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42734

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) his Department and (b) any executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies of his Department in the current financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	191806
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2014 answer text <p>Since May 2010 the Department for Education has reduced the size of its estate from 30 properties, at a cost of circa £51 million per annum, to 11 properties costing circa £34 million per annum. This is a saving of circa £17 million per annum. The Department is planning to further reduce the size of the estate to 6 properties. This will achieve further annual savings to the Department of circa £2.5 million. The Department also plans to vacate Sanctuary Buildings at lease expiry in 2017.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Education, including the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), has the following vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS property database.</p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>Number of properties</p></td><td><p>Business Rates 13-14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Department for Education</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£79,010.25</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£9,222.00</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The Department for Education properties are legacy Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) properties which became the Department's responsibility following the closure of the TEC in the early 2000s. The Department had successfully sub-let a number of facilities, although over the last three years some of the sub-tenants have operated lease break options and the properties are again vacant.</p><p> </p><p>These properties are advertised on the Government Property Unit's e-PIMS property database for use by other Government Departments and we are also marketing these facilities to the private sector, via letting agents, to secure new sub-tenants in order to mitigate costs, including business rates. The Department has offered all vacant properties listed above to the Government business incubator initiative and for free schools.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 19/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

43370

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sure Start centres have reduced the services they offer since May 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Hammersmith
	tabling member printed	Mr Andy Slaughter
	uin	192307
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2014 answer text <p>Local authorities are responsible for, and retain the flexibility for, children's centres provision in their area. They have a statutory duty to consult if any changes are planned and to ensure there is a sufficient number of children's centres to meet the needs of their local communities.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss grouped question UIN 192314 question first answered 24/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	1516 label Biography information for Andy Slaughter

43380

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sure Start centres have fewer staff now than in May 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Hammersmith
	tabling member printed	Mr Andy Slaughter
	uin	192314
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2014 answer text <p>Local authorities are responsible for, and retain the flexibility for, children's centres provision in their area. They have a statutory duty to consult if any changes are planned and to ensure there is a sufficient number of children's centres to meet the needs of their local communities.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss grouped question UIN 192307 question first answered 24/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	1516 label Biography information for Andy Slaughter

43526

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to expand the languages curriculum to encompass Urdu.
	tabling member constituency	Pendle
	tabling member printed	Andrew Stephenson
	uin	192434
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2014 answer text <p>Schools are already able to choose which modern foreign languages they teach, and these can include Urdu. The new programme of study for languages, to be taught in maintained schools from September 2014, makes clear that learning a foreign language should provide an opening to other cultures, foster pupils' curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 24/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson

43527

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on encouraging computer science and programming in UK schools.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	192351
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2014 answer text <p>As part of the reforms to the national curriculum, the Department for Education is strengthening the teaching of computing in schools by replacing information and communications technology with computing. The new programmes of study for computing, which will be taught in maintained schools from September 2014, have a much greater emphasis on computer science. For example, pupils at key stage 1 will be taught to create and debug simple programs and key stage 3 pupils will be taught to use two or more programming languages.</p><p>We also working with exam boards and sector experts to review the computer science GCSE and A level so that they reflect and build upon the changes made to the curriculum. The inclusion of computer science in the English Baccalaureate will provide further encouragement for pupils to take up the subject at GCSE level. We are also providing funding for several projects to help teachers acquire the necessary subject knowledge and skills to teach the new computing curriculum.</p><p>We are funding the British Computer Society to build a network of 400 ‘Master Teachers', create online teach-yourself resources and deliver 800 in-school workshops to help primary school teachers improve their subject knowledge. A further £500,000 competitive match-funded scheme was announced on 4 February to support excellent computing teaching and lever additional investment and engagement from business.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 24/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

43528

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of workplace nurseries available to staff in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies in (i) 2010, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
	tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
	uin	192442
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not provide workplace nurseries for staff.</p><p>The Department's approach to childcare support focuses on providing flexibility for staff in arranging childcare provision. As part of the overall benefits package, the Department provides a childcare voucher scheme to help cover the cost of nursery and pre-school for children under school age and forms of out of school care for school age children. This enables staff with childcare responsibilities to be more flexible as to when and where they access childcare support.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 31/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
	tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell