§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if her Department has completed work on the pilot questionnaire to produce regular statistics on the Children Act 1989; and in what areas information will be collected.
§ Mr. BowisNo general questionnaire is planned as regular statistics are already collected and published to monitor local authority implementation of many of the key aspects of the Act. The most recent figures were presented to Parliament in the Children Act report 1993, copies of which are available in the Library.
Information is not regularly collected centrally at present on local authority support for children and families under section 17 of the Act. A questionnaire was sent to local authorities in September 1994 to identify the information they collect for their own use in implementing this section of the Act. Response to this questionnaire is not yet complete.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding her Department has made available to local authorities to assist with the implementation of the Children Act 1989.
§ Mr. BowisIn general, central Government support to local authorities is not allocated to individual services; it is for local authorities to decide on the allocation of resources between particular services in the light of local needs and priorities. Implementation of the Children Act 1989 was, however, one of the factors which influenced the relevant revenue support grant settlements. Standard spending for children's services in the current year is 17 per cent. in real terms above 1990–91.