Further details about governance and the list of children’s centre names by each governance type (giving the type and/or name of the organisation) have been provided in the attached Excel file.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which children's centres were judged (a) outstanding, (b) good, (c) requiring improvement and (d) inadequate at their most recent inspection.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
This question is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the Hon. Member. Copies of his response will be placed in the House Library.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of hours of education provided per week was for a young offender in young offender institutions in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.
Answered by David Laws
As part of the Transforming Youth Custody Programme, the Government will shortly announce the outcome of a competition for new education contracts in under-18 Young Offender Institutions, which will aim to more than double the average number of hours of education provided for young people each week. The Government is taking forward reforms of Young Offender Institutions to support a stronger focus on education and reduce interruptions that impact on the number of hours provided.
The question asked about the average number of hours of education provided per week for a young offender in young offender institutions can only be answered at disproportionate cost.