Parliamentary Q&A

In response to a question to the Secretary of State forEducation, asking what plans his Department has for the (a) regulation and (b) inspection of out-of-hours schools and clubs, Tim Loughton replied on 16th March:

The Government are committed to making regulation and inspection less burdensome and more proportionate to risk. Out of school clubs provided by maintained schools are within scope for inspection by OfSTED as part of routine school inspection. For those out of school clubs run by other providers that register with OfSTED, there is a briefer inspection arrangement.

Local authorities also have the power to investigate settings outside of schools where there are concerns about children's safety. As well as general safeguarding risks, there is clearly the potential in environments outside of school for children to be influenced by extreme views which are counter to democratic values and we have started to look in detail at ways to stop children coming into contact with such views alongside partners including OfSTED and the police.

Out of school provision can include anything from teaching at somebody's house to a large registered charity. This provision is mostly unregistered and therefore not subject to inspection, but we have asked OfSTED to look at options for improving public confidence in this sector and OfSTED will be writing to the Secretary of State shortly about this.

In response to a question to the Secretary of State forEducation, asking what funding his Department allocated to the Positive Activities for Young PeopleProgramme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11, Tim Loughton replied on 16th March:

Table 1 following shows the allocations made nationally by the Department for the Positive Activities for Young People programme (PAYP) in these three years. However funding for PAYP is included in the wider non-ring fenced Area Based Grant to local authorities, so decisions on actual spend on these activities are determined locally.

In response to a question to the Secretary of State for Education, asking what recent discussions his Department has had with the organisers of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme on the promotion of that scheme in schools, Tim Loughton replied on 7th March

The Department has had no recent discussions with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme about the promotion of their programme in schools and have not been approached to do this. I support the valuable work of the scheme and I know the positive influence it can have on young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds