§ Paul HolmesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many families of disabled children have been provided with short breaks through the Quality Protects programme; what proportion that represents as a total of such families; and if he will make a statement. [170610]
§ Margaret Hodge£60 million was earmarked for services for disabled children and their families for the years 2001–04 through the Quality Protects programme. This funding was mainstreamed into local authority budgets from 2004–05. We do not count the number of additional children supported by the Quality Protects grant. The Children in Need Census 2003, collected information of any disabled child receiving resources from the Local Authority Social Services Department within the Census week, and identified a total of 4,560 disabled children as receiving short term breaks from a total of 29,700 receiving a service. There are approximately 320,000 disabled children in England, including 110,000 severely disabled children.