§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 16 December 2003,Official Report, column 833W, on 364W Directorate Staff, if he will make a statement on the change in staff numbers in the (a) schools and (b) Lifelong Learning Directorates in 2003; and to which directorates the staff employed within the Youth Directorate have been transferred. [145971]
§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 6 January2003]: Following the Machinery of Government changed in June 2003 the DfES assumed lead responsibility in Whitehall for policy on children and the family. As a result of the changes, around 120 staff from the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department for Constitutional Affairs, who were engaged in a range of work on children and family issues, transferred to DfES. To support its enhanced role, the Department created a new Directorate: Children, Young People and Families, drawing together all those who were employed in these areas to improve the coordination of policy development and service delivery. Around 600 staff in Schools Directorate working on Sure Start and children's issues were moved to the new Directorate, accounting for the significant change in staff numbers in Schools Directorate during the latter part of 2003.
The increase in staff numbers in Lifelong Learning Directorate during the second half of 2003 resulted from the transfer of 200 staff from the former Youth Directorate. The majority of the remaining staff in Youth Directorate transferred to the Children, Young People and Families Directorate, while a small number moved to Strategy and Communications Directorate.